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[Feedback Thread] How can WE improve on the PD forum? Suggestions welcome!

DivineMomenT said:
I love bluelight but I think there is a lot of elitism and hate going on here. Some of this behavior is even tolerated and I know some people say some off the wall shit but I we aren't here to belittle people for their ignorance, are we? I don't think its such a big deal in PD but I do see people "hating" from time to time.
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Interesting point. That ids something (elitism) that leaves a bitter tste in my mouth; something I'd hate to think is present in either the forum I help on or in my posts. Can you (kindly) point out some examples, even just with a PM to me?

We defintely aren't here to put people down or belittle anyone, and I really hate to think that peope have felt that way....so please, help us change. If your noticing these problems, please let someone know (as you've done here Divine Moment).

BTW, this thread will be a long-running thread; ie. we will be constantly trying to improve on the forum, so anytime you have an idea, pop it in here (anyone).
 
*Well, I will remove what I deem to be silly and off-topic posts now I believe. I doubt this will be a rigid and completely blanket approach, but really unneccesary stuff will be removed. Not trying to kill your fun, just contain it :)

Bear in mind, I will be performing the same actions on my own rather odd posts at times :):) Once more, its nothing personal, its simply to keep the site readable for the majority.

Piecepeacepeas :)
 
It's a shame we can't have public floggings of trolls (or public executions of the really irritatng ones) to set an example.

Ah good old Victorian brutality for offenders...
 
^Hmm, stocks come to mind too. :)
 
It's not really the moderator's job to be the smartest poster, though. There job is to moderate the forum, moving threads, renaming threads, deleting posts, editing posts, etc. It's not necessarily their job to post the most accurate information.
 
NeuronalPerception said:
I would suggest confirming all Moderators have a degree in medicine or at the very least chemistry.
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Then we'd have to completely replace all of the current PD moderators, I believe. Actually I guess not 5-HT2, but the rest of us. ;)
 
NeuronalPerception said:
I would suggest confirming all Moderators have a degree in medicine or at the very least chemistry.
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why? People should not look to the internet for medical advice, especially if that is advice about psychedelics (which the medical community is extremely poor at understanding right now).

freejroll said:
It's not really the moderator's job to be the smartest poster, though. There job is to moderate the forum, moving threads, renaming threads, deleting posts, editing posts, etc. It's not necessarily their job to post the most accurate information.
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I agree. Its why I love our subforum so much: we have some EXCELLENT regular posters with knowledge that accounts for the 'base' of our forum.

(also our moderators are pretty informed folks).
 
NeuronalPerception said:
I would suggest confirming all Moderators have a degree in medicine or at the very least chemistry.
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Your right actually. Fortunately I'm a doctor of love so s'all good :) <3 Honestly though- why should that be? Its not as if having the tag MD makes much impact on people ;)

freejroll said:
It's not really the moderator's job to be the smartest poster, though. There job is to moderate the forum, moving threads, renaming threads, deleting posts, editing posts, etc. It's not necessarily their job to post the most accurate information.
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Exactly! :)....also, the moderators get information from this site as well; its a too way street.
 
NeuronalPerception said:
I would suggest confirming all Moderators have a degree in medicine or at the very least chemistry.
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Nah, mostly common sense & a small dollop of people skills are the main things needed (in which case I can only assume my appointment was a total slip up! =D)
 
DivineMomenT said:
I love bluelight but I think there is a lot of elitism and hate going on here. Some of this behavior is even tolerated and I know some people say some off the wall shit but I we aren't here to belittle people for their ignorance, are we? I don't think its such a big deal in PD but I do see people "hating" from time to time.
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hey man

nice handle :)

the forum staff at bluelight are all volunteers and help out in their own time. as such, it's inevitable that we'll miss problem posts once in a while. if you ever see a post you feel is of questionable value, please don't hesitate to report it (which explicitly brings it to the attention of the forum staff).

there are many incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining contributors here in pd as well as a dedicated, talented moderator team. thanks go to all of you for helping to make pd what it is today.

alasdair
 
NeuronalPerception said:
I would suggest confirming all Moderators have a degree in medicine or at the very least chemistry.
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Why? I can't think of one doctor I know whose opinion on psychedelic drugs is worth its salt. Doctors aren't trained to know anything about psychedelics; they are experts in pathogens, injuries, and in some cases specific surgical or internal specialties. What a doctor does has very little to do with psychedelics or the exploration of the mind.

And, working on a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics myself, I can honestly say that having a bachelor's level degree in chemistry wouldn't add much to discussion here either. Especially considering the broad scope of the content involved in B.S. level chemistry: of a required 44 hours of classroom and lab work necessary to get my degree, only 9 hours of that is organic chemistry. Everything else would have no application here.

I'm assuming that having a PhD in organic chemistry wouldn't be immensely helpful here either; as your input would be over-the-heads of all the other posters and they wouldn't know what the hell you are talking about; before long forcing you to make your way to ADD or blacklight.in, where you can converse with people who have a similar knowledge base.

I think just overall, thats a ridiculous idea. We have great mods here; and they have excellent credentials to mod this forum: they have extensive experience with psychedelics and they're level-headed, cool, and spend way too much time online. 'Nuff said.
 
I am not going to name any names specifically because I think it is quit obvious but one particular moderator needs to cool it with closing threads and deleting content he does not agree with or finds personally offensive. I have noticed in the last few monthes there has been too much censorship at bluelight, and in PD in particular. This should be an open forum to express ideas related to drugs not a place to hawk one liberal set of values above all else. Unless a post advocates unjustifiable violence, provides bad advice that is potentially harmfull to ones health, or provides sources for quasi/illegal substances then it should not be touched.

I think it is particularly harmfull when posts are edited for sourcing legal drugs such as a link to an alcohol vendor. Also most of all when posts are edited because a moderator feels an insensative or prejudiced comment has been made. Although these comments may not be constructive it is part of the content and can say a great deal about the users mindset and therefor help readers make a judgement about the validity of that persons advice. I have been seeing entirely too much of this editing and warning going on, disrespectfull or not all opinions should be respected in an open forum. SO please moderators, lay off the delete and edit buttons unless someones health is being threatened by a post. I much prefer erowids approach where a moderator will add in comments alerting readers to flase statements or questionable content rather than censorship.
 
^^ You seriously think there's too much censorship here? Do you remember what it was like when Church was here?

Regarding sourcing legal stuff, it's in the rules, sorry. That's just how we roll here. We do allow sourcing of scales and equipment like that.

Seriously though, please point me to all of these edits that you mentioned that happened recently because I feel like we really don't edit much. And we hardly hand out any warnings at all... the only warning I remember recently was for someone who was being outright mean to another poster. In all seriousness, I would like you to point these these warnings and edits out to me because I do not recall there being anything resembling a large amount and if I'm wrong I'd like to know. The only edits I've seen being done are to edit out sourcing.
 
^^^I have to agree with Xorkoth, I think we're pretty relaxed as far as letting things slide that aren't openly flying in the face of the BLUA. Sourcing illegal drug or paraphernelia vendors will generate a warning, because these are very clearly defined things that you agree not to do when you sign up to post on these sites. A warning is just that, a warning, not a sign that you are on some mod "shit list" as a lot of people seem to think it is. It's basically a way to create a record of severe BLUA infractions, so we can go back if there are future problems and see if there is a history of such behavior. But obviously we don't deal with all infractions this way, just the most egregious ones.

As for complaints about social banter cluttering the forum, they have legitimacy but there is another side to it as well. For a long time, people have been requesting that we allow purely social threads in this forum, and I have always been opposed to that because I feel it would clutter up the fourm listing. However, when a social thread was proposed as a sink for social discussion, I thought it was a good idea. Certainly it didn't eliminate off-topic posts in other threads, but at least now there's a designated place for such discussion so that people go there instead of creating new threads about their plans for the weekend and other such thigns.
 
^I agree with you two. Theworldwithin, I'm sorry but I don't know exactly what you mean...I close a fair few threads, but hardly ever warn people or edit posts so....:\ As far as the other mods go- its about even I'd say. As Xorkoth said, theres not going to be source discussing, legal, qasi-legal, legal on Pluto- it doesn't matter. If its source discussion, it is.

Honestly, tWW, I really think your barking up tghe wrong tree- I mean, we mod the forums and can't really get what your talking about....please explain a bit better so that these things can be addressed.

ps. While it may seem polite to not mention names, by mentioning that your not mentioning names, kinda bitchy, Lay it on the table, this forum is about honesty so theres nothing to fear.....The point of this thread is to offer crticisim/feedback to the volunteers who help keep the site in order, so the more we know, the better. Thats said, I don't actually know what you mean- if anything, theres hardly any censorship in PD and if there is- prove it.
 
I've been reading here since I first joined, and I think this section is one of the best on the site.

The only thing needed is MORE TRAFFIC! Then again, getting more people won't increase the quality of the posts... Quite the quandary.

I like the current mods a lot too. While past Mods were very influential, I often felt disrespected or unwanted. Now, you can actually joke around and not wonder whether you'll be banned or have posts deleted.
 
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