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Harm Minimisation Or Social Chatter, What Is Bluelight Really For?

nezo said it all.
the one thing in common that most people on bluelight have is that they have / do / will take and experiment with drugs at some point (not all, don't flame me all you non-drug taking peeps). sure it's all about the music blah blah blah, but bluelight as a collective probably does alot of drugs. bluelight does not advocate this, but by the same token there isn't a "drugs are bad" attitude.
i understand the bluelight message to be "if you're going to take drugs - these are the least harmful ways to do it...oh yeah, and these are the really really dangerous ways, and it's strongly advised you don't".
from the outside it's very easy to say that bluelight is "all about the drugs..." because essentially that what it is about. without looking too deeply, the harm minimisation message can easily be missed.
 
Good discussion, so I will just barge in with my rude American opinion. ;)
Yes, there are some people who only use Bluelight for social chatter. There are also a few people who only use Bluelight for drug discussion. Most people are somewhere in between.
I am not gonna try to say that the level of discussion is higher in SLR or SPP than in Regular Social, because it is all just chatter of one kind or another. But please keep in mind that even more serious sites like Erowid have sections about spirituality and art.
In my opinion, a trip report is a very important type of drug discussion. But should drug discussion also include an oil painting I might make while tripping? That's where it gets foggy for me.
Answers? Well, you could always make the Social/Community forums subscription based. The drug discussion would remain free for lurkers or posters, but a special password would be required to view or reply to the social stuff. I am registered at message boards where everyone pays annual dues, and these places have no trouble getting steady traffic and quality participants. It works.
So how many "community" addicts wouldn't pay AUS$30 for a six month subscription to Bluelight? Or you can make a donation! And the money could be put towards equipment or funding for the people who are serious about harm reduction and drug discussion. That's my pragmatic solution to this problem.
[ 20 March 2002: Message edited by: Catch-22 ]
 
You make some excellent points:
In my opinion, a trip report is a very important type of drug discussion. I'd say an essential type of drug discussion.
Answers? Well, you could always make the Social/Community forums subscription based. The drug discussion would remain free for lurkers or posters, but a special password would be required to view or reply to the social stuff. I am registered at message boards where everyone pays annual dues, and these places have no trouble getting steady traffic and quality participants. It works. I agree totally - free drug information and social subscriptions - this was discussed a while back at the time when the bluelight server was in all sorts of trouble, and the choice was going to have to be made about ditching social based on the fact that it was consuming too much resources. These days the bandwidth is not so much of an issue, however I think that in terms of ensuring that Social is not a burden on Bluelight resources, it would be a good idea. (NB: About six months ago (the last figures I have) Bluelight ubb social page transfers ate up approximately 1Gb/day).
Another possibility for encouraging the focus back toward drug discussion and harm minimisation is to limit the number of Social forum posts allowed per day from each IP. This idea was also suggested around the time of bandwidth difficulties as a way to make people consider more carefully what they wrote in social and reduce the level of traffic.
Asked the other day if social would be the same on another site with a different name, but identical threads, posts and people, someone replied "No, it wouldn't be the same". Why do people feel the need to assign the Bluelight label to their social discussion? Is it because being "a bluelighter" makes people feel comfortable with their drug use and somehow safer in numbers? Why do social discussions need to be kept online for posterity, when IRC could be used to socially chat? If someone isn't in the #bluelight channel, then email could be used to get in touch. If something of earth-shaking significance was said in Social IRC that the world needed to know, then someone could easily log the information for the record.
"People come for the drug information, but they stay for social..." -- Who cares? What's the difference if they come for drug information, get educated, and leave. They'd return if they needed more information. There's no rule that says people have to read the site seven times a day.
I think that people should come to Bluelight specifically for Harm Minimisation information. Whether they stay a long time or a little is immaterial if they learn something while they're here. So what if they don't come back every day? As long as they come back when they need information. At the moment people are coming here for social and ignoring the drug discussion aspect, or WORSE they're taking away selected drug information and assuming that because they're "a bluelighter" they are invincible and allowed to combine any drugs at any dose and be fine and dandy. Unfortunately that's the attitude that's coming across.
BigTrancer :)
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I reckon there is a lot of unnecessary shit that gets talked about in social discussion.....but if it keeps everyone happy and people feel good when they get something out and into the open then let it be. If it was going to sacrifice the main reason why this site is here then I would say get rid of it.
 
if the concern about non-drug related threads is the recourse consumption (and hence money), then is it possible to impliment an automated purge? social type forums are not an important information recourse, so why not introduce a process that automatically deletes threads that have not been accessed / updated for a defined period. 30 days, 20 days, whatever until the balance is found where social is no longer a burden. this could be poentially be done on a daily / weekly basis, when the server has the least load, or even shut down the server for an hour or so once a week to run a purge job - which can all probably also be automated.
there is no need to keep 6 month old threads in social, SLR, current events, meetups etc - which was what was done in the latest purge (anything older than august 2001 was deleted as i recall). once a thread falls off the first couple of pages, i'm sure there's little point in hanging onto it.
despite what BT said, i still feel that social does serve a purpose in that it keeps people involved and contributing and reading. i read the drug discussion thread, and have learnt from it over the past few months. if i only came to bluelight when i needed drug-related information, then i would miss out on the current dicussion topics. i imagine there are many people in the same position.
disclaimer: this suggestion was made without any knowledge of the capabilities of the software used to run bluelight - but with some knowledge of servers and server software.
 
I agree with BT, but can the social subscription be means tested i'm one po ass bastard? :(
And discussion is the mother of invention and progression..... good work ppls :)
 
Not posting in the drug forums because you already know everything you've ever wondered about (that's the attitude that's been expressed in a couple of posts in this thread) is really selfish. Why not use that knowledge to help inform other people who might be asking those same questions you once did? I'm sure people like BigTrancer don't keep checking Aus Drug Discussion just to get their questions answered...
This thread I started has similar idea, but I'm going to close it because the way this thread has evolved it's pretty similar...
 
i post in the social forums as well as the drug discussion forums. as a general rule of thumb, i always check aus social and aus drug discussion. for one day there may be nothing new, nothing of interest, but the next there will be an interesting article/interesting point of view/important information. There is always something i would like to find out or something i will benefit from learning, and i consistently browse drug discussion for this purpose.
I'd also second the point that the Australian Drug Discussion forum is not full of shit. and for me it is among the most beneficial forums on this board.
People like Babydoc_vic and BigTrancer (there are many more people involved in HM as well) are the driving force of the harm minimisation section of buelight. When a question is posed in either of their forums, i think it an accurate statement to say that it is always answered and if not links are posted, opinions are discussed, and a conclusion is attempted to be reached.
There is no denying that without the Health Q&A forum, and without the Aus DD forum, bluelight's main thrust would not be achieved.
Yet, as said by people before, i believe the social forums are important as well. Bluelight not only promotes harm minimisation through the board, but also through its members. Through the events forum, people meet up with each other, and learn from each other. well, i'll say that i learnt most of what i did from bluelighters, and not necessarily from the board itself. The board provided an avenue for extended knowledge acquirement.
The Aus Social forum is an avenue for discussion on a broad range of topics. and i believe the same topics on different boards would not be the same. When i have something i would like to discuss, i post it in Aus Social. And i expect, to generally get informed responses of intrigue and value. The bluelight community consists of many different perspectives, attitudes and values, and i benefit from hearing these opinions. While, should i post the same topic on another board, the responses i'd get would differ because of the different users. i believe that each member of the bluelight community is similar to another, and in total there is a link between everyone - ie the same sort of people post on bluelight, while a different group of people post on another board.
i think its also a good point that just because drug discussion doesnt receive as many posts, doesnt mean it doesnt receive viewers.
I think bluelight is for social chatter, drug information and harm minimisation. whether or not people visit the drug information forums, the bluelight community upholds its mission through friendships and advice. ie you see a friend, an acquaintance, a fellow bluelighter doing something potentially dangerous and its like "woah, hang on there ... " *proceeds to suggest, advise, correct etc*
 
i personally use bluelight a majority of the time for information purposes--- whether that be sharing my information and/or experiences, or to draw upon others'.
that doesn't mean that when i am combing through the social forum i am performing a lower task... i mean, hello! social interaction is equally as acceptable and rewarding and prestigious as information sharing, and often times involes doing this anyway...
just because i don't think of academic topics and serious questions 24/7 doesn't mean that i am any less than you, or anyone else.
i enjoy my social rants, and i think that i learn just as much if not more from this little corner of bluelight than the pill searches of other dug related info searches i do.
 
So... we make a distinction then, between 'The New Bluelight' and 'Bluelighters'. The New Bluelight is therefore a medium which focusses on open space for discussion of drug issues free from social discrimination, and with a harm minimisation thrust. By sharing information between drug users, Bluelight aims to educate and encourage drug users to make informed decisions. Bluelighters, on the other hand, are the contributors to this medium, who individually may or may not be harm-minimisation biased, and may or may not wish to aid the mission of Bluelight. (Personally I think that anyone who isn't interested in actively promoting the principles of harm minimisation, and still calls themselves a Bluelighter, should be ashamed of themselves for taking so much from Bluelight and giving nothing back).
What does Bluelight do for you?
Bluelight provides access to a wealth of information to you free. Bluelight provides links between you and many brilliant minds who work hard at supplying quality information at no cost. It provides a place for you to leave messages for your friends that you've met through partying. It provides entertainment in the form of a world-focussed group of bulletin boards from which you can receive up to date and well-scrutinised information about harm minimisation. It acts as a reminder to keep you thinking about moderation in drug use.
What have you done for Bluelight lately?
Have you learnt something and shared it? Have you answered a newbie's E question? Have you read an interesting article about drugs in the paper and pointed it out on the drug discussion forum? Have you questioned something that a person has told you as fact? Have you tested a pill and posted the results on pillreports? Have you spoken to someone about E-testers? Have you shared your harm minimisation information with another person who didn't already know it?
People often get so enthusiastic about taking drugs (and talking about them) when they first discover them - if only people could be so upfront and enthused about harm minimisation... I mean, it's something to take pride in. I know many of the Australian Bluelighters still are to this day, having kept the HM interesting for over 3 years, and that's what makes me proud to stay involved. If only everyone who called themself a Bluelighter were equally as willing to try and make a difference.
BigTrancer :)
 
Big up yerself BT ;)
You get a gold star for that one...
 
Hey! Here's a good idea....
If someone wants to register a new name, they are required to pass a "test" of sorts. It is simply a basic harm minimisation questionnaire. The answers can be found in the relevant F.A.Q, and about a 90-100% score is needed. This way, the newbies have to be exposed to at least some HM at the beginning. It would be simple to code in, I think. Just don't ask me, I don't do programming. ;)
 
I believe something similar to this idea was mooted a long time ago - as a means from passing from Greenlighter to Bluelighter, rather than having the title based on exceeding 20 posts, which as we all know is no real method of peer review or rating.
There are some merits to having a knowledge based identifier associated with a Bluelight nickname, but at the moment if you want to figure out how reliable a Bluelighter is as an information resource, you have to read heaps of their posts and figure out what they know and what they don't. (Which I guess isn't so bad, as you can often pick it up in a few posts, and people invariably learn something while scanning threads anyway). Perhaps this idea points toward a cliquey and introverted Bluelight though, which doesn't project its information to educate people.
I'm definitely up for encouraging people who are able to demonstrate sound knowledge of HM principles and make the effort to help people learn what they know, and continually question the facts to distill their information down to the best available knowledge. Until a method for doing just that is available (and frankly I'm not sure if there will be a decent automated approach implemented at any point in the forseeable future) then I continue to give all the Bluelight Harm Minimisation contributors a double
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. (As opposed to the double 'bird' a couple pages back which is reserved for non-contributors to BL HM ;) ).
BigTrancer :)
 
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