TheLoveBandit said:
IJ is also correct, in that the needs that the LOUNGE have met has been redefined over the years as serious subjects got split out and given their own forum. Keep taking the quality out and eventually you are left with the least desirable, least productive threads all in one place and it *does* give the forum a worse image. This, I think, has been an unintentional effect of splitting out the other material.
Quoted for emphasis; I was going to bring this up before IJ typed the words off my keyboard

.
The effort at this point is to stop the hemmoraging of intellect, and start trying to push the content back into a friendlier and more stimulating place than it has become.
I think hemmorhaging of intellect is unavoidable when the number of community forums is steadily growing, as it has been for a while.
TheLoveBandit said:
Defining that trolling, or unacceptable behaviour from a balance of 4 diverse perspectives, with additional input from Sr. Staff, in an effort to create consistency - wouldn't that be a good thing? Or is there a better answer?
It
could be a good thing if done correctly. This is a hard problem, and I don't know what a good answer is.
TheLoveBandit said:
Stronger leadership is the key, something that *has* been lacking over time in a lot of respects, but as it is coming forth now - would any of you support it? Criticize it and offer better or at least alternative suggestions? Or quietly bitch on the sidelines as many have done during the 'declining years'?
"Stronger" leadership does not mean that it must be ham-fisted. I feel that at times, some mods may have been overly confrontational in trying to make the Lounge a kinder, gentler place. Attacking people for "negativity" or for kicking a dead horse is not the most diplomatic route, nor does it enhance the credibility of a staff member who claims they just want to promote PLUR.
zephyr said:
I have no real suggestions or anything to resolve any issues (not necessary anyway) but there has been past cases of singling out individuals who are maybe crossing the line as far as posting style is concerned who then become trolls and end up fucking up the place even further as "revenge for being treated unfairly/ harshly" ie GL, AF etc etc. I dont think the rules as they are stated will fix the issue, it might make things worse.
I 100% agree with everything Liz said in this comment, as I have repeatedly stated this point of view before.
zephyr said:
I guess the population was big enough back then to not have the hassle of having to attract new members.
Hasn't the population been growing steadily? I wasn't aware of any decline in active membership on BL.
TheLoveBandit said:
'The Lounge' - wouldn't you want to be comfortable there? Wouldn't a new member expect to make light social chatter and new friends?
Perhaps, if they didn't lurk first to check out the forum. Besides, it's a general cultural characteristic of most internet communities that n00bs who don't tread carefully may get bitten by more senior members.
L2R said:
the lounge as well as bluelight as a whole will suffer the consequences of reduced readership if it's let to continue.
I'm really tired of assertions implying that BL and its continuing health revolves around the social forums. There is a huge userbase who never or barely goes into the social forums, and really could care less about them. If the social forums disappeared tomorrow, the drug forums would still do fine. I also question the assertion that The Lounge is somehow essential in attracting
new members. In general, I think that what most new BL members expect from BL is to get their questions about drugs answered and participate in educational discussion, not to do social networking. Thus, I doubt they would be driven away from BL by the harshness of the Lounge. Certainly the social forums play an important role in retaining members who may have gotten bored/jaded with the recurrent nature of topics in the drug forums (such as myself at one point), but any new member that is attracted to BL because of the Lounge probably, as Beatlebot said, doesn't have much to contribute to the other forums anyway.