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Thoughts and suggestions for forum improvement

complexPHILOSOPHY

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 15, 2006
Messages
756
Location
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Do you guys have any suggestions or thoughts to improve the forum? I am interested in better moderation techniques, better discussion starters and overall improvements.

All suggestions/improvements should be placed here so that everyone can read and reply.
 
Better discussion topics sound good. We need more current events relating to history and space and future and the like. The old religion topic is getting old.

That said, if I run across anything, I'll be sure to post it.
 
I think either a merging or closing down of really repetative topics would be good. A lot of the recent threads seem to keep ending up as the same discussion.

Maybe having one big ongoing religion thread where people can discuss/debate/argue anything relating to religion would help keep it from spilling over into everything else.
 
Perhaps if discussions were somewhat less abstract and generally messy. Even if certain T&A regulars are right and some of this discussion is too "outside the box" for my closed-minded self to follow, maybe y'all can just humor me and dumb it down for the less enlightened posters such as myself. It was fun when we had the socio-political discussions and such, but as soon as the nature of reality and the debate over the existence of God became hot topics, people went wild with it and posted all kinds of mystical nonsense that simply can't be tested by logic and reasoning and is therefore pointless to discuss as far as I'm concerned.
 
LiveIllegal said:
Perhaps if discussions were somewhat less abstract and generally messy. Even if certain T&A regulars are right and some of this discussion is too "outside the box" for my closed-minded self to follow, maybe y'all can just humor me and dumb it down for the less enlightened posters such as myself. It was fun when we had the socio-political discussions and such, but as soon as the nature of reality and the debate over the existence of God became hot topics, people went wild with it and posted all kinds of mystical nonsense that simply can't be tested by logic and reasoning and is therefore pointless to discuss as far as I'm concerned.
i find myself quoting this a lot (because i very much agree with it). gandhi said "you must be the change you wish to see in the world"

i think i'm right in saying that you've never started a thread in t&a. one of the best things you can do if you are not happy with the threads in a forum is start some threads which you do like.

alasdair
 
- Ban religious threads for a short time until things calm down on the subject
- Close threads that turn to "tit for tat" sooner
- Brain teasers! (like Akoto said :))
 
I would prefer it if repetitious posts were warned. Also discussion ending attitudes, such as those expressed by those with a strong presumption that they hold some sort of exclusive right to truth.
 
Thank you for your input. I will take these suggestions into consideration and do my best to put things into action.

I am going to talk with ebola as well to see what he thinks.

Keep the ideas coming.
 
I appreciate the issue with repetitive posts but you cant stop people from posting a new topic asking "what is god?"

If you do that you are alienating newcomers to the forum.
Yes they can go and read old threads but then they do not feel a sense of participation. To be honest I think repetition is a nescesary evil... and sometimes it may produce some occasional gems amongst the piles of same old.

If the regulars want different topics to discuss then post them yourselves and increase the amount of topics which will spread out the repetition anyways...

I dont think sticky posts for topics like religion is a good idea because the potential for trolls and trouble makers is multiplied.
 
Its already been said, but I'd like to see less repetition. Maybe keep one or two of the "god threads" on the front page at any one time. That, and no proselytizing, as it generally just leads to flame wars with no real discussion. Also, any threads that are started by someone saying "evolution is not true" or "god is real" without actually expecting discussion.
 
^ i agree. there are a handful of threads on the front page alone which might be merged.

the definition, existence or otherwise of 'god' seems to be a recurring theme in t&a. rightly so. would that subject alone merit a separate sub-forum?

this forum has a history of excellent discussion of thought provoking subjects and it's easy for that to get lost in the noise when a hardhead comes to town and that old debate rears its head again*

alasdair

* i accept that i am as often part of this problem as i am part of the solution. 'they' say some of the most infuriating things and i know i'm not supposed to respond. but i do...
 
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I kinda like the idea of a sticky religion/anti-religion thread.
I think it could clear a lot of the repetitious chatter.

>>It was fun when we had the socio-political discussions and such, but as soon as the nature of reality and the debate over the existence of God became hot topics>>

That's, to a certain extent, a problem with the sub-forum breakdown at bluelight. Since all political theory discussion appears here instead of in "current events and politics" (what is the value of politics without political theory, anyway?), you're going to be exposed to abstract, speculative metaphysics, as this is a philosophy forum.

>>people went wild with it and posted all kinds of mystical nonsense that simply can't be tested by logic and reasoning and is therefore pointless to discuss as far as I'm concerned.>>

Beware, lest reason becomes its own dogma.
...
Also, remember that I am now a mod in name only. :)

ebola
 
the definition, existence or otherwise of 'god' seems to be a recurring theme in t&a. rightly so. would that subject alone merit a separate sub-forum?

I was going to suggest that as well. I think it would an interesting experiment to try that out and see how it works out. Also, I really just dont like the name "Thoughts & Awareness". It makes me think of a pothead coming up with some cliche concept while stone like "maybe the universe is an atom and we're cells" or someshit like that. If I remember correctly this forum had a different name, but its been so long I dont remember what it was. What does the awareness part mean anyway? Awareness of what? I think it would be better if it had a name that didn't try to describe the content but was somehow still connected to it .. I.E.. The dark Side, The lounge... I mean if the dark side was "negative effects of drugs" and the lounge was "content not related to anything else here" it wouldn't be the same.
 
^ It was Spirituality & Personal Philosophy (or something very near that). Just as stoner-sounding as Thoughts and Awareness but without the funny abbreviation ;)
 
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