[PheliarearY]

ok, forum members.


i have no intention of turning this thread into a gripe/complain thread, but other than posting a thread on this topic, i have no way -- neither do you -- of getting an idea if this problem exists for others besides me.


so i hope that the mods allow this thread to exist and for people to post in it.


the problem is this: the policy of this forum's new threads to be shoved/moved under old threads covering similar topics of discussion.


i find that this policy stifles free-flowing discussion of topics that do come up over and over again by shoving them into old threads covering similar topics. over time it is a certainty that people will discuss the same things over and over again, but if they are able to do so in new threads, new angles of thought, new flows of povs can be shared and that can benefit everyone who wants to explore certain topics of discussion.


so this policy of shoving any new thread under old topics in order to avoid "having too many threads" stifles free-flowing discussion and creates monster threads, like light eye's ufo thread that now has well over 600 posts in that thread -- do you go to that thread to read it? i don't, yet i'm very interested in ufos.


i strongly feel that this policy needs to be changed. it's ok to merge new threads that appear, say, within a week of each other covering the same event or topic, but to constantly shove any new thread under old headings really does not support free-flowing discussion in this forum.


i hardly ever come to this forum for this very reason. month after month, i see same old threads in the forum, even though they have new posts within them, but those threads get bigger and bigger over time, becoming unwieldy and bulky to handle.


is this shove-new-threads-under-old-threads a problem for any of you? am i alone with having a problem with this?

[mxzjxluwst]

hi,

i agree that letting discussions go with the flow, rather than trying to heavily categorize them, may help is more natural feeling discussions

[letittbe]

no, you are not alone. i never read old threads.

[sabbixsweraco]

@ mozart

it is not a problem for me.

i, too, get frustrated at times with being "mod-ed". i find it right in the end.

your ideas are being heard/read. they really are.

take my post for instance, its totally irrelevant

[toreesi]

so this policy of shoving any new thread under old topics in order to avoid "having too many threads" stifles free-flowing discussion and creates monster threads, like light eye's ufo thread that now has well over 600 posts in that thread -- do you go to that thread to read it? i don't, yet i'm very interested in ufos.


i strongly feel that this policy needs to be changed. it's ok to merge new threads that appear, say, within a week of each other covering the same event or topic, but to constantly shove any new thread under old headings really does not support free-flowing discussion in this forum.


i hardly ever come to this forum for this very reason. month after month, i see same old threads in the forum, even though they have new posts within them, but those threads get bigger and bigger over time, becoming unwieldy and bulky to handle. this is an interesting point of view. it's user preference, obviously.

for me, the new posts are my initial reading, and on occasion i will back up on the thread to review the time lapse of comments. it would be much more difficult, imo, to view past ideas under the same heading if it were twenty different threads. they could fit neatly into one.

besides, the "flow" comes in real time. even when a post pops up commenting on another's post from six months ago, the perspectives are entirely new.
your sidereal post for instance, brought my attention to a thread i've never read. the new post is what counts.

[timmybrown]

i do as 12thuranus does, i simply go to the new posts. obviously i don't submit comments very often, but when i do i might go back to make sure i'm not duplicating. so i can understand feeling like you don't want to repeat aspects of the conversation (if that is indeed a concern). however, my feeling is, go ahead and repeat! who knows, maybe the thread lost momentum for a while, but your reposting would revitalize the topic.

and look, you got a new topic started here! so it is possible, if not common. conversations without text (i.e. in the air, you know, just spoken words that evaporate as soon as they are spoken) are what we are trying to emulate here, at least that is my perception of these forums. so having access to "old" comments is actually unusual in this sense. i feel like this is such an awesome resource, all of these discussions, i guess i don't really look at the details of organization--it is overwhelming to me

i hope you don't give up on the forums and that you can find a way to access them to your satisfaction. anything you offer here adds to the incredible energies already presented and preserved--wow, how cool is that!

in love and light,
karen

[goldcigarettes]

i hesitated to voice my opinion because i like and respect the mods. if the forums weren't managed some what they would be full of spam.

i have to agree with mozart, however. there is a difference between managing and micro-managing. and i feel like the constant moving of new threads is a bit put offish.

i don't come to these forums for info as much as just the discussion, making friends part of it. if i wanted to read information or old threads/discussions/opinions i would read a book.

this forum will always stay on my list of forums to check for fresh threads, however.

me likes it a lot.

[vulikox]

i agree with u but i always check the ufo thread

[vernotixas]

theres no such thing as problems!!! only opportunities and challenges!! :d

[geniusxs81]

i never go into threads that are longer then one or two pages long.
most discussions have run their coarse by then.

regards

[kaiayout]

lazy, yes..., seth... here's an example of what i've been saying to the mod team at large, and you'll notice there is an understatement designed to be both 'eye-opening' as well as diplomatic:

sometimes it seems that when someone comes on innocuously with a spiritual based question, we refer them to existing threads and can seem to be saying "look, we've already discussed this, just look at what has been said in the past and you'll see that we don't need your question, it has already been discussed." this is how we have come across to many, and i feel this strongly.

i feel that members should be able to freely engage in new fresh convos, to just a little bit more of an extent than currently, as the membership is constantly turning over and these new people who are newly 'becoming' in their own turn should perhaps be able to express the newness of their discovering freely and without such a constant hearkening back to old historical convos which went on before.

mods have thrashed about a new approach - new threads which are deemed on topic will be allowed - to a new extent - freely, and if they take off into hot new convos, then great! to answer concerns of numerous redundant 'weak' threads which pile up and don't take off, these will be merged after a time with others. also, we will troll through the forum and do the same with other old threads which never took off.

we agree that stickies are perhaps only seen once if ever by the members, so we'll look into ways to have pertinent forum advice appear repetitively and briefly in a place where they will be seen by members - to pop up and disappear within a few days so as to not clutter up the sub-forii with jurassic stickies.


i can't really tell you how the timing has had to be right, even though change is overdue. keep on being a moderate voice for the time being - all will be okay! i know that you folk can suss what i'm saying; pick up what i'm laying down. thanks, mark

[Xibizopt]

i really don't care whether my post gets moved. i do care if it gets censored or rejected, but that's an old dead horse that needs no further beating.

my biggest problem is that i cannot and will not spend 4-6 hours a day trying to keep up with all of this. i tend to come here sporadically, several times a day for a while, then not at all for a week or more. there are threads that have been going on for months or even years, and that tend to drift in and out of their topics. i will not read 10 pages of old comments to catch up, and yet if i don't, sometimes i miss the very point that concerns me. but this is not a complaint. it is not a failing of the moderators. it is just a simple fact. we all have a lot to say and it piles up in a hurry if you aren't paying attention.

the search engine is sometimes useful but you have to have a preconceived idea to use it. i just figure that synchronicity will take me where i need to go.

[Rtebydou]

hi all,
i have been to this site almost everyday for a couple of years. still don't understand the forum system. and i still haven't found the thread on david's last article which i would think would be on the first page of one of the categories.

i am asking outright if you will consider a re-design. i would love to participate in discussions here but find it way too cumbersome and confusing. there are many models out there. i am not a great computer person so i can't help on this beyond giving feedback. i can usually stumble upon a website's protocols but i'm stumped here. if one must spend so much time (and often giving up) on using the forum, it's neither 'user friendy' nor 'intuitive'. thanks.