Forum Improvement Thread

[Chris]

Hey everyone,

I want our forum to grow and to gain more users but before I go out on some sort of advertising blitz, I would like everyone to provide feedback on how we might improve the forum.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to reply. These suggestions can be anything at all, such as improving the community standards and rules, or moving a pesky button that could be better placed.

Not all suggestions will be used but if more than two people agree on a suggestion, I will try to implement it unless there is a good reason not to.


Thanks!

[Kiefer]

I'd start the advertising right away personally, to get those members. I'll add any ideas for improvement that come to mind as I think of them.

[Kaeso]

You should probably put up some kind of general description of the forum itself, or if there is one already you should make it easier to find.

[meezly]

since the nature of this type of forum may likely attract more religious interlopers who see atheists as challenging targets, would it be helpful to have some guidelines?

I know these guys can be pretty entertaining, but they can also be very draining and distracting.

maybe this is kind of pointless and/or too much against the general principles of a discussion forum?

[Kiefer]

Here's an idea, have subdivisions of the forum sealed off to only certain members! That way when Atheists want to talk to only other Atheists, that option is available but it allows other people to still post in the main area.

[Kaeso]

since the nature of this type of forum may likely attract more religious interlopers who see atheists as challenging targets, would it be helpful to have some guidelines?

I know these guys can be pretty entertaining, but they can also be very draining and distracting.

Indeed! These guys are likely to be even less entertaining and even more draining and distracting if the membership of this forum increases greatly. I agree that guidelines to deal with this should be considered.

[Blondin]

Chris, for what it's worth, I would prefer to see less admin moderation rather than more. Even though we might all admit that some of the preachy types who seem hell-bent on converting us may be annoying, I think we run the risk of feeding them ammunition when we put too many restrictions on what may be discussed or banning people. I kind of like Phil Plait's moderation rules: If you act like a jerk you're outta here.

One of the commonest complaints about many of the pro-religion websites is that they don't allow dissenting opinions. As silly as some of the arguments are, there may be people who benefit from seeing the arguments and responses of others. For every person who contributes a question or challenge there are many more lurkers who may really wish to see how various topics are handled. If I really find a particular member's postings irritating I can always use the 'Ignore' function.

Lastly, I would hate to see people being banned for being annoying or offensive because A) I strongly believe that offense is in the eye of the beholder and once you allow it to become grounds for sanction you have given the power of censure to your detractors, B) I want to be able to call an asshole an asshole without running the risk of being banned myself.

[meezly]

Blondin, I agree with you totally. the last thing I want to do is detract from this forum, as I like the generally open attitude that it already has. and I'd esp. hate to see your colourful responses to religious zealots disappear

I wouldn't want to impose more restrictions, as people of diverse opinion and background should be welcome. what I had in mind was just a general guideline for everyone: for those who aren't quite religious trollers but who are here nevertheless for misguided reasons, and for how we should all behave with each other.

perhaps it's a fine line between blatant insults and gradual yet consistent subterfuge (which certain members seem to be resorting to). but if we have some guidelines to fall back on, we can say look, this is the umpteenth time you've imposed your religious beliefs and/or declared whatever negative judgments on us, can you please try to respect the guidelines that we've set forth?

if we have less moderation, we may need some more explicit rules of conduct, and perhaps a more democratic way for regular members to warn, or even vote off, repeat subterfugers?

[Christian Soldier]

Here's an idea, have subdivisions of the forum sealed off to only certain members! That way when Atheists want to talk to only other Atheists, that option is available but it allows other people to still post in the main area.

Kiefer, I agree 100%. This is a excellent idea. Hope you will use it Chris.

[Chris]

since the nature of this type of forum may likely attract more religious interlopers who see atheists as challenging targets, would it be helpful to have some guidelines?

I know these guys can be pretty entertaining, but they can also be very draining and distracting.

maybe this is kind of pointless and/or too much against the general principles of a discussion forum?

You should probably put up some kind of general description of the forum itself, or if there is one already you should make it easier to find.

I've added this to my list of things to-do.

Here's an idea, have subdivisions of the forum sealed off to only certain members! That way when Atheists want to talk to only other Atheists, that option is available but it allows other people to still post in the main area.

Great idea, I will add that to my to-do list as well.

Chris, for what it's worth, I would prefer to see less admin moderation rather than more. Even though we might all admit that some of the preachy types who seem hell-bent on converting us may be annoying, I think we run the risk of feeding them ammunition when we put too many restrictions on what may be discussed or banning people. I kind of like Phil Plait's moderation rules: If you act like a jerk you're outta here.

One of the commonest complaints about many of the pro-religion websites is that they don't allow dissenting opinions. As silly as some of the arguments are, there may be people who benefit from seeing the arguments and responses of others. For every person who contributes a question or challenge there are many more lurkers who may really wish to see how various topics are handled. If I really find a particular member's postings irritating I can always use the 'Ignore' function.

Lastly, I would hate to see people being banned for being annoying or offensive because A) I strongly believe that offense is in the eye of the beholder and once you allow it to become grounds for sanction you have given the power of censure to your detractors, B) I want to be able to call an asshole an asshole without running the risk of being banned myself.

Blondin, I agree with you totally. the last thing I want to do is detract from this forum, as I like the generally open attitude that it already has. and I'd esp. hate to see your colourful responses to religious zealots disappear

I wouldn't want to impose more restrictions, as people of diverse opinion and background should be welcome. what I had in mind was just a general guideline for everyone: for those who aren't quite religious trollers but who are here nevertheless for misguided reasons, and for how we should all behave with each other.

perhaps it's a fine line between blatant insults and gradual yet consistent subterfuge (which certain members seem to be resorting to). but if we have some guidelines to fall back on, we can say look, this is the umpteenth time you've imposed your religious beliefs and/or declared whatever negative judgments on us, can you please try to respect the guidelines that we've set forth?

if we have less moderation, we may need some more explicit rules of conduct, and perhaps a more democratic way for regular members to warn, or even vote off, repeat subterfugers?

I think I have an idea about what you guys are referring to, and that is 1) the few threads I closed down that were created to try and convert people to Christianity and 2) melki-zadok being banned.

I think part of this issue will be addressed when I create a closed off section of the forum that is only for atheists, such as what Kiefer proposed.

As for melki-zadok, he was banned after receiving several warnings. I PM'ed him quite a few times explaining forum rules, he never responded and continued to post 1 and 2 line messages successively, 4-5 times one after another. There's no reason members cannot use multi-quote and combine 5 replies into one message. It was also apparant that he was on here just to stirr up trouble and troll. That combined with him claiming he was the user metatron and that I apparently locked him out (which I did not, and metatron's account is active still), was grounds for ban. I gave him many chances and time to respond but he never bothered.