Given a 17 yo has spoken the wisest words in this thread, any thoughts of exclusion should be trodden into the ground.
Satch is right. Remember Nin's exercise with *that* sig pic?
Exclusion = loss of richness and vitality.
..even if it is satch.
Except that's exactly what I said too, I agree!
And it was E*s pic. With the dolphins.
I was gonna ask what Nin did, but yes, I do remember that post of mine. Some similar points are being discussed here.
It's sad to think that one day we may have to shoo netspeakers off to a forum we've designated for them. I mean, haven't they already been shooed off from somewhere else when they decided to come here? Where will the sub-dividing end?
I understand broadening ourselves to appeal to more of the kinds of people we want here, but I'm sorry - I won't budge an inch for folks I don't want in the first place.
Ooo that sounded so exclusive. Like those jerks in the 60's who didn't want "colored" people using their washrooms.
Anyway, I just figure that all messageboards are what they are. They can change and try to get more people in, but in my opinion that'll just seperate us further. There is a difference between a website that appeals to certain types and they are given several forums to post in for their different interests, and a website that has no real distinction but each of it's forums is made up of certain types of people. I mean, can you just imagine years from now our Turf forum taking on the Movies forum in an awards ceremony?
TORC was sort of a place where many
different boards could come together. There wasn't a
whole lot of mixing... most forums just stuck to themselves.
I'll be sad to stop posting with Leoba or Guru because I don't role-play, or Rodia or Estel because they like to chat in Turf threads. The way the boards are now, we all post in every forum and are always passing one another. Obviously I look forward to board77 growing and all that, I just worry that as we get in more people with very different personalities, it is
them who will split us up because we will
have to make more forums to appeal to their personalities and then everyone will gravitate to their little groups again.
I wasn't around TORC in the begining, so I am sure this is exactly what you guys had to go through,
but this is new for me. I sound like an ass, I realize, but hey, I like the idea of b77 itself being for certain types of people. IMO, the new people who join (mostly I'm talking about the non-TORCers......... or perhaps the kiddie TORCers who heard that we have no terms of service and can swear) should be accommodating us, and not the other way around. It probably comes down to a choice between keeping your site's intended personality, or changing it to accommodate your growing membership. This is what Jonathan had to deal with from the start.
EDIT: oh, and what Ro and Guru said - I dunno if a "no netspeak" rule is going to work. I mean, we will occassionally break it, and then where do you draw the line? If it's the personality types generally associated with netspeakers you are trying to dissuade, well I guess if a Fandom forum turns up here then at least they'll be out of your hair. Also, you can try that "if you don't like it, don't read it" jive that you'd tell others who don't like your naughty posts.
(I'd just like to clarify that the phrase should be "if you read it and don't like it - fuck off or shut up". I always hated the thought that you'd have to not like something before you read it. I mean, how can you tell you won't like it if you haven't read it yet? Anyhoos...)
*E*