Sad state of the forums

I'm also saddened by the state of the forums and the maturity of some of the people who post in it, I sometimes see people post some pointless and flamebaiting posts in topics soemtimes and have reported this repeatedly to no avail, I honestly thinkt he resmods are actually here to do thier job, just look good ad seem as if they are =/ I think there may be only ONE resmod that's actually thinking of doing thier volunteered job properly.

</rant>

I see very little value in the General forums these days.

1) Arena to air dirty laundry
2) Advertising of products/services
3) Pushing personal agenda
4) Fascist state

Take it for what its worth. Not much.

Cat

My postcount is suffering greatly lately due to the smoldering in General

I've been doing a lot more reading and a lot less posting.

My biggest problem with the forums, as a new user, is the constant flaming and seemingly endless debate by a few individuals about age play. I expect the moderators are probably sick to death of it as well. It's just a real struggle to get to the constructive interesting posts that might help me along, as a new user.

Believe me, it is not just new users that feel that way about the age play threads, and the fact that about 5 million of them spawned at once and the moderators allowed it. It seems most have finally died down, thankfully.

Why click on such threads if you are not interested? Does your mouse have someone elses hand attached to it?

I think, Levi, because new players are anxious to become part of the community, and forums are a great starting point.

So when that's all there is to see, that's where you look.

It's certainly not good for LL or SL in general for new players to waltz into 4 people trying to tell a community of 100,000 how to live, and the remaining 999,996 tearing them into tiny little pieces for trying.

Even when there are 5 active age play threads brewing or boiling, there are still plenty of other threads that can interest the newbie. This is the point of the title of the thread. From what I've seen, it is the newbies themselves that are most interested in some of these controversial ideas. It is the old timers that are tired of it and want to move on so if it is a matter of getting new people interested in discussion, why shut them up?

Sounds more to me like the censorship is about keeping the forum a peaceful social area for old timers than worrying about what concerns the newbies.

Welcome to SL, Chloe!

As with any arena that involves open discussion, there will be wheat and there will be chaff. Sorting through the chaff, sometimes, takes a tremendous effort. Sometimes, there is much to be gleaned from the seeming chaff, as well.

Lately, the General forum and the posters therein seem preoccupied with the "age play" topic, with the notion of censorship, and with the role(s), if any, of res-mods/Linden mods. These topics, in their own ways, are important, not only in SL but also in RL. Given the political climate (in the U.S. and in the world), these discussions, as divisive as they seem, are, as you so aptly put it, "constructive." People are thinking and writing--this is constructive. Even if a thread gets closed, the fact that it *happened* should not be overlooked.

Give it some time. You will find some of the most intelligent, important, strange, funny, relevant discussions (with regards to SL and to RL) happening right here.

and also some of the least

Excellent post Euterpe.

My only beef is how difficult forums can be for those of us that hail from the blog/RSS 'stuff comes to me- not me having to go and get it- part of the world.

I have stuff to post and I'm more confused about which is the right forum to post it in, so I keep putting off starting a new thread someplace.

Am I alone in hatinghatinghating forums? (even though I totally give props to the fact that good stuff happens here) Or am I just weird?

ER/Spin

You're catching on, Levi.

coco

I know... and becoming a much more cynical man for it...

Yes. Well, at the same time, I would suggest the age play discussion has about run its course for the time being.

coco

I agree it has here. The discussion of how the "event" was handled is still fair game.

The topic itself is aparently on its way to more productive arenas from the messages and emails I've received, as it should be.

No, you are not alone in "hating" forums nor are you "weird." Interestingly, it seems that those who "hate" the forums the most also participate in discussions the most.

If you have something you would like to post, please go ahead and post it. Give it your best shot. Having a thread moved is not the worst thing that can happen. In fact, having a thread moved can be the best thing that can happen (consider what moving a thread and the adjuvant controversy does for open discourse).

Blogs are monologic--one speaker, one voice. Forums are dialogic--many speakers, many voices. This might contribute to the "having to go get it" nature of forums.

Just some ideas--all thrown out there.