What kind of message board should VV aspire to become?

[Freesia]

It should be acceptable for a thread to go off-topic, if that's the direction the discussion goes.

I was actually joking in my post though people seem to have thought I was serious .

But I can see why people who are new would feel nervous about muscling in on conversations where people already know each other well.

But I dont think we are as "cliquey" as people say, and I cant see how the conversations we have would be hard to join, it is mostly people talking about everyday things, like cooking or pets or the weather.

 

[FortyTwo]

I like posts that I like, regardless of who posts them. I don't think anyone intentionally ignores newbie posts?

 

[Second Summer]

I think generally people do a good job of welcoming new people on the introduction thread but I'm not sure why new people don't seem to stay or post that much. I did think maybe the "like" function might make it seem unfriendly as it might be that new people feel excluded if their posts don't get liked enough?

No, I don't think it's the "likes". Newbies who sign up and maybe post a few times and then disappear is a general problem for most Internet forums, not just VV. We can try our utmost to make those who sign up feel welcome and stay, more so than other Internet forums do (and maybe we do that already?), but ultimately maybe our efforts are better spent on "marketing" so we get more people signing up, because a certain percentage will stick around.

 

[ledboots]

I think lots of people just come with a question or two and then drift away when they get their answers. Normal, I guess. Some will stay.

 

[Moll Flanders]

No, I don't think it's the "likes". Newbies who sign up and maybe post a few times and then disappear is a general problem for most Internet forums, not just VV. We can try our utmost to make those who sign up feel welcome and stay, more so than other Internet forums do (and maybe we do that already?), but ultimately maybe our efforts are better spent on "marketing" so we get more people signing up, because a certain percentage will stick around.

What marketing are you doing out of interest?

 

[Second Summer]

What marketing are you doing out of interest?

Just making sure to mention VV or post a link on other relevant sites in contexts where it's appropriate.

Edit: I did do a couple of Facebook campaigns as well using free vouchers I got. Not so sure it helped much though.

Edit 2: Btw, when I said "marketing" I meant it in a very wide sense. Basically everything that could result in new members.

 

[mlp]

IS, I think that what you, or the group as a whole, would like VV to aspire to become is one thing. What it's actually in the process of becoming is another.

I think that what it's in the process of becoming is a board that consists almost entirely of light social chitchat, with the areas for serious discussion becoming an echo chamber because they are being dominated by a couple of members most people try to ignore entirely. The fact that the female members are starting to post topics for serious discussion in the women only section to avoid the all too predictable "input" from these members should tell you the extent of their impact.

I for one don't want to engage in any kind of discourse with someone who insists that his barely adolescent daughter should have taken "her share" of the responsibility for her rape and for "ruining the life" of her rapist by "allowing herself to be raped", a man who still makes excuses for being an abuser and who continues to lay all the fault at the feet of his ex wife and the other women unfortunate enough to have encountered him. I would sooner chat with Mr. F, our convicted child molester friend - at least there's the possibility that he has repented and changed.

 

[Envy]

I for one don't want to engage in any kind of discourse with someone who insists that his barely adolescent daughter should have taken "her share" of the responsibility for her rape and for "ruining the life" of her rapist by "allowing herself to be raped", a man who still makes excuses for being an abuser and who continues to lay all the fault at the feet of his ex wife and the other women unfortunate enough to have encountered him. I would sooner chat with Mr. F, our convicted child molester friend - at least there's the possibility that he has repented and changed.

Are you still judging him for pasts sins, or is he doing it somewhere else?

 

[mlp]

Are you still judging him for pasts sins, or is he doing it somewhere else?

"Past sins" remain current sins until such time as one has changed.

 

[beancounter]

Are you still judging him for pasts sins, or is he doing it somewhere else?

I bet this and the "boy crisis" thread are providing entertainment "somewhere else".

 

[Envy]

"Past sins" remain current sins until such time as one has changed.

How can one perceive and prove such changes?

I bet this and the "boy crisis" thread are providing entertainment "somewhere else".

Well, it's not him that I'm talking about though.

 

[mlp]

How can one perceive and prove such changes?

I think that, at a minimum and as a starting point, one has to acknowledge one's sin (that's the word you chose, and I'll stick with it for convenience), and that means a full acknowledgement, not dancing around it in the way that has become to common for both public and private figures. Then one corrects, to the extent it is even possible, the damage one has done, and lives/behaves/speaks differently.

That applies to any kind of transgression any one of us is guilty of.

 

[das_nut]

I bet this and the "boy crisis" thread are providing entertainment "somewhere else".

I seem to recall that "somewhere else", a certain someone has an account.

 

[ledboots]

I seem to recall that "somewhere else", a certain someone has an account.

Good, I hope they copy/paste posts about this board from the other one on here for us all to read.

 

[das_nut]

Good, I hope they copy/paste posts about this board from the other one on here for us all to read.

I think the point of my post went over your head. (Hint: See who I was replying to.)

 

[ledboots]

Good, let everyone join that board and read it. All the better. Sorry if it ruins your little games.

Poor little me, posts flying over my poor little head. Whatever will I do?

 

[mlp]

One of the things that I cherish about das_nut is that he is never, ever condescending.