Vega's forum idea

DarkOwl · 2021-11-27 22:44:43

EDIT: This was written by Vega (sorry should have made that clearer)... just to clear that up

Happy wrote:

Most forums out there have some reason - a theme - to make it possible for members to meet and discuss relevant topics. There are also many forums on other platforms, where members can gather in a more casual manner and create topics on whatever they like. Such forums usually don't have much active moderation. This is not one of those. Here we have rules - or guidelines, rather - for participation.
They are not much elaborated upon, as we trust that the members are able to pick up on the reasons why they are given. This comes easy for most members. But some, as expected, need... call it "adjustment." Or call it "learning from error" - which is perfectly fine; we do have room for some wiggling here. But one needs to signal that one is receptive, or willing to learn from it. If not, then one will find that the "room" quickly narrows in.

Vega wrote:

To be honest, this is the only forum I have participated in and since the beginning I was never really sure how to interact in here and what the rules/guidelines are and how forums work. And whether it was strictly for discussions on CA topics or how much not fully on topic we are allowed to go.
I was kinda starting to figure it out especially after reading this. But after it became obvious that Happy was on a hiatus, well I just started treating it in a more casual manner like so many other members, and also kinda behaved like a mod sometimes not intentionally of course, and the rest is history as they say.
But once I saw Happy was back, and when I saw his signature, I quickly picked up that the casual days are over lol And after reading this I am a bit more clear that this forum is more for topic discussions and not so much for interactions between members.

So I am going to throw an idea for discussion that I think it may help solve a lot of forum issues. And it's just an idea, I understand people and social dynamics but I have no experience participating or managing large groups of people, so if someone has more experience with this, feel free to add your feedback about whether this is a good idea or whether it would create other issues.
And the idea is to have a secondary compimentary platform where we can have more room for not fully on topic discussions and for some community/member interaction topics. But still centered around this disclosure, it will still be for the people that resonate fully or partially with the crew and the swaruu.org material. And this will give people another place for those not fully on topic discussions and make the job of the mods easier and make it easier for members to stay focused and on topic in the main forum.
And I wanna make it clear that I am not talking about a splitting of the forum or of the community but a complementary secondary platform, that we can use to move some stuff from the main forum to the secondary forum and this way keep the main forum more focused and more "strictly" moderated.
And also this gives another option to the mods, they can ask a member to repost a post in the secondary forum and delete it from the main. And of course the secondary forum will still be moderated but not that "strictly".

Now there are two ways that this could be done:
1. We could either create a secondary english forum here for that purpose. And use the new forum either for the more focused relevant and on topic discussions or use it for the not fully on topic discussions.
I personally prefer this way and I don't think it takes a lot of work to open a new forum, it's just like opening a new forum for another language. And we could also try this for a pilot period to see how it goes and then if it doesn't work then close it after a couple of months.
And this way we kinda get the best of both worlds, and the members have a choice if they wanna participate in the secondary forum discussions or only in the main more focused more moderated more on topic discussions. And we also have a place for not fully on topic discussions and for some community/member interaction topics.
2. Or we could create a discord server for this, either an official one that is admined by the current mods if they have an interest, time and energy to do that. With some extra people in the role of mods overseen and admined by the current mods and this way they only have to get involved when things are not going well.
Or an unofficial one that is admined and modded by people that resonate fully with this disclosure and have interest and time to do this. But not me I don't have time currently and I am not sure if I want to or if I am a good fit for that job, so I am just proposing the idea in case someone else is interested to do that.
(We could also use the facebook group that Sirona is moderating for this, I haven't been in that group for some months, although from what I understand that group is more focused too and some people in here don't wanna use facebook so it's probably not an option.)

Again this is just an idea. And don't worry I am not going to be starting topics like this and getting in the way of the mods that are trying to run this forum. I had already decided that I am not gonna behave like a mod anymore, as I did sometimes, and intervene only when I see that they need reinforcements mostly using the report button. I just think this is an important idea that could maybe help with focusing the main forum.
I initially was planning to post this publicly but on a second thought I will send this to you guys and gals using the report button and if you think that there is something to this idea and if you want feedback from the members, you can create a post about this idea.
I love the crew both the ground crew and the crew in orbit and I love this disclosure so I really apreciate you guys and gals that have taken up this responsibility of modding the forum. I love the Swaruunians and their epic galactic saga and the Taygetans and their super cool civilization. So thank you again for offering your time and energy in helping Gosia with this forum. I'll do my best to moderate my posts before I post them and not add in making your job harder.
Vega

Last edited by DarkOwl (2021-11-28 02:14:10)

DarkOwl · 2021-11-27 22:49:43

Thanks for your thoughts Vega!

Last edited by DarkOwl (2021-11-28 01:57:15)

Robert369 · 2021-11-28 02:01:40

DarkOwl wrote:

And also this gives another option to the mods, they can ask a member to repost a post in the secondary forum and delete it from the main. And of course the secondary forum will still be moderated but not that "strictly".

Now there are two ways that this could be done:
1. We could either create a secondary english forum here for that purpose. And use the new forum either for the more focused relevant and on topic discussions or use it for the not fully on topic discussions.
I personally prefer this way and I don't think it takes a lot of work to open a new forum, it's just like opening a new forum for another language. And we could also try this for a pilot period to see how it goes and then if it doesn't work then close it after a couple of months.
And this way we kinda get the best of both worlds, and the members have a choice if they wanna participate in the secondary forum discussions or only in the main more focused more moderated more on topic discussions. And we also have a place for not fully on topic discussions and for some community/member interaction topics.
2. Or we could create a discord server for this, either an official one that is admined by the current mods if they have an interest, time and energy to do that. With some extra people in the role of mods overseen and admined by the current mods and this way they only have to get involved when things are not going well.
Or an unofficial one that is admined and modded by people that resonate fully with this disclosure and have interest and time to do this. But not me I don't have time currently and I am not sure if I want to or if I am a good fit for that job, so I am just proposing the idea in case someone else is interested to do that.
(We could also use the facebook group that Sirona is moderating for this, I haven't been in that group for some months, although from what I understand that group is more focused too and some people in here don't wanna use facebook so it's probably not an option.)

Again this is just an idea. And don't worry I am not going to be starting topics like this and getting in the way of the mods that are trying to run this forum. I had already decided that I am not gonna behave like a mod anymore, as I did sometimes, and intervene only when I see that they need reinforcements mostly using the report button. I just think this is an important idea that could maybe help with focusing the main forum.
I initially was planning to post this publicly but on a second thought I will send this to you guys and gals using the report button and if you think that there is something to this idea and if you want feedback from the members, you can create a post about this idea.
I love the crew both the ground crew and the crew in orbit and I love this disclosure so I really apreciate you guys and gals that have taken up this responsibility of modding the forum. I love the Swaruunians and their epic galactic saga and the Taygetans and their super cool civilization. So thank you again for offering your time and energy in helping Gosia with this forum. I'll do my best to moderate my posts before I post them and not add in making your job harder.

I'd think that there are plenty of CA-themed Telegram channels for such already, though a linear "live chat" doesn't allow for topical discussions really and quickly gets silly if trying to discuss multiple things.

Insofar, Discord which allows the creation of various sub channels would be more suitable already, allowing somewhat a compromise between a structured forum and a purely linear chat. As many people here know, I am running one already, but not for casual talk at all but even stricter than this one in regards to community, people maturity and content, though it naturally heavily overlaps with this forum in regards to content.

Yet, both above platforms are under Cabal control, which might not be useful to run communities as they can quickly be dismantled if they chose so. Insofar, I would prefer to keep things on this platform which, while fully readable by everyone including the Cabals, isn't under their direct control to take down at will.

This being said: Any such platform needs extra moderation and following, and for that it doesn't matter which platform it is - the effort remains about the same. I'd say that before any platform is created, the staffing must be secured. At least myself I wouldn't want to spend time having to follow chitchat, but rather focus on actual topics - but maybe there would be other people who have time for such ?

DarkOwl · 2021-11-28 02:30:16

Robert369 wrote:

I'd think that there are plenty of CA-themed Telegram channels for such already, though a linear "live chat" doesn't allow for topical discussions really and quickly gets silly if trying to discuss multiple things.
Insofar, Discord which allows the creation of various sub channels would be more suitable already, allowing somewhat a compromise between a structured forum and a purely linear chat. As many people here know, I am running one already, but not for casual talk at all but even stricter than this one in regards to community, people maturity and content, though it naturally heavily overlaps with this forum in regards to content.
Yet, both above platforms are under Cabal control, which might not be useful to run communities as they can quickly be dismantled if they chose so. Insofar, I would prefer to keep things on this platform which, while fully readable by everyone including the Cabals, isn't under their direct control to take down at will.
This being said: Any such platform needs extra moderation and following, and for that it doesn't matter which platform it is - the effort remains about the same. I'd say that before any platform is created, the staffing must be secured. At least myself I wouldn't want to spend time having to follow chitchat, but rather focus on actual topics - but maybe there would be other people who have time for such ?

Your wisdom and experience with text based platforms will be invaluable going forward Robert.
My experience is with 'real-life' communities where the principles are the same but the application is very different! (the lack of body language to read with text based communication is just one of the many pitfalls for eg.)

Resolving conflict in a 'real-life' community is very simple. Both parties sit together and bring a support person should they feel the need. Each shares their side of the story, without interruption, using non-blaming language and owning their emotional responses ("when you said such-and-such, I felt hurt and angry" rather than "you made me angry" for eg.). Once both parties can clearly see the others point of view, a more compassionate discussion can ensue and the conflict usually resolves.

How to translate that to a text based forum?... hmmmm

Last edited by DarkOwl (2021-11-28 02:31:36)

Robert369 · 2021-11-28 02:39:32

DarkOwl wrote:

Once both parties can clearly see the others point of view, a more compassionate discussion can ensue and the conflict usually resolves.
How to translate that to a text based forum?... hmmmm

The problem of "not wanting to see/accept the other viewpoint" remains no matter which medium is used. But for a forum I consider this to actually be easier than in reality, because the written words - if properly used to express oneself (here might arise a problem - but that exists in voice as well) - can be read up until they're understood.

Thus, I'd say that as long as both parties of a conflict are actually willing to find a solution, a forum works even better than a meeting, because the emotional portion can be easier kept aside so that the actual topics become the topic.

Well, in theory - because any kind of solution depends on the maturity level and willingness to understand cooperate, for which the medium is irrelevant. That, at least, is my own experience, meaning that I saw plenty of succeeded and failed argument settlings on all media.

Vega · 2021-11-29 01:07:00

Robert369 wrote:

This being said: Any such platform needs extra moderation and following, and for that it doesn't matter which platform it is - the effort remains about the same. I'd say that before any platform is created, the staffing must be secured. At least myself I wouldn't want to spend time having to follow chitchat, but rather focus on actual topics - but maybe there would be other people who have time for such ?

That's a good point. It would create extra workload for the mods and the mods would have to read and follow things that might not interest them and it will be like a chore.

And just for clarification I am not proposing to implement this, this is just an idea that I wanted to throw at the mods to consider and could give the people that run the forum an extra option than I don't know if they have thought of and considered or not. And it's none of my business how the admin and the mods run the forum, that's why I decided to not post this publicly and sent it to the mods and suggested that they make a post about this idea if they wanted feedback from the members about this idea.

When I have a choice to make I love it when I remember that it is not only 'this OR that' but there is always the option of 'this AND that'.

So the way I understand it the admin and mods have two options

either 1. allowing the forum to continue as it currently is

or 2. "Enforcing" a more "strict" and focused approach and only allow fully on topic discussions strictly about this material and other cosmic agency related topics.

And I suspect that the forum as it is currently is was never on the table and was not their choice but it was unintentionally driven into this direction by some of us strong energy people that don't understand how forums work or something.

And if they have decided to go with the second option then they could either go cold turkey or this idea could still be used for a transitional period and then close the secondary forum.

And this idea is a third option if they want to allow some of the things that we are doing to continue while still doing the second option in the main forum. And the reason I thought of this idea is that we can all follow more strict rules and I don't know how forums work but I suspect that some energetic pressure may keep building under the surface cause some people may want to vent and discuss some partly on forum topic stuff, and a secondary forum could be an outlet for that pressure to be relieved. And it would also help the members to stay more focused and on topic in the main forum and bring some of the deraily stuff on the secondary forum. And we also don't have an official place where we could have some community interactions.

And I am not talking about chit chat between members that may not interest everyone, that could be done through email or elsewhere between them. I am mostly talking about public community related discussions and stuff.

And also another clarification, just for the record as I said I have zero experience running forums or being a community manager or have any experience managing a large group of people in a company or another organization. So I am not proposing this because I believe that the people running this forum are not doing a good job and I am trying to help them do a better job. On the contrary I am sure that all the issues in the forum are simply to this being volunteer based and the mods didn't have enough time to invest, especially when some of us strong energy rebellious starseeds don't cooperate and create extra workload for them, and I assume the mods also have other more important priorities. And I also suspect the forum is still not a high priority.

Last edited by Vega (2021-11-29 01:08:46)

#1 2021-11-27 22:44:43

Vega's forum idea

#2 2021-11-27 22:49:43

Re: Vega's forum idea

#3 2021-11-28 02:01:40

Re: Vega's forum idea

#4 2021-11-28 02:30:16

Re: Vega's forum idea

#5 2021-11-28 02:39:32

Re: Vega's forum idea

#6 2021-11-29 01:07:00

Re: Vega's forum idea

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