In alot of ways there are huge huge divisions in the Community/Arts and the Drug sides of the board. But i think they need each other. Yes, i said NEED.
Without the drug forums, the community is pointless. THere's no tie that binds. Without the community, BL would be a boring ghosttown. People would come by for some FAQs, maybe to ask some questions that have been asked 10,000 times over, and then leave. What, seperates us from erowid if all we were to do is provide info on drugs?
The popularity and usefulness of the board is dependent on people having not only a reason to come here, but at times stay here. The person asking drug questions today, getting involved in the community, sticking around, eventually becomes the person answering questions, becoming a mod, and contributing back.
I really wish people would quit looking at it as some kind of competition between the two and which side of the board is more important, the nature between the two sides are symbiotic. I think we all recognize what BL's focus is very well. And alot of us are going to have loyalty to where we spend the majority of our time and the forums we enjoy the most.
It is a sincere belief, that constructive changes should be made to BL. Something added. This board is only (i'm guestimating here) about half or a quarter as active as it used to be. We see more alter ego accounts than we see new registers. I think this should be addressed, and looking at the board as a WHOLE, something decided on what to change/add/etc.. which TLB has already addressed would be discussed.
The addition to something to the community, doesn't mean there's some massive favortism towards that section, nor does it mean BL is losing its focus by anymeans. As it stands now the community would have to have 2-3 times as many forums as it currently does to even match the amount of space that is devoted to the drug section. I'm not saying that level should ever be reached, but the cries of "we're losing focus" out of some kind of illusioned competition, are old.
The Community and Arts also performs a function, IMHO, (intended or not) as good PR. Not just PR for bluelight, but PR for drug users. Imagine yourself as the typical adult. The one who advocates stronger drug laws. The one who freaks out at the idea of their child touching drugs.. and they see a forum like bluelight. Imagine BL not having a community at all. What do they see? They see a bunch of drug users trading tips with each other. A site this horrid, must be shut down! Right?
But with the community? They see people who are semi-knowledgable about politics. They see tons of kids discussion issues about college that plenty of other of kids who don't use drugs are discussing.. They see blossoming (though sometimes redundant) discussions about sprituality. They see a religious right presense here and a left wing presence here. They see tips on cooking, banking, how do i fix my computer. They see (sometimes for worse) issues about our relationships and our sexuality. They see our interests and critiques in music and film..they see us express ourselves through poems and short stories. And all of a sudden, we look a bit more human..than just a bunch of junkies. Now i'm not saying that this is the case every single time an anti-drug advocate comes across bluelight. But it helps. There seems to be a level of detachment on how non-drug users tend to view drug users. It's a very..media and fear induced image. The community is full of examples proving otherwise, and i think that's a very important statement to be making.
But as it stands right now, it doesn't look like we're making an impression on anyone. There was a time when having the Press page and a Press person was rather important to BL. Why do you think that was scrapped? We still have the page of course, but we don't really have a contact person (if i'm not mistaken). Usage of the board overall has dropped. Signifigantly.
and sometimes adding forums isn't always an answer in either realm. Forum consolidation can form a "tighter" community who's more active in their posting rather than having to sift through such a wide spectrum of forums. This also aids in keeping people around longer. I couldn't begin to count the number of threads that could easily fit in Healthy Living and Second Opinon. And why is there a Healthy Q&A forum AND a Healthy Living forum in the Drug section? Is there really that kind of need?
Now the reason i posted such a long rant about it. Since BL's inception, do you know how many people have donated countless hours, sometimes countless thankless hours, to BL in these sections?? To minimalize and undermine their (and my own) efforts with this habitual "reminder" of the absolute obvious in every single thread of this nature, gets insulting after a while. Before anyone even replied to the original post, i heard the waammbulance coming from miles away. Instead of reminding us in a thread about the possibility of a science forum, why not be constructive and give your suggestion to improve the drug forums in another thread?
As to the activity in the community forums, in comparisson to that in the drug forums.. you could reduce all the arts and community down to one forum and it would still have more activity. This is the same on every board i frequent or used to frequent..
Ubuntu Linux Forums: (only one social section.. yet one 2 section on the board surpass it's "community" activity.)
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/index.php
Automotive Forum (community section clearly out participates focus forums)
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/index.php?
The Shroomery (it's pub section has more threads and posts than any other section)
http://shroomery.org/forums/ubbthreads.php
The reason why? They're social forums, discussion over a given topic in these regions tend to generate many more responses. Most of all these communities sections (including our own) have about 20% of the membership generating about 80% of the threads and posts. It's normal. How to increase participation and attraction to the drug forums should be looked at in itself rather than some compare and contrast dick sizing competition with the community.
