Question about the current state of TDS

Atelier3 said:
The measure probably needs to be “are people in serious drug related psychological need being prevented or intimidated from posting in TDS or an alternative BL forum”..
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That’s a great way of looking at it. Is help actively being prevented? If not then I suppose the benefit still remains. Good call!
 
I've been thinking about this a lot. I've been pretty caught up in the more slack or perhaps toxic side of this site as of late.. although I do my best not to drag that casual, don't give a shit attitude into my posts in the more essential, harm reduction motivated parts of the site. Still, the attitude leaks out. This probably isn't going to be a popular opinion but I honestly kind of think that some of the culture that's developed in parts of this site, specifically the lounge, is having a negative impact on the rest of the site at times.

I do have some belief that that part of the site has gone wild and unchecked to the point that these responses which are a little inappropriate elsewhere are making it out elsewhere and it feels counter intuitive to maintaining a harm reduction based, support forum for us people with drug and mental health problems. I certainly have my fair share. And to be quite honest, although it may seem kind of funny at the time, I'm not sure I really ever feel better after a round of shit disturbing and smack talk in the lounge. But I do when I'm trying to be more helpful, and concise in my stances and act more empathically, or even with some degree of professionalism in attitude towards trying to help others like myself through these kinds of problems we have. Whatever capacity that I can.

My persona here is real. The degree it's gone to though some aspects is kind of warped because I've been engaging in this culture here which is ultimately a little toxic at times. Sometimes if you get a bunch of people joking around, being hostile towards each other because that's status quo, then the community can become just that. A joke. Every once in awhile I think of stepping away from it and just focusing on forums like the Dark Side, dipping my toes more in the mental health forums and the recovery forums, I've got a lot of input I can give to drug culture and the other drugs forum. Some of the interest forums like Music are cool to me. But instead I'm lounging around quite often.

I do not advocate for dropping this part of the site or revamping the user base or anything radical like that in any sense, but I do think that if some motions could be made towards dealing with the obvious shit posts where it isn't necessary (including my own) in a healthy way that promotes healthy discussions and the development of healthy supports between more of the members here, there's a lot of untapped potential in this site. I'm gonna stick around, and I hope to prove myself worthwhile volunteer my time towards the operation and development of this site in a more official way as a thriving harm reduction community at some point in the future. It is a huge subject in my life which I'm very involved and interested in, and I'm honestly feeling a little tired mucking about sometimes while my primary purpose for being here is being left off side.

This isn't very well thought out and its been a long, weird day so I'm going to leave it there. Hopefully it makes some sense, without coming across as being holier than thou or that I'm just in opposition to a larger part of the site.it's not meant to be. Thanks for listening



'
 
I’ve only been a here a year so maybe I can speak somewhat from the perspective of the “new generation”

I think this site is a bit of an anomaly for most people my age. It’s rare to find forums where one can get to know other members and have personal interactions. It’s kind of intimidating at first to reach out to other people. Most people’s only previous message board exposure is reddit...

Im not too active in the Lounge but I do see the casual nature leaking out sometimes. When two buddies from the lounge start chatting in threads elsewhere that attitude might not be recognized by new members as just them dicking around together. They might interpret that as the forum’s culture. I know I did at first.

BL will always be a place for druggies to convene. That will also always bring people who are deeply troubled with mental illness. If we can help them we should, even if they don’t “play nice” at first. It can be really hard to know the vibe of this place if you’re new. As a druggie who has luckily kept away from serious abuse, this place has genuinely saved my life. It’s like AA for people who don’t want to abstain from everything but who want to use drugs with some critical thinking in mind. This is a place to share your honest thoughts, and sometimes that means emotionally dumping, including any anger or hatred that has been bottled up. If I didn’t have a place to vent about my LSD binge I would probably just take more of it. Let’s try not to condemn and instead recognize that this is a unique place, so it’s understandable why people have trouble “fitting in” at first
 
I have been a mod for a couple months so it's time I take my fair share of blame. I've tried to reply to as many people as I can that reach out but it's difficult when you've got people like *cough* specified *cough* that just use it as a trolling ground and a lot of the important shit gets lost in the shuffle. I have also had a breakdown myself and been in rehab right after I started modding, not using it as an excuse but maybe an explanation, also this is the first BL forum I have ever moderated so I am very green.

I love you all here and am open to constructive criticism to make the place better, I'm just only able to get online so often and when I do it's usually a lot of catching up and I have to wade through some troll nonsense. Point period we need more mods in here and its a tough job, but I think we'll be getting better with a couple new mods recently.
 
deficiT said:
I have been a mod for a couple months so it's time I take my fair share of blame. I've tried to reply to as many people as I can that reach out but it's difficult when you've got people like *cough* specified *cough* that just use it as a trolling ground and a lot of the important shit gets lost in the shuffle. I have also had a breakdown myself and been in rehab right after I started modding, not using it as an excuse but maybe an explanation, also this is the first BL forum I have ever moderated so I am very green.

I love you all here and am open to constructive criticism to make the place better, I'm just only able to get online so often and when I do it's usually a lot of catching up and I have to wade through some troll nonsense. Point period we need more mods in here and its a tough job, but I think we'll be getting better with a couple new mods recently.
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In regards to the specified threads, I would ensure he wasn’t getting shit even though he might be taking the piss and if it is clearly trolling then just lock it. That JJ thread was a joke also. A big issue with her is simply the language barrier, it’s as clear as day she doesn’t understand intention behind things or slang. It should never have gone as far as it did with everyone absolutely going in on her. That should have been stopped much earlier and thread closed.

If this is supposed to be a serious part of the forum then it should be treated as such and there should be a no tolerance policy in regards to comments that are not helpful or well intentioned.
 
PrincessDiz said:
In regards to the specified threads, I would ensure he wasn’t getting shit even though he might be taking the piss and if it is clearly trolling then just lock it. That JJ thread was a joke also. A big issue with her is simply the language barrier, it’s as clear as day she doesn’t understand intention behind things or slang. It should never have gone as far as it did with everyone absolutely going in on her. That should have been stopped much earlier and thread closed.

If this is supposed to be a serious part of the forum then it should be treated as such and there should be a no tolerance policy in regards to comments that are not helpful or well intentioned.
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I agree, I am just not on much and I missed it so I dont think I even saw the post you're referencing. It's not acceptable because this is the one place in the forum people should go to feel safe. I am going to start kicking any of his future posts in here that i see towards the lounge. please message me if you have ideas of what i can do to be helpful because i want to make TDS better.
 
deficiT said:
I agree, I am just not on much and I missed it so I dont think I even saw the post you're referencing. It's not acceptable because this is the one place in the forum people should go to feel safe. I am going to start kicking any of his future posts in here that i see towards the lounge. please message me if you have ideas of what i can do to be helpful because i want to make TDS better.
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Look dude, don’t be blaming yourself, you’re doing this on your own time, it’s mad to think you’ll see everything.

I guess the TDS community need to come together and start reporting comments that aren’t in line with what TDS is about. That would help the mods out loads.
Take a no tolerance policy to comments that aren’t in line with TDS and just clean the thread and give the user a warning or however you do it.

Give yourself a break too dude, you’ve your own shit going on as well! These things happen but it’s a good learning experience.
 
Atelier3 said:
My feeling is the whole place is slowly turning into a casual social hangout for activie drug abusers and people with mental health problems - except for a few specialist forums like What's Wrong With MDMA today and the Invega casualties one where it's still pretty professional and serious. The Lounge vibe ooozes out into the rest of the joint pretty easily. However, most people posting in need get treated respectfully and helpfully - even when its 99 % certain they are trolling.
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Posting in need of what? Help? And trolling??? That would be royaly screwed, why would anyone do that?? I dont get the idea behind trolling. Its poison! When trust and comaradery (sp?) go out the window, who would want to post? I was blamed too for something i didnt but just a casuality of many. After all, its still the best Site, IMO.
 
dalpat077 said:
Were it not for the fact that I've just received a PM from a Moderator informing me to not drag HIM into my "petty drama" (as he put it) and THIS as a result of my contacting HIM to explain the situation and/or confusion that may have transpired, and to apologize to him for the same, with regard to his "exit plan" thread (and now I AM NOW SPECIFICALLY referring to the thread which I did NOT in the past on my own thread that caused so much consternation) I would have steered clear of this argument. But and as I noted, "tongue in cheek", in my OWN complaint on THIS section of the forums when my thread was deleted: the above quote appears to be "spot on the mark" and the truth (no matter what the member's past history is with this site or the apparent animosity between said member and the staff here).

Take a nice good look at that thread (especially now). Gee. I dunno. I see some specifics there now which I never noticed before i.e. liberal references to Nembutal (Pentobarbitone) and even cyanide as of a few minutes ago! Dunno. Maybe it's just me. But those sound like references to pretty specific suicide methods to me. And yet MY thread was deleted because I linked to two posts on another forum advising AGAINST using two certain methods and that their information was wrong (and never went on to elaborate or correct there misinformation but merely informed them that what they were planning to do was not going to work as intended). So not only does my thread get deleted, I get a fucking rude response from the same Moderator to whom I was explaining any possible confusion between the two threads, and apologizing should this be the case, but I'm the bad guy in all of this (and I know it's resulted in one or two well respected members no longer willing to give me the time of day i.e. reputation now in question). Good one. But sorry I keep forgetting: said Moderator has been a member since 2009 and has around 21 000 posts! Damn. I keep having to remind myself of that. Like I said: already mentioned "tongue in cheek" (but nobody picked that up I presume).

And so many experts on the topic. Well seeing as it's THIS particular member in question but somebody who is oh so well versed in all of this and apparently knows the lot well then THIS post shouldn't be an issue now should it. You may want to recalculate your dosage and ensure that the concentration of whichever brand it is that you manage to get your paws on is high enough per ml. Which was EXACTLY my point in the HARM REDUCTION posts that I linked to on the other forum (and which was of such major concern to all and sundry).

As somebody once said: "I'm not one to push first but I'm more than happy to push back much harder if fucked with".

Anyway. Have your TDS forum. After all is said and done: it's not my site or my forums so who am I to call the shots or pass an opinion.

Like I also said before: let's get back to the IMPORTANT things i.e. how to potentiate the high of a certain drug or how far to stick a syringe up your arse. Far more worthwhile topics to discuss. Unless of course you are one of the founding members or original Moderators around here. We get it.

Let me get back to trying to help people in REAL need e.g. those suffering from benzo. withdrawal and depression and the like. Sorry. If you're fucked (be it physically or emotionally) and are suicidal: I cannot help you i.e. better you reach out to the founding members or original Moderators.
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Let me shed some light on how the whole modding thing works around here since you are so interested in the subject lately. Specific mods are delegated to specific forums. Each individual mod naturally has their own schedule and amount of time they can devote to volunteering here. Most, if not all, of us face our own problems which may lead to unforeseen absences for varying stretches of time.

How do mods know if there is something going wrong inside one of their assigned forums? The first thing they do is check their reported posts. These are typically the most urgent and glaring problems that need resolved. If something is problematic but doesn't get reported, it would have to be discovered firsthand by combing through each and every thread. That is something that can be quite time consuming. As I previously stated , certain forums have mods who are less active than others . There's no avoiding this.

So inevitably, sometimes things go unnoticed for too long. Even if you see moderators commenting in such threads, they are most likely mods from somewhere else on the site. They aren't responsible for what goes on there and may not be familiar with the specific guidelines that are enforced there. They are members of this site just like you and have just as much right to post freely wherever they choose.

Like I told you before, the best option usually is to directly message the specific forum moderators that are listed at the top of each forum. Or any senior moderator or administrator. Those are the people who will have the specific knowledge to address your issue. Or will at least be able to point you in the right direction.

The answer is not to come here and throw a tantrum. Posting in response to someone who is extremely biased against us, giving credence to their narrative which you honestly know nothing about.
 
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JessFR said:
Tds is one of those forums that does a lot of good for non staff individuals, but involves exposing yourself to a lot of negativity if you're responsible for it.
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Truth.

TDS was one of the forums I contributed to the most when I joined (it was the Erikmen/herbavore era) and it’s such a special part of BL. And I have to agree with JessFR that it would be quite difficult to mod, as just lurking there can be heavy sometimes. Props to all former and current TDS mods! 🙂
 
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