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We've allowed our forum.

The forum has survived quite nicely without heavy top-down control of posters and topics. Instead of relying on the mods to reign in discussions that have gone awry, all that is required is for everyone to ask themselves what they would do if they were mods. I don't like the attitude that we'll see how far we can push things before a thread gets locked, while relying on someone else to make that decision. Bolstering one's own feeling of self-worth isn't a good enough reason to bring down a community, or maybe that's just me.

Restraint.

We've had a few discussions about the roll of the moderators in the past, and I'm open to suggestions from members. We mods are appointed by Chris, with the trust that we will do our best to manage slinging.org. The tradition here has been one of a very light guiding hand, but maybe with the growth in membership we've experienced we need more? I don't think we're there yet, but I'd like to hear some opinions.

Particularily annoying is that, in recent discussions, some of our most useful and long-time contibutors seem to have trouble holding back. Honestly, I don't (and don't wish to) mod the more established members of our group to the same extent that I do newcomers. It sure would be nice if everyone could just step up and respond to the trust that Chris, the mods and the membership place in them, and reward the hard work that goes into providing this forum and keeping it running with behaviour that builds on rather than tears at the foundation created.

Matthias

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The topics are the same topics that we have had hear since it started. Slings, Bomb, other weapons, and of coarse just plain old talk. We do have a lot of members now but not a lot of posting members. Most of the topic that i see is were a new person creates a topic then someone post the old topic  were it was discussed before and then there is nothing to talk about after that. It kinda kills the new topic. Then all there is to do after that is talk about anything.

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explain please


I have been trying to not post as much latey, just sit back a listen to conversation. I post when someone needs help or a topic really interests me. I have been hear every day like always since this forum started. It might be easy for someone who leaves for a while and when they come back kinda complain. The forum goes thur a cycle like it always has. People coming and going; interesting times and boring; people causing trouble and people being polite.

My best advise is to start interesting topics. A good informative topic will draw more good people into the websight and in turn spark more intellegent conversation.

I remember posting this thread already.... Then it got      hi-jacked.

I think the large and compact majority of us here are very responsible slingers and that reflects in our posts. I know for a fact that I have, several times, at least, posted my own rules for slinging responsibly. i.e. no-one around for 100 yards in any direct, never throw in the direction of housing or vehicles, never throw over streets, etc...and I know others have done the same. I know many of us, but not all, by any means, and you know to whom I refer, have tried to keep the threads on topic as much as is possible, but sometimes they get sidetracked, and amusingly so (here I reference the "What you look like" thread slowly metamorphosing into the "Bjarn tells lovely Norse legends" thread. I for one, loved that.) But some of us post very off topic threads, which in turns incites responses that are equally off the topic of slinging and crosses the realm of what should be dealt with in PM's and on other boards. For the record, though, some of these topics are very thought provoking, and could, should they be dealt with more maturely and temperately, be very interesting. Some, I have seen, are intentionally vehement and inflammatory and seem to be created with the hope of causing strife and striking out. I don't name names, and I will not, because they know who they are. Some, have nothing to do with slinging whatsoever. but, I think a certain amount of personal restraint in the replies is called for. If you don;t like what the other person says, and can't seem to reply in a civil way, or you think that no matter what you say the other person is going to take it personally, then don't reply. Obviously, we cannot be held responsible for the actions of others as a monolithic whole, only our own contributions can be judged accordingly.

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Hmmm...  o.k. have to hi-jack this thread  

For English:

"No one likes us, No one likes us and we don't care. We are Millwall, Super Millwall from the Den!"

(I have a few hooligan (football,or soccer) friends myself  )

Sorry had to be done, you can have this thread back.

I think that it's all going pretty well.

Threads wander, but it's only naturual as the nature of the forum is conversational. That's just how conversations work. They usually only begin to wander only when they've been fairly exhausted; this does not however stop people from continuing to contribute to the stated purpose. What's wrong with evolution? As long as what's being posted is almost always making people happy, mostly informative, and usually along the lines of primitive tech, I think that it's fine.

Good things:
~Self regulating community- we get along fairly well, and tell each other when it's time to stop.
~Highly intelligent members still exist and contribute, while nearly all members and guests are knowledgeable and helpful.
~Witty commentary is appreciated and generally approved of- off topic perhaps at times but all in good humor.
~Topics that are 'scholarly' and serious tend to stay on track, such as the cestros. Project Goliath threads stay pretty clean (although this may be gradually deteriorating)
~People are pretty good about using the administrative and other topics rather than clogging general and other weapons.
~These threads are visited by guests, showing that what we do here IS still helping other people with informal (and in some cases formal) research as well as projects. THAT is the purpose of these forums right? To be informative, promote slinging (and primitive tech in general), and bring in new voices.

Improvement needed:
~Certain people need to remember that Google exists and not be lazy.
~While it is good to refresh old topics... it should be exactly that, bringing up old threads- NOT starting new topics about things that already exist.
~Try to cut down a little bit on political and religous topics.
~Keep our debates as debates, not letting them grow into arguments.
~Perhaps cut down a bit on the chitchat outside of the other topics forum.
~Stay objective and try to not let opinions from one thread seep publicly into other threads.
~Keep new threads interesting and important: While we need new threads to keep things interesting and to accomodate growth, frivolous threads or a surplus of them detract from more important areas where focus should be given.

I am aware that I am guilty of several of these things, and am not trying to pass them off on someone else, I'll work to improve my faults, hopefully you'll do the same.

Thank you to the administrators who help keep the forum in good order without overly using powers. The fact that you guys are slingers like everyone else here, and that you contribute your ideas (showing that you're actually intelligent, good people) really means a lot to me.

I had a couple of ideas for additions while writing this but forget them all  .

All in all, it's going fairly well. Although I haven't been here for long, it appears as though everything happens in cycles. Newcomers who none of us like but don't want to comment on, tend to burn out quickly and don't pose a long term threat to the forum. This appears to have been going on for a very long time.... look in the back threads if you don't believe me.

Alright I keep trying to wrap this up but keep failing, so I apologize for the ungraceful and abrubt end.

Who was tech...? Sorry, I did attempt a search but 20 topics down only got me 18 hours into the past...

Perhaps a VFD (vote for deletion) like Wikipedia. you just cast your vote, the more experienced a member the more power their vote has. I think that would be nice except that it would end up with a ton of controversey and arguing.... being more counterproductive than helpful in the end.

For fairly extreme cases though, how about a VFD where you simply cast your vote... no verbose or long paragraphs explaining why- The hope being that the flaw in any thread being voted for deletion would be so obvious that it need not any explanation. A page, perhaps only visible to mods and/or godly members dislpays the tally (including who voted what) and mods can then make a majority-based desicion.


I don't think we're quite that bad yet though, and such a process isn't really required, since I have faith in the current admins. Well just my thought.