official members lounge Options

[sadolakced acid]

okay, it's been suggested before, and i'm bringing it up again.

why can't we have an official member's lounge? it'd be a lot easier to keep good (just de-official member problem people), and would provide incentive for being an official member.

if you're going to say that people will spam to get in, well, people do that already for official member tools.

[sadolakced acid]

yes, everything you say is valid.

but you have not shown that trying it out will be harmful.

and, i assume, you agree there could be benefits.

[*mipadi*]

and, i assume, you agree there could be benefits.

Not really. What's the issue here? The issue is that a lot of discussion on cB is dull and boring. Is that because official members are afraid to post? In other words, would giving official members their own forum increase the level of interesting discussion? If the answer is no, then such a forum is pointless; if the answer is yes, then I ask why it's not already occurring in The Lounge? I don't exactly see official members fighting to make interesting, engaging topics.

Adding a special forum for official members brings up a simple logistics issue. If official members post only in their own lounge, it removes discussion from the general Lounge, and creates a schism in the interaction between members and official members. If official members want to include members, then they a) have to post in The Lounge, negating the purpose of their own lounge; or b) post in both places, which creates a chaotic, split discussion which isn't conducive to real discussion anyway.

Beyond that point, it creates an atmosphere where official members are considered more "important" than members, which is ridiculous, because a) it's not hard to become an official member; and b) official members don't have any additional responsibilities, so why consider them more important to the community?

I don't see the purpose in splitting up the two groups. Ideas like this have been proposed before. It was once proposed that Debate be made a privileged forum, for instance; seemingly the only reason was to weed out "undesirable" debaters. I'm generally opposed to any idea that attempts to needlessly raise certain members above other members. The idea of an official members-only lounge is such an idea, because it has no benefits (and in fact only creates problems).

Simply put, it hasn't been shown or demonstrated in any way that The Lounge lacks engaging discussion because members are allowed to post in it. There's no evidence pointing to the fact that official members as a collective whole are trying to have engaging discussion, but are getting drowned out in the tumult.

And the problem with trying it is obvious: It's easy to add forums, but very difficult to take them away. Remember when Jusun removed a bunch of forums? The backlash from that went on for several months; and ultimately, one of the removed forums (Current Events) was re-added, thanks to the backlash.