mods on here (policy on new threads and closures in Ecstasy Discussion)

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neMMMM

neMMMM

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Hi mods, let me start off by saying you are doing a great job. What seems to me is that you are all getting a little "close" happy. I understand you have to if its against the rules, but constantly telling people to refer to other outdated threads or posting it ina blog is starting to make this forum boring.

No one wants to post in a old thread, why not allow new opinions and such? This will probably get deleted or closed, but whatever. Keep up the good work, but relax a little and go with the flow, let a thread stay open. Stop killing unnecessary conversation. Conversation is what a forum is about. Even if it is solved, people might have different opinions. Not trying to bash, just what I am observing. Hope some people feel the same.
 
neMMMM said:
Hi mods, let me start off by saying you are doing a great job. What seems to me is that you are all getting a little "close" happy. I understand you have to if its against the rules, but constantly telling people to refer to other outdated threads or posting it ina blog is starting to make this forum boring.

No one wants to post in a old thread, why not allow new opinions and such? This will probably get deleted or closed, but whatever. Keep up the good work, but relax a little and go with the flow, let a thread stay open. Stop killing unnecessary conversation. Conversation is what a forum is about. Even if it is solved, people might have different opinions. Not trying to bash, just what I am observing. Hope some people feel the same.
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Ha. I was just thinking this. Props to you for posting it sir.

Truth is, there is damn near a thread on everything, but I don't want to sort through 25 pages of banter just to get to the bottom of the OP's original issue. I'd say that if you have less than 500 posts as a bluelighter, odds are about 50% that your post is going to get closed and/or moved.
 
Everything has its place around ecstasy discuission.
This post has a place a in your blog =)
Whats wrong with old threads? If theres one on the topic more than likely its been discussed throughly and it takes only one post and its bumped back to the top of the forum just like brand new :)
 
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----> Support

We use Mega threads and keep old threads alive because they usually contain the information that people come here seeking. If someone were to create a new thread every time, not only would BL be a mess, but there would also be a lot of valuable information spread all around in a bunch of different places, making it a pain staking process to search for information. Having things like Mega threads allows for all the information to easily be found by anyone who is looking for it.
 
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Thanks for the feedback neMMMM. In Focus Forums being more fun is acceptable to some extent but not the biggest priority. Mods are task oriented about a lot of things in focus forums not to make them less fun but because there are a lot of visitors to the site, many not even members, that need to navigate to info that is useful about pretty serious stuff.

Some Focus Forums even do away with a great deal of the social and fun stuff at times when it turns out the fun stuff is an impediment.
 
Everybody is encouraged to send a private message to the moderator that closed their thread, if they feel like it should be reopened.
 
Enki makes a good point, there are many visitors to Bluelight that never even register, they just locate the information they need and go on their way, part of what makes this so easy is how the site is organized.
 
neMMMM said:
What seems to me is that you are all getting a little "close" happy.
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all? every moderator? i can't help thinking you're exaggerating a little to make your point?

a comment like this is pretty vague. if you feel a thread has been closed incorrectly, there's nothing to stop you contacting the forum staff and making your case to reopen it. how many times have you done this? what was the outcome?
neMMMM said:
No one wants to post in a old thread, why not allow new opinions and such?
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there's absolutely no reason new opinions can't be posted in an existing thread. indeed, i think that one of the strengths of bluelight is that this kind of thing is moderated appropriately.

allowing discussion of the same issue to fragment across a number of different threads does nobody any favours and just makes information harder to find.
neMMMM said:
This will probably get deleted or closed, but whatever.
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no it didn't...
neMMMM said:
Stop killing unnecessary conversation. Conversation is what a forum is about.
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what's the value in it if it's, in your words, unnecessary?

alasdair
 
I'm gonna chime in as a new member who also frequents ED... I can see both sides - truly. For the first little while that I lurked and then began posting, I seriously felt at times that thread after thread was closed and it was kinda like WTH? As a new member and new to the experiences that caused me to seek out BL, I was anxious and excited and just wanted to talk with someone about how mind blowing everything was/is as I go along and learn. But it felt like anything not specifically related to harm reduction was a no-no. And the social has a rule about certain topics not being allowed.

I dunno. I think the mods do an AMAZING job, and i understand staying focused and unclutteref, yet it can be quite daunting to be new and try to get up in the discussion. It's abrupt and sometimes embarrassing to try to join in by starting threads or trying to discuss then have it all nailed shut with a UTFSF type of final post.
 
We do our best to avoid the use of "UTFSE" or any variation of it. When a mod posts a link to another thread, it's because it's related to the question you've asked. If we merge it with one of the Mega Threads, plain and simple it's because that's where you're going to find the information you're looking for, and if you have any more questions you can continue the discussion in that thread.

For the basic topics of discussion, we have The Directory. There's a lot of information in there and it may seem like a lot to sift through, but it's pretty comprehensive and answers most of the questions that people come here to have answered.

We also have a hand full of Mega Threads for the most common topics of discussion in ED. As I mentioned before, threads get merged into the Mega Threads because that is the appropriate place for what ever topic has been brought up to be discussed.


And don't forget, if you ever have a question regarding the reason for your thread being closed, you are allowed to PM one of the mods. If you can make a case for the thread being reopened, it will happen. You can also PM us before you start a thread if you're unsure if your question warrants it's own thread or belongs in one of the mega threads.
 
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For real man, I get it. You guys have a tough job and you're doing great. (and i see the effort to avoid UTFS, i just used an extreme) I was just trying to maybe help show the other side a little bit. I can't speak for anyone, but those were some of my feelings, especially in the beginning.

Maybe there is a way for mods or regulars to crossover from NMI into focus forums more often, so people can have their hand held on their way to the socials or something.
 
I hear you Trinitee. When I observe that someone has a later join date, lower post count I try to be a little less matter of fact or teasing about some of my notes about moderating and go an extra distance in explaining why I'm doing things the way I am. I notice ED mods doing the same thing. It does often happen to me that I'm not noticing, sometimes I'm about getting the job down or being playful in a way that might not work in a way for someone trying to grasp how the board works.
 
It is a style of moderating the information. If the thread closings bother you, take a fuckitol and log back in when it kicks in. :D :D :D
 
alasdairm said:
allowing discussion of the same issue to fragment across a number of different threads does nobody any favours and just makes information harder to find.
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I know this is repeated ad nauseum by staff like it were a ritual chant, but I'm really not sure that it's the truth. In fact, I've never believed it to be true.

The search engine is very adept at picking out key words. I've always found it particularly useful when isolating searches to thread titles.

I find it less useful, when attempting to collate information on a subject, only to find the search returns a load of threads with a little padlock on them and a pithy comment from the forum mod, and that the information I want is consistently buried in a massive thread (no doubt split over several massive threads).

I am aware that one can then search within that thread, but the information required is often surrounded with competing conversations that talk over eachother, making a linear conversation hard to find or track.

My experience is that the posts that are absolute gems in this dedicated rough don't get the recognition they deserve, nor provide springboard into greater debate (because nobody in their right mind has the time to wade through the accumulated detritus to read or respond to such gems).

I realise that shovelling all vaguely related information into a dumping ground thread provides moderators with something to do and makes the forum appear clean, but it actually stifles information sharing.

If mods spent half the time on correcting thread titles as they do moving posts, the forums would be easier to search.
 
Got to rush to work, so no time to comment now (just posting to get this into my recent activity), but I think there may be merit in what tambo says. Could be worth further discussion to find out whether most users really prefer mega threads or individual ones (personally, I prefer individual ones, but I could well be the minority there).
 
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