SubForum Identity, A Better Emphasis Options

[fameONE]

Lately, I've noticed a few things about the forums that have really begin to work my nerves. The personal disputes don't drive this forum, they just keep things entertaining in the lounge. What I enjoy about CB is the diversity in topics and the organization of the forums. With that said, I do believe the debate and writing subforums should be taken a bit more seriously.

For the most part, the Writing subforum has its stagnant process, and with the addition of the blog option in the profile, the use for the subforum should focus more on building up the writer, rather than empty compliments or side conversations.

The Debate forum should be taken seriously, if nothing else in the forums are. Granted, people are going to argue out their disagreements, and that is completely understandable, but mods should ensure that its done stoically and, well, professionally. Not everything worth debating warrants being in that subforum.

$0.02

[brooklyneast05]

debate is the reason i started posting and will always be my favorite forum. i agree with you

[MissHygienic]

How would you put more significance in the Debate forum?

Anyway, it sounds good in theory, but the majority of people are far too mentally lazy to do something like that. It goes to show that the topics with longer sentences and more paragraphs have fewer responses than things, like, "Rate your day from 1-10."

[karmakiller]

I agree. I think there's a fine line in the Debate forums when it comes to voicing your opinion and being downright rude and disrespectful.

[Tung]

I like to see more people active in the Fashion Forum. That's like the most interesting forum I like here.

[fameONE]

What we could do is clean sweep of the forum. Merge some of these new topics with old ones, if necessary, move topics that definitely don't rate to be in the forum. And with a little time, and some help from active members that are aware of current events, the debate forum can be back at to the strength it once was.

[Comptine]

The Debate forum has been bugging me. It use to be my favorite part of the forum but it's quality has seriously downgraded. But there's not much it can be done. I mean:

A) The really well debated topics are very exhausted: Abortion, Death Penalty, God, God, God (etc)
B) It's absolutely and totally cluttered. It's sensible to read back posts, who seriously wants to read all 20+ pages of an old debate?
C) People don't necessarily follow the rules. Some just say, "I agree." or "NO" and move on. That turns off bigger debaters because it doesn't make the debate move along.
D) Sometimes, the debate just makes you want to pull your hair out.

Maybe we should clean out old debates and refresh the really popular ones?

[fameONE]

^You have a point, but there are ongoing events going on in the world. The debate forum should encourage members to present an argument the right way, as well as read up on the matter at hand.

[Comptine]

The new ones still get lost in the constantly, half-updating older ones.

We should find a new limit to each thread. 20+ pages is very uninviting for some.

[MissHygienic]

^You have a point, but there are ongoing events going on in the world. The debate forum should encourage members to present an argument the right way, as well as read up on the matter at hand.

I laugh at the optimism you have. I wish it were that way; I like reading debates between two people. However, you'll be lucky the thread even gets views if anyone so much sees subject titles that read, "Social Security" or "Current Events" or "What do you think about the war?" All of which are old, beaten-up topics. People using much of their intellect on a design forum is practically unheard of.

[fameONE]

I laugh at the optimism you have. I wish it were that way; I like reading debates between two people. However, you'll be lucky the thread even gets views if anyone so much sees subject titles that read, "Social Security" or "Current Events" or "What do you think about the war?" All of which are old, beaten-up topics. People using much of their intellect on a design forum is practically unheard of.

I refuse to believe that no one on this forum really gives a shit, or cares to discuss, the world in which they live. If that's optimism, then I'm guilty as charged.

There are certain hot button topics, and those topics need to be brought to light for the younger generations to discuss.

[brooklyneast05]

I laugh at the optimism you have. I wish it were that way; I like reading debates between two people. However, you'll be lucky the thread even gets views if anyone so much sees subject titles that read, "Social Security" or "Current Events" or "What do you think about the war?" All of which are old, beaten-up topics. People using much of their intellect on a design forum is practically unheard of.

i agree and i don't. i mean i don't think the threads will be dead, because people like brandon, steven, nate, fae, sammi, myself, YOU (cause i'll make you), and a handful of others who are pretty regular in debate. i think you're being a little too cynical about it, but i think brandon may be being over optimistic about it. i'm all up for us doing something to improve it, but i do think for the most part is just gonna be the same ones hanging around debate as you see in there now. the same ones who don't mind reading more than a paragraph at a time, which unfortunately seems to be a small number here on cb. maybe brandon's right though, if we can address certain issues, maybe other members will get involved in the debate.

[pandora]

Personally, I think all the subforums in the Interests forum need to be better monitored. This is something I think the moderating staff needs to work on. Generally, we just kind of keep to the main forums. Interests is so big that threads sometimes get lost in there, and the really good forums like Debate and Writing suffer.

[fameONE]

Personally, I think all the subforums in the Interests forum need to be better monitored. This is something I think the moderating staff needs to work on. Generally, we just kind of keep to the main forums. Interests is so big that threads sometimes get lost in there, and the really good forums like Debate and Writing suffer.

My point exactly.

[superstitious]

For a while there was an attempt to have sort of "specializations" within the moderating team but it either never really happened or never really worked. Perhaps a little of both.

I think if everyone, especially the moderating team made an effort to stimulate the lesser visible subforums, that would be great. Instead (and much to my dismay) it seems that so many are fly-by posters these days. Fly-by posting is fine, just express yourself more sometimes and dig in to something you may not be terribly familiar about but would like to learn more of. I don't know, something.

[pandora]

right now we're working on a few things to help resolve this problem. After next week, lets see where this goes.

[pandora]

plebeian matinee: you know what pisses me off
plebeian matinee: http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php...96761&st=25
plebeian matinee: that's a freakin awesome debate thread
plebeian matinee: filled with awesome arguments
plebeian matinee: and there's only one f**king dumbass cmt
plebeian matinee: that has NOTHING to do w. the f**king topic
plebeian matinee: and guess whose it is
Christine Pham: ****'s?
plebeian matinee: bingo.
Christine Pham: always.

[fameONE]

^Maybe she should contribute to the cause or shut the f**k up. I wasn't trying to step on anyone's toes by making the suggestion. Griping for no reason is like refusing to vote for a president, then bitching about the one who gets elected.

[pandora]

? she was talking about tung and his retardedly irrelevant post about minotaurs.

[Tung]

[fameONE]

? she was talking about tung and his retardedly irrelevant post about minotaurs.

f**k.

*foot in mouth

Damn. I lost.

I'm sorry. I thought that I was directed toward me.

[pandora]

[ersatz]

The Interests forums are hard for members to understand because they're geared toward a small group of the member base. They're not ever going to be as popular as the Lounge or something because they're much more specified. They're kept up by the regulars and, in some cases, they're the only reason the regulars are still here. I don't think the problem with them is that they're not as popular or prominent or something, as this thread is seeming to suggest, but rather that it's difficult for mods (in all of CB history, not just now) to pay a lot of attention to them. You can't feign interest in something easily. So, if there's not a mod that's particularly interested in say, the Anime forum, then it's unlikely that a mod will go in there often. Like, if someone has a spam fest in the Lounge, it's cleaned up right away. If someone spammed the Writing forum all of the sudden, it might take a bit longer for the staff to notice. I've been guilty of this in the past and I'm sure every person who was ever a mod has. We all say, "Oh yeah, we gotta go in the Interests forums more, check 'em every day," but it never really happens for more than a week. Along the same lines, I don't think the responsibility should be entirely on the mods -- if the regulars of these forums need something done or there's a certain member causing a ruckus, they need to inform the mods and not just wait around for someone to see it.

I don't really know; just sort of spewing here.

[Tung]

I'm going to have to agree with Sammi on this one.

[pandora]

i actually dont think that he meant that those forums are any less popular than the regular community forums. he just meant that they need to be better monitored and the subject matter of those forums need to be more definitive and well enforced. so we dont get random posts about minotaurs in the debate forum