Opinions Needed - Splitting Opiate Discussion Off From OD Into A New Forum

[Binge Artist]

OD has a following that has nothing to do with the drugs discussed in it, and I feel this is playing more of a role in your decisions than some of you may even realize.

I'm noticing that too. And even if some folks are worried about having their "home torn down", I'm sure there are ways to do the split while keeping the community in tact. For example, a social thread that connects the split groups.

 

[RedLeader]

a social thread that connects the split groups

Not really possible. But at the rate you kids post in OD Social, I think you could handle double-fisting.

 

[sixpartseven]

there'd be two ODs then:
Opiate Discussion
and
Other Drugs
So then people would have to clarify...it would get confusing, I like the idea but the accronym (if that's what they're called) would get too fucking confusing. And when your high it just doesn't help at all. ]: Not that you can even understand anything you read when you're high anyways. Just saying, and of someone already said this then please pardon me by all means, I didn't read all of the posts in here. I don't think I have all day.

Peace,
Cap'n Jay.

Good point, but the acronym (yes, that is the correct word ) is the least of our worries and is a problem that can be easily remedied. It doesn't have to be called "Opiate Discussion," and in the worst possible case, OD could be renamed to something along the lines of "Misc. Drugs" or whatever.

The point is, it's not something that should be influencing any opinions on the matter.

I'm noticing that too. And even if some folks are worried about having their "home torn down", I'm sure there are ways to do the split while keeping the community in tact. For example, a social thread that connects the split groups.

Unfortunately - it's a great idea, so that is an emphasized "unfortunately" for a reason - cross-forum threads are not possible on this version of the vbulletin software.

BUT, that does not mean there aren't ways to approach this issue. What if Opiate Discussion (working title, Cap'n Jay) was a sub-forum of OD, which as of now, is the plan if this idea moves on to the trial-run phase? That would mean the mods of OD would be the mods of the new OD, the regulars of OD would have easy access to the new OD without having to leave the old OD, and - Cap'n Jay will like this one - it will mean that calling it Opiate Discussion would work in our favor because when you say "I'm an OD regular/moderator/lurker" you are actually talking about both OD's at the same time. It's actually highly convenient for us that both forums would be called OD.

Not really possible. But at the rate you kids post in OD Social, I think you could handle double-fisting.

Good point. There is no reason why OD regulars couldn't flip between two forums if they are so easily able to post a new post every 45 seconds so efficiently in the Social thread.

 

[Binge Artist]

Not really possible.

This is almost certainly possible. For example, put the social in the "New Other Drugs", and put "Junkies Welcome" in the title.

BTW (RL). In another thread in another forum, possibly on another site, you posed the question "Is it possible that anything is possible is false?".

I say, it's necessarily false.

 

[sixpartseven]

^ I'm not sure I follow what you're saying. If we did it like that, it wouldn't really connect the forums at all. I was under the impression that what you meant was a thread that would be in both forums, and posts from users in either forum would be visible in both forums, making it a thread that connects to forums.

 

[RedLeader]

^ You're stalking me on other sites now!?!? Nah, that was from a brief day or so when I decided to troll P&S

And I thought you meant cross-forum threads when you said a connected social thread. As 6/7 said, that's not possible with our software.

Edit: At Bingin' Artist

 

[Binge Artist]

That would mean the mods of OD would be the mods of the new OD

Yeah, but this would be contradicting a very good reason for a split--having additional moderators that specialize in non-opioid drugs.

 

[sixpartseven]

Personally, I agree.

Not much more to add on that point as of now.

 

[drug struggler]

^ I think OD being a "home" to a lot of regulars is an awesome thing. It can also work in favor of a split, or against a split, depending on how you want to look at it.

I don't know if any of you have noticed, but I haven't voted on this poll. This is because I can see it both ways and have no idea exactly how I feel about it.

Either way, my main concern is that the people who need the info can find it as easily as possible.

I have yet to vote still also... I couldn't give you a straight answer this moment, it's too hard to wrap my brain around entirely... Even tho I'm a new contributing member, I have been successfully using BL (namely OD) for yrs now to find all my safe routines, trustworthy answers, and in some cases, comedic relief I can honestly say that I've NEVER had too difficult a time locating any information, regardless of what or where. The longer I am here, however, the more pissed I'm getting seeing new members (and especially pissed seeing not so new members) posting questions that common sense can answer in many instances, but a search would easily generate answers for regardless of validity or importance.

I admit, I fuck around here being a smart-ass every once in a while, it's my nature, but some people are downright rude, ignorant, and disregard that this is in place as a harm reduction site ("oh man just dissolve it an bang it," or "no tolerance, I'd take half.") What I'm getting at is, while it may lessen membership, every time I suggest an aptitude test to join BL, I'm fucking serious as a heart attack! I think new threads need to have some sort of auto-validity/auto-anti-repeat feature I also think that when someone writes "just bang it" or any other ignorant shit, more serious warnings need to be issued, and banning needs to be like a 2 strike (3 max) type thing... Sure, there may be less members (good!), but quality is far more important here than quantity on a site such as this.

It's obvious the question of splitting things up was posed as one way to make moderation easier and most importantly, information easier to find. I think both of these could be achieved easier than splitting by making it somehow mandatory for new members to read forum guidelines. ie., a new member cannot continue the process until literature is read and accepted as the law. I think with stricter moderation, mandatory guideline viewing and signing, and some preliminary aptitude screening, a split would be less needed.

I BL!

 

[Binge Artist]

^ I'm not sure I follow what you're saying. If we did it like that, it wouldn't really connect the forums at all. I was under the impression that what you meant was a thread that would be in both forums, and posts from users in either forum would be visible in both forums, making it a thread that connects to forums.

Not exactly...Basically, the "vibe" I'm getting from a lot of opiate using OD'ers, is that a split would, and it's hard to describe this without using metaphores, "disrupt their community"...in other words, they feel as if the split would somehow cause them to lose contact with their non-opiate OD buddies.

And basically, I think there are surely MANY ways around this, even if I don't know any good ones off the top of my head.

 

[sixpartseven]

It's obvious the question of splitting things up was posed as one way to make moderation easier and most importantly, information easier to find. I think both of these could be achieved easier than splitting by making it somehow mandatory for new members to read forum guidelines. ie., a new member cannot continue the process until literature is read and accepted as the law. I think with stricter moderation, mandatory guideline viewing and signing, and some preliminary aptitude screening, a split would be less needed.

I BL!

Whether I agree with this or not, I won't say, but it doesn't matter because none of that is an option.

You can't force someone to read something on the internet. How will you know they actually read it?

Aptitude test is out of the question because it would be extremely easy to cheat on, and most importantly, an issue that BA just brought up, is that some members/mods don't know much about certain types of drugs. Some specialize in opiates, others with amphetamines, others with psychedelics, and so on and so on. An aptitude test wouldn't be fair because for someone who knew everything about opiates but very little about anything else would be denied access because of this, when they could have been a huge asset to the site for what knowledge they do have.

Is a split the next best option? I have no idea. But it is an option, and until we come up with something better that we can actually implement, it's the only option, besides continuing things the way they have been going.

Would it be a bad thing to continue things the way they have been going? Not at all. The question is whether things would be better if we did something different.

 

[Cap'n Jay]

BUT, that does not mean there aren't ways to approach this issue. What if Opiate Discussion (working title, Cap'n Jay) was a sub-forum of OD, which as of now, is the plan if this idea moves on to the trial-run phase? That would mean the mods of OD would be the mods of the new OD, the regulars of OD would have easy access to the new OD without having to leave the old OD, and - Cap'n Jay will like this one - it will mean that calling it Opiate Discussion would work in our favor because when you say "I'm an OD regular/moderator/lurker" you are actually talking about both OD's at the same time. It's actually highly convenient for us that both forums would be called OD.



Good point. There is no reason why OD regulars couldn't flip between two forums if they are so easily able to post a new post every 45 seconds so efficiently in the Social thread.

Reading that really hurt my brain. >_<
Good Lord, I have never in my life seen so many ODs in one damn paragraph in my whole life. It should be like a sub-topic within the original OD, that's why you're trying to stay, right?
Please tell me that's what your trying to say, I'm trying not to think too much today.

Cap'n Jay.

 

[sixpartseven]

Not exactly...Basically, the "vibe" I'm getting from a lot of opiate using OD'ers, is that a split would, and it's hard to describe this without using metaphores, "disrupt their community"...in other words, they feel as if the split would somehow cause them to lose contact with their non-opiate OD buddies.

And basically, I think there are surely MANY ways around this, even if I don't know any good ones off the top of my head.

I agree, I just wasn't sure what you meant by a social thread that connected the two forums.

 

[Eagleman]

Not exactly...Basically, the "vibe" I'm getting from a lot of opiate using OD'ers, is that a split would, and it's hard to describe this without using metaphores, "disrupt their community"...in other words, they feel as if the split would somehow cause them to lose contact with their non-opiate OD buddies.

And basically, I think there are surely MANY ways around this, even if I don't know any good ones off the top of my head.

If they feel that being a click away from their other OD buddies is too far away, then they have serious motivation issues and shouldn't consider them buddies if a mouse click is too much effort.

 

[sixpartseven]

Reading that really hurt my brain. >_<
Good Lord, I have never in my life seen so many ODs in one damn paragraph in my whole life. It should be like a sub-topic within the original OD, that's why you're trying to stay, right?
Please tell me that's what your trying to say, I'm trying not to think too much today.

Cap'n Jay.

lol it is a lot of ODs, yes.

It would be a sub-forum; a forum with-in a forum. You would access the original OD the same way you do now, but at the top of the page, where the OD Archive is, would be a link to Opiate Discussion, the sub-forum inside the original forum.

Make sense?

If they feel that being a click away from their other OD buddies is too far away, then they have serious motivation issues and shouldn't consider them buddies if a mouse click is too much effort.

Excellent point, and speaks to what I was saying about the following OD has. It's not about what is discussed in the forum that keeps people from being for a split, it's the image and community of OD. It's the reputation the forum has. Most of the people who subscribed to this are people whose drugs of choice are opiates.

Splitting OD would mean they would have to now post in a different forum, dissociating them from the original OD, thus dissociating them from the "image and reputation" that they are apart of when they are considered as being an "OD Regular."

I think that is what turns people off of the idea.

 

[Binge Artist]

^a lot of arguments in this thread.

Maybe you could use your closed "sticky" thread to periodically summarize the Pro/Con positions?

 

[sixpartseven]

^ Explain, please? I have an idea of what you mean, and it sounds like a good idea, but I want to be sure of exactly what you mean and how we would go about doing it.

 

[Cap'n Jay]

Yeah, I get it.
* sarcasm starts *
And yes a click is just too far. :'(
* sarcasm ends *

Go for it I say. [:

Cap'n Jay.

 

[Binge Artist]

^ Explain, please? I have an idea of what you mean, and it sounds like a good idea, but I want to be sure of exactly what you mean and how we would go about doing it.

Well, this thread has become sort of a "hot topic". And as such, a lot of good arugments will go unnoticed, simply because of the large post count in here.

For example, in your first post in this thread, you summarized one or two arguments, both pro and con, for the split.

Maybe your sticky thread could expand the summarization to include all (or at least, all of the good ones) the arguments.

 

[sixpartseven]

Gotcha.

Great idea. I will go through this thread some time today/tonight and do that. It probably wouldn't hurt to post a summary of all the arguments in here, too.

Thanks, man.