board77

The Last Homely Site on the Web

DISCUSSION: Read Only Forums for Non-Members

Post Reply   Page 5 of 7  [ 132 posts ]
Jump to page « 13 4 5 6 7 »
What do you think would be the fairest way to resolve the question of which forums should be readable by non-members when we open?
A separate poll should be held in each forum other then the ToE, Outside, and Board Administration Forums, which would not be readable by non-members.
  
73% [ 16 ]
A single ballot should be be devised to determine exactly which forums, if any, should be readable by non-members.
  
14% [ 3 ]
Two concurrent polls should run, one to determine whether any forums should be readable by non-members, and the other to determine which was would be readable if any are allowed.
  
9% [ 2 ]
Some other method (please describe)
  
5% [ 1 ]
Total votes: 22
Author Message
Primula_Baggins
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 29 May , 2005 5:19 pm
Living in hope
Offline
 
Posts: 7291
Joined: Sat 29 Jan , 2005 5:54 pm
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
 
I agree with you, Tosh. The Dicisne forum is a good indication of our potential, and it includes a Tolkien subforum.

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Holbytla
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 29 May , 2005 5:23 pm
Grumpy cuz I can be
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6642
Joined: Thu 09 Dec , 2004 3:07 am
 
You are right. It may be a good indication of potential.
However "indication", and "potential" are the operative words.
The reality is that all the posts in those 4 forums add up to about 8% of all the posts here.
That can change though.

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Primula_Baggins
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 29 May , 2005 5:32 pm
Living in hope
Offline
 
Posts: 7291
Joined: Sat 29 Jan , 2005 5:54 pm
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
 
Holby, of course if we wanted to get our most active forum out there it would be Turf. But Turf is kind of an odd place and is not, I think, very welcoming to people who don't know us. It's full of bizarre in-jokes and long nonsense threads. Thoughtful posters would not find much of interest there—but spammers might. Do we want to attract spammers and (possibly) put off thoughtful posters?

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
ToshoftheWuffingas
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 29 May , 2005 5:55 pm
Filthy darwinian hobbit
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6921
Joined: Fri 11 Mar , 2005 12:52 pm
Location: Silly Suffolk
 
8% is a reasonable proportion of our activity to offer as a showcase. In The Halls of Fire, which has hardly been fast moving, in the last fortnight or so there have been posts by 15 of our best posters. Altogether it has had almost 1800 posts. That and the other forums in Dicisne offer a representative view of the level of discourse here.

_________________

[ img ]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos

Norwich Beer Festival 2009


Top
Profile Quote
Holbytla
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 29 May , 2005 5:57 pm
Grumpy cuz I can be
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6642
Joined: Thu 09 Dec , 2004 3:07 am
 
Are we misrepresenting ourselves to the thoughtful posters if we put out The Dicisne forum?
Look I am in favor of putting everything out there except TOE and Outside.

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Primula_Baggins
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 29 May , 2005 6:06 pm
Living in hope
Offline
 
Posts: 7291
Joined: Sat 29 Jan , 2005 5:54 pm
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
 
Well, as I've said elsewhere, I would rather not put the Symposium out there for the bots and lurkers, and I think others might agree. People are pretty honest there; people post there to ask advice or discuss personal problems. Limiting it to registered members at least keeps this stuff from coming up in a Google search on our screen names. I'm not saying it provides any real privacy, but I know from experience that Google archives live on a long time after the posts they collect have been edited away.

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Eruname
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 29 May , 2005 6:35 pm
Islanded in a Stream of Stars
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 8748
Joined: Wed 27 Oct , 2004 6:24 pm
Location: UK
Contact: Website
 
I think everything should be viewable except for The Symposium, TOE, and Outside....though I had always thought when we opened everything would be viewable except for TOE.

_________________

Abandon this fleeting world
abandon yourself.
Then the moon and flowers
will guide you along the way.

-Ryokan

http://wanderingthroughmiddleearth.blogspot.com/


Top
Profile Quote
The Tennis Ball Kid
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 29 May , 2005 7:13 pm
Seeking Wimbledon
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 2225
Joined: Sat 12 Mar , 2005 7:37 pm
Location: The East of East, Fighting Wild Were-worms in The Last Desert
Contact: Website
 
Keep in the mind that Halls Of Fire will (hopefully!) pick up a bit after we open and people aren't busy with the convention. Well, I hope so anyway...




ttbk

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Eruname
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 29 May , 2005 8:23 pm
Islanded in a Stream of Stars
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 8748
Joined: Wed 27 Oct , 2004 6:24 pm
Location: UK
Contact: Website
 
I'm sure it will ttbk. I believe Jny really has some stuff she wants to get into but has been unable to.

_________________

Abandon this fleeting world
abandon yourself.
Then the moon and flowers
will guide you along the way.

-Ryokan

http://wanderingthroughmiddleearth.blogspot.com/


Top
Profile Quote
truehobbit
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 29 May , 2005 8:44 pm
WYSIWYG
Offline
 
Posts: 3228
Joined: Wed 27 Oct , 2004 6:37 pm
Location: wherever
 
If there are forums (apart from the obvious ones which are also restricted for members) that are not readable for everybody, that means we'll get people who only register in order to see what they can't see without being registered

Which means they'll have posting rights before they even have made up their minds whether this place is right for them!

I think if we keep forums hidden from view, we'll need a way to control registration, the kind of "entry test" we'd envisaged months back, and I really don't think that's a good or even feasible idea.

_________________

From our key principles:

We listen to one another, make good-faith efforts to understand one another, and we treat one another respectfully at all times.


Top
Profile Quote
Athrabeth
Post subject:
Posted: Mon 30 May , 2005 5:17 am
Nameless
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 692
Joined: Wed 23 Feb , 2005 2:17 am
Location: On the Way
 
Damn!

There seem to be very valid pros and cons to ALL the options for "Read Only Forums"......................why, or why is nothing ever simple????

Personally, after reading through and considering the many thoughtful contributions to this discussion, I think that all of the forums, except those already restricted, should be open for viewing.

I realize that the Symposium contains some extremely personal content, but it also contains some wonderfully articulate, respectful, and interesting exchanges (and often, it seems, these two aspects of the discussions overlap). Posters like Anthy or yovargas or vison or Sass or tinwe (the list can obviously go on and on) can meaningfully contribute to a serious discussion in the Symposium, and ten minutes later can post something smart-ass spammy in the Turf. Later in the day, vison might submit another chapter of Erik of Rohan in There And Back Again, tinwe might discuss a recently released movie or Sass might be responding to the newest chapter discussion of the Sil in The Hall of Fire.

Back in my lurking days at TORC, I really enjoyed being able to see "all the sides" to many posters who would frequent different forums on a regular basis. I saw that many there could argue passionately about some element of the films, take part in a highly informative discussion of the book, goof around in the Talk threads, and even wax philosophical in Manwe. Some would participate regularly in a couple of forums, and others I would only see in one specialized 'territory'. Being able to do that not only helped me become familiar with the workings of each particular forum, it also helped me see how members could "adjust accordingly" to each venue. It helped me form a "big picture" of the board and was invaluable in helping me determine just where I might first venture as a noobie.

This board is the sum total of ALL its posters and ALL its forums, and the bigger and more open that picture is for potential members, the more accurate and informed their impressions, and hopefully, the more thoughtfully considered their choice to join or not to join. I can fully understand if some of the more sensitive threads in the Turf and Symposium are not considered "part of the package", so to speak, and support the idea of quietly archiving them, if possible. Like Eru, the thought of deleting them is somewhat repellent to me, but I suppose that this will come down to personal decisions made by those most affected by the entry of specific threads into a far more public domain. I do realize that there are some potential risks in opening up all unrestricted b77 forums to viewing, but really feel that these will be more than positively balanced by the potential benefits to this community.

_________________

[ img ]
"The pie that can be eaten is not the Eternal Pie."


Top
Profile Quote
Holbytla
Post subject:
Posted: Mon 30 May , 2005 5:29 am
Grumpy cuz I can be
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6642
Joined: Thu 09 Dec , 2004 3:07 am
 
Very nice post 'Beth honey.
I totally agree and I think you shed some much needed light on the whole idea of opening forums.
I always envisioned that when we were open, that meant we would be open, including readable to the public.

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Primula_Baggins
Post subject:
Posted: Mon 30 May , 2005 6:11 am
Living in hope
Offline
 
Posts: 7291
Joined: Sat 29 Jan , 2005 5:54 pm
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
 
I just really wish there could be a forum that is not ToE that is still register-to-read—not scanned by the Googlebots. I wish this for direct and immediate RL reasons, because I would like to be able to ask for advice. But I will not do so in a completely public forum—so if all our discussion forums are completely public, it can't happen; I will have to go back and delete the posts I've made so far, and ask the people who've responded to me to edit.

I find this frustrating. I would be surprised to find that I was the only one.

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Nin
Post subject:
Posted: Mon 30 May , 2005 9:57 am
Per aspera ad astra
Offline
 
Posts: 3388
Joined: Thu 28 Oct , 2004 6:53 am
Location: Zu Hause
 
I thought like Leoba and agree about everything she says, but I also understand Prim and her reluctance concerning the Symposium.

Now, the board is still closed so if you want to ask for advice, do it now.

Maybe before opening thread-owners could have thread deleted - or archived - at request. I also think that PotD should be archived out of view, even if I have not posted there in ages.

Personally, I don't like the idea of editing a lot - even if you edit your own post (and this already means you have to find a remember it) - then if others don't do the same, and have referred to your post, the content of your post often still can be guessed by a careful reader.

I don't think that I would have posts to idet - but honestly: I don't remember them all.

I would still say, open to read all except those for whom members need permissions too.

_________________

Nichts Schöneres unter der Sonne als unter der Sonne zu sein.
(Ingeborg Bachmann)


Top
Profile Quote
Rowanberry
Post subject:
Posted: Mon 30 May , 2005 12:09 pm
Can never be buggered at all
Offline
 
Posts: 828
Joined: Fri 04 Mar , 2005 3:50 pm
 
If openness is going to be our policy, I think it should extend to stuff visible for non-members as well. So, I'm for opening as much as possible - that is, everything but ToE, Business, and the administrative forums, and perhaps the Symposium - and archiving those threads that posters (even one poster in that thread) find too personal and sensitive for strangers to read. And, as much as I also hate deleting anything, I think though that the Invites forum should go when we open.

I just checked the situation in a Finnish Tolkien MB, which is in this respect very much like what we're planning to make b77. There, the forums open for members only are the correspondents of our Symposium and Moot & Geek, plus a forum where members can sell and buy collectibles and other stuff among each other. (Of course, there is no place like ToE, and the admin forums aren't even visible but for staff only, as it is a traditionally modded MB.) Everything else can be read by non-members too.

_________________

People, you and me, are not trusted. The right doesn't like us because we don't do what we're told by our betters, and the left doesn't like us because it secretly thinks we would be on the right given half a chance and a lottery win. And both think we should not make our own decisions, because we might make the wrong ones. ~ Terry Pratchett


Top
Profile Quote
ToshoftheWuffingas
Post subject:
Posted: Mon 30 May , 2005 2:45 pm
Filthy darwinian hobbit
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6921
Joined: Fri 11 Mar , 2005 12:52 pm
Location: Silly Suffolk
 
To be clear, I need no privacy for myself and I am quite happy if everyone wants all the obvious forums (fora sounds so stilted) open to read. I hope though that the people who do want this are sensitive to those who have posted personal things in the past thinking that only registered members of the board would read it.
Having said that I appreciate Athrabeth's views and it was one of the things that helped me to fall in love with TORC a year ago. People there did make very personal statements on an open board.
If the path taken is to open all the main forums what can we do to help those like Prim who wish to raise things without becoming visible to Google? People have made friends here and may wish to ask questions or discuss things but not all of them may feel comfortable doing so if non members or search engines can read their names and messages.
As I have no personal interest, I am happy to drop the subject if it doesn't worry others.

_________________

[ img ]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos

Norwich Beer Festival 2009


Top
Profile Quote
Voronwë_the_Faithful
Post subject:
Posted: Mon 30 May , 2005 2:52 pm
Offline
 
Posts: 5169
Joined: Thu 10 Feb , 2005 6:53 pm
Contact: Website
 
Its certainly helpful that everyone has been expressing an opinion on what ultimate resolution of this question they would like to see, but it gets us no closer to deciding who we are actually going to decide what the ulitimate resolution will be. So I am adding a poll asking people to state which method of resolving this question they would prefer to see. It would be a great help if people would vote in this poll to help us get a sense of how we should proceed.

Thanks! :)


Top
Profile Quote
Holbytla
Post subject:
Posted: Mon 30 May , 2005 2:55 pm
Grumpy cuz I can be
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6642
Joined: Thu 09 Dec , 2004 3:07 am
 
I would just hate to see the Symposium unre4adable. I think that forum has the potential to draw some interested posters.
Perhaps there should be sort of a personal forum or advice forum?

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Voronwë_the_Faithful
Post subject:
Posted: Mon 30 May , 2005 3:14 pm
Offline
 
Posts: 5169
Joined: Thu 10 Feb , 2005 6:53 pm
Contact: Website
 
Holby, I think that's a great idea. I agree with you that that forum has the potential to attract good future members. But I completely hear what Prim is saying about certain topics being being more personal then people want to share with anyone who is not willing to make the committment to be a member. Your suggestion would accommodate both of those interests. Really excellent. :)


Top
Profile Quote
Primula_Baggins
Post subject:
Posted: Mon 30 May , 2005 4:02 pm
Living in hope
Offline
 
Posts: 7291
Joined: Sat 29 Jan , 2005 5:54 pm
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
 
I could go for that, too, Holby. It's not the that I want to keep the Symposium hidden; it's that I think there ought to be a place for "members only" discussions, sort of a Members' Lounge, where things like my advice request or threads about personal problems could go—and probably also any TORC thread, if one starts up again.

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Display: Sort by: Direction:
Post Reply   Page 5 of 7  [ 132 posts ]
Return to “Threads of Historical Interest” | Jump to page « 13 4 5 6 7 »
Jump to: