The "General" Forum/ What Belongs there?/ What's General?

Hey, Phoenix,

I've wondered about this. I did put a clever advertisement in music, (I think) but Jes moved to business and marketing. That was rather difficult for me to decide. Perhaps had I left out the name of the business, it could have stayed where it was.

I try. However, I have yet to find the "pointless&inane threads" category.

And there is no sex forum either

I'd also appreciate it if moderators asked for the thread creator's input before moving threads. I know that in one case, that action was a factor in a member leaving the site.

Really, Beth?

really

I can't speak for the moderators but I don't think they might not have the time for that.

Every single day someone threatens to leave the forum for some reason, some are petty some aren't. I understand that what's petty to one might be of utmost importance to others, but I think it's reasonable to assume that it's not possible for the moderators to please evryone. Especially when there are soo many sensitivities to consider.

If someone leaves because their topic is moved, then I'm sure they could have found a few hundred more reasons to leave. Like I said, I personally get at least one "I'm leaving if the forum staff doesn't..." threat every single day. The mods might be getting more.

If the mods have time to contact the creator and wait till the creator replies and then move the topic then great. But this will add a few days of time to what would take 10 seconds.

It's very easy to decide how the moderators should spend their free time but they ultimately will have a say in that. And if someone is unreasonable enough to insist that everything be done their way then I don't think there was much chance of them staying anyway.

When the mods were aware that someone did not want their topics moved they didn't move it in most cases. But it degrades their job to one of herding cats if everything must be done the way each member wants it to be.

But I do have an idea, if anyone has an issue with a particular post being moved please say so in the topic (I believe setanta posted a topic to the general forum that was clearly a movie topic and asked the mods not to move it. And I believe it was not moved).

If someone takes umbrage topic being moved it can be moved back (this happened with one of dlowan's topics).

And if someone has a problem with ANY of their topics being moved they can let the mods know, they will take it into consideration before deciding whether to move or not.

But a blanket ask-everyone-how-they-think-the-mods-should-work policy is simply not possible.

Slappy- I think that either "jokes" or "trivia" would fill the bill, according to the thread.

Gautam- Questions of a sexual content could go into Relationships and Marriage", or "Health & Medicine", according to the nature of the thread. Gotta be careful though, and not cross the line of the TOS.

ehBeth- Do you have any specifics that you can give me? If you would like, I would appreciate some feedback on this. If you don't want to post it on the boards, I really would like you to PM me. We certainly don't want to turn members off.

I have had both Craven & Jes move my posts. The first time I was a little miffed, but I felt that it was too insignificant to me to even mention it to them. I figured that they knew what they were doing, so now it doesn't bother me.

Remember, that this is a relatively new Forum, and we are all feeling our way around, trying to combine the best of efficiency with user friendliness.

Craven- I saw your post after I wrote mine. I think that you put the finger on it perfectly. As a Moderator, I put a lot of time on A2K doing essential stuff. If I had to go into consultation every time that I did something, I would not have a life, and would burn out very quickly.

I think that your idea about specifically requesting that a topic not be moved is great. (That is not a cue to write that on every thread that you write! )

One thing I want to throw in here quickly.

I believe a lot of people post in General because they believe more people will read their thread, but the fact is we know that most A2Kers don't use the site that way. Most members navigate by viewing either "New Posts" or "24 hours" and don't look at which forum a topic is in before reading and answering it.

Plus, when a topic is put into General, it competes with hundreds of others. There are just so many topics that will be featured by the staff. You've got a far higher chance of getting your topic featured if you correctly post it in a smaller forum. So tossing a topic into General just because you want everyone to read it is actually defeating the purpose. To attract maximum attention, you do better to post in the correct forum and then ask the Guide(s) of that forum to feature your topic. Just check the announcement by the Administrator (there's one in every forum) to find out who guides which forum.

Craven said:"But it degrades their job to one of herding cats if everything must be done the way each member wants it to be."

speaking of which, here is a url which takes FOREVER to download, but is worth it, on that very topic: http://www.eds.com/advertising/ads/tv/catherding.mpg

I am a very bad person to ask about General - but I am happy to go through gradually and see which threads may belong somewhere else.

I am a General Guide, BTW - oops, I mean I am a guide in general.

dlowan- Did you say that you were a General? I kinda thought of you as a master sargeant!

I am a dedicated, stroppy, permanent, career Other Ranks!

utility infielder to be named at a later date

I'm glad you posted this Phoenix because I post a lot of fun threads and I honestly don't know where to put them, so I end up heading for general. Just so I get the swing of things, I'm going to list some of my threads and ask that you tell me where they belong, so I'll know in the future. I appreciate all that the staff is doing and want to do my part to make it easier. Here are some of my threads.

#1. Crush thread #1.
#2. Collectors.
#3. Playpen thread #1.

I think that's enough to get me on the right track.

Thanks ;-)

Gezzy- I moved the "Crush" Thread to "Relationships & Marriage (It IS a stretch )

As far as the other two, damned if I know. Seems that there are some threads that really belong in "General"!

so where do my "questions" fit ?

theres no strange and unusual category.

Pueo- Give me a "fer instance", and we can put our heads together and come up with something.