What Is the Topic?

[mox 298]

I do think that what RJ is saying about VJ bending under its own weight has some merit, even if I don't agree with her on some specifics. It might be worth putting together a "task force" of experienced members and a mod or two to really study the issues affecting VJ, and who would then make recommendations back to Ewok.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

It might be worth putting together a "task force" of experienced members and a mod or two to really study the issues affecting VJ...

Are you John McCain?

[Marilyn. 340]

I am not worried about finding my Canadian buddies if there are no regional forums...

do you guys not see what happens when a thread from regional forums gets moved to the Off Topic ... that is when a lot of the fights erupt......

I really don't see the problems with the regional forums.... just leave them be...

[mox 298]

It might be worth putting together a "task force" of experienced members and a mod or two to really study the issues affecting VJ...

Are you John McCain?

I'm Sarah Palin. I'm here to reform this credit card website. Elect me and John McCain and we'll make sure Visa starts treating you better.

[rebeccajo 14]

I am not worried about finding my Canadian buddies if there are no regional forums...

do you guys not see what happens when a thread from regional forums gets moved to the Off Topic ... that is when a lot of the fights erupt......

I really don't see the problems with the regional forums.... just leave them be...

Marilyn -

I've had extensive conversations with Ewok about this issue. While I don't want to speak for him, I think I can safely paraprase something he said to me. He told me that one of the main reasons the Regionals were created was to keep the fighting down. It is his opinion that giving people a safe haven to go too keeps trouble down. What is the conception of why the trouble often starts? What I took from our conversation was that it's intolerance and racism.

I personally think that handling bigotry, hate and racism by segregating people is a lame way to handle the situation in a virtual setting. The solution is as easy as having effective empowered moderation who can and will put the hammer down on racial profiling, stereotypical hatemongering, bigotry, racism, and hate talk. This usually means banning certain members.

I would rather see a handfull of $hitstirrers banned than 35000 other people kept separated because a few of them can't keep their mouths shut.

Edited September 26, 2008 by rebeccajo

[mox 298]

It's not segregation when it's an option. And if you throw everyone into a single structure, you will ALWAYS have infighting and rising tempers, and you will lose some very good people who just happened to let their emotions carry them away. The other thing you'd start to see is the "Russian thread" and the "British thread," ad nauseam. People will always find a way to divide themselves into common communities, even if that means going somewhere besides VJ. It just makes good sense to embrace these communities and try to make them better.

For instance, we have a new poster in the RU forum that started his first posts with some pretty heated language, and you could argue that his point is that he is looking for a Russian woman to be his surrogate mom because his ex-wife didn't know her place. Now, you throw a post out like that in general population and all that happens is it degrades into a flame-fest. But because we've seen this kind of post many times before, we were able to address the poster's specific questions and also give him some good (sometimes snarky) advice on how we do things in the real world. He can take or leave that information, but it's not a discussion he'd have gotten anywhere except the RU forum.

[tmma 467]

Marilyn -

I've had extensive conversations with Ewok about this issue. While I don't want to speak for him, I think I can safely paraprase something he said to me. He told me that one of the main reasons the Regionals were created was to keep the fighting down. It is his opinion that giving people a safe haven to go too keeps trouble down. What is the conception of why the trouble often starts? What I took from our conversation was that it's intolerance and racism.

I personally think that handling bigotry, hate and racism by segregating people is a lame way to handle the situation in a virtual setting. The solution is as easy as having effective empowered moderation who can and will put the hammer down on racial profiling, stereotypical hatemongering, bigotry, racism, and hate talk. This usually means banning certain members.

I would rather see a handfull of $hitstirrers banned than 35000 other people kept separated because a few of them can't keep their mouths shut.

But 35000 people are not separated. They have a choice. They can communicate in a Regional forum ( sometimes in their 1st language), or the "upper forums" or Off Topic. They can click where they want to click now. If we remove the Regional forums, it's like taking a choice away from those that use them.

[tmma 467]

eta If we remove the Phil forum........Where will the regs on that forum go? If the Regional forum was created because they face racism and bigotry elsewhere on the board- (as per your paraphrase of the comm with Ewok)-making them go to OT for (example to talk in Tagalog, discuss Phil issues etc) is an answer to that? ???

I dunno-I still say leave the regional forums as they are; but of course if "35,000" people really DO "feel separated"-then by all means get rid of them.

Edited September 26, 2008 by tmma

[rebeccajo 14]

It's not segregation when it's an option. And if you throw everyone into a single structure, you will ALWAYS have infighting and rising tempers, and you will lose some very good people who just happened to let their emotions carry them away. The other thing you'd start to see is the "Russian thread" and the "British thread," ad nauseam. People will always find a way to divide themselves into common communities, even if that means going somewhere besides VJ. It just makes good sense to embrace these communities and try to make them better.

For instance, we have a new poster in the RU forum that started his first posts with some pretty heated language, and you could argue that his point is that he is looking for a Russian woman to be his surrogate mom because his ex-wife didn't know her place. Now, you throw a post out like that in general population and all that happens is it degrades into a flame-fest. But because we've seen this kind of post many times before, we were able to address the poster's specific questions and also give him some good (sometimes snarky) advice on how we do things in the real world. He can take or leave that information, but it's not a discussion he'd have gotten anywhere except the RU forum.

So what would be wrong with Russian and British threads?

The suggestion I've offered up before (as an alternative IF the Regionals were dissolved) would be to create an "Around the World" forum for cultural postings. I'm sure Russian and British and Muslim and Phillipina and lactos intollerant threads would evolve. In that environment, though, I believe there would be less likelihood of people isolating themselves. And I do think this isolation occurs quite by accident in many cases.

[Otto 83]

Marilyn -

I've had extensive conversations with Ewok about this issue. While I don't want to speak for him, I think I can safely paraprase something he said to me. He told me that one of the main reasons the Regionals were created was to keep the fighting down. It is his opinion that giving people a safe haven to go too keeps trouble down. What is the conception of why the trouble often starts? What I took from our conversation was that it's intolerance and racism.

I personally think that handling bigotry, hate and racism by segregating people is a lame way to handle the situation in a virtual setting. The solution is as easy as having effective empowered moderation who can and will put the hammer down on racial profiling, stereotypical hatemongering, bigotry, racism, and hate talk. This usually means banning certain members.

I would rather see a handfull of $hitstirrers banned than 35000 other people kept separated because a few of them can't keep their mouths shut.

Good Grief...!

[tmma 467]

It's not segregation when it's an option. And if you throw everyone into a single structure, you will ALWAYS have infighting and rising tempers, and you will lose some very good people who just happened to let their emotions carry them away. The other thing you'd start to see is the "Russian thread" and the "British thread," ad nauseam. People will always find a way to divide themselves into common communities, even if that means going somewhere besides VJ. It just makes good sense to embrace these communities and try to make them better.

For instance, we have a new poster in the RU forum that started his first posts with some pretty heated language, and you could argue that his point is that he is looking for a Russian woman to be his surrogate mom because his ex-wife didn't know her place. Now, you throw a post out like that in general population and all that happens is it degrades into a flame-fest. But because we've seen this kind of post many times before, we were able to address the poster's specific questions and also give him some good (sometimes snarky) advice on how we do things in the real world. He can take or leave that information, but it's not a discussion he'd have gotten anywhere except the RU forum.

So what would be wrong with Russian and British threads?

The suggestion I've offered up before (as an alternative IF the Regionals were dissolved) would be to create an "Around the World" forum for cultural postings. I'm sure Russian and British and Muslim and Phillipina and lactos intollerant threads would evolve. In that environment, though, I believe there would be less likelihood of people isolating themselves. And I do think this isolation occurs quite by accident in many cases.

Ok, but what if those individuals that use the Regional forums LIKE being there and to use your words like being " isolated" with those from their own region? Forced mingling is not a requirement of VJ membership. Some people only come to VJ to hang out in the regional forums, and if hate and bigotry is the reason, there is much more of it in OT than anywhere-get rid of OT too.

[rebeccajo 14]

Marilyn -

I've had extensive conversations with Ewok about this issue. While I don't want to speak for him, I think I can safely paraprase something he said to me. He told me that one of the main reasons the Regionals were created was to keep the fighting down. It is his opinion that giving people a safe haven to go too keeps trouble down. What is the conception of why the trouble often starts? What I took from our conversation was that it's intolerance and racism.

I personally think that handling bigotry, hate and racism by segregating people is a lame way to handle the situation in a virtual setting. The solution is as easy as having effective empowered moderation who can and will put the hammer down on racial profiling, stereotypical hatemongering, bigotry, racism, and hate talk. This usually means banning certain members.

I would rather see a handfull of $hitstirrers banned than 35000 other people kept separated because a few of them can't keep their mouths shut.

But 35000 people are not separated. They have a choice. They can communicate in a Regional forum ( sometimes in their 1st language), or the "upper forums" or Off Topic. They can click where they want to click now. If we remove the Regional forums, it's like taking a choice away from those that use them.

It's not like there aren't probably about at least 1000 other websites where the PI members couldn't go to speak Tagalog.

[tmma 467]

Marilyn -

I've had extensive conversations with Ewok about this issue. While I don't want to speak for him, I think I can safely paraprase something he said to me. He told me that one of the main reasons the Regionals were created was to keep the fighting down. It is his opinion that giving people a safe haven to go too keeps trouble down. What is the conception of why the trouble often starts? What I took from our conversation was that it's intolerance and racism.

I personally think that handling bigotry, hate and racism by segregating people is a lame way to handle the situation in a virtual setting. The solution is as easy as having effective empowered moderation who can and will put the hammer down on racial profiling, stereotypical hatemongering, bigotry, racism, and hate talk. This usually means banning certain members.

I would rather see a handfull of $hitstirrers banned than 35000 other people kept separated because a few of them can't keep their mouths shut.

But 35000 people are not separated. They have a choice. They can communicate in a Regional forum ( sometimes in their 1st language), or the "upper forums" or Off Topic. They can click where they want to click now. If we remove the Regional forums, it's like taking a choice away from those that use them.

It's not like there aren't probably about at least 1000 other websites where the PI members couldn't go to speak Tagalog.

Maybe there are, but isn't the goal of VJ to retain membership and traffic? They like it there in their Regional forum....Why force them to go to another website? Seems counterproductive.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Agreed, the bottom line at VJ is to keep ad revenue pouring in. Anything that reduces membership is a no-go.

[rebeccajo 14]

Agreed, the bottom line at VJ is to keep ad revenue pouring in. Anything that reduces membership is a no-go.