Future of the Study

What should we do with The Study?

  • Close it. It detracts from the focus of the site.

  • Keep it. Make it an Opt-In section for all members.

  • Keep it. Restrict it to Supporting Members.

  • Don't care.

Results are only viewable after voting.
Bob Hubbard

Bob Hubbard

Retired
MT Mentor
Founding Member
Lifetime Supporting Member
MTS Alumni
Joined
Aug 4, 2001
Messages
47,245
Reaction score
772
Location
Land of the Free
Based on concerns, here are some options.
Vote and let us know your reasoning.

Thanks.
 
I have to say, even if you make it an opt in area for members, the same people will complain about who and what is being posted rather than posting things they would like to see instead. Thanks for the effort though. I appreciate the steps you are taking to keep the study going.
 
Hmm, tough call faced with it cold.

My instinctive reaction is to opt for just dumping it but, despite this ever-present cloud of Politics, other things do get discussed there - which is what you'd expect from a bunch of people who have gotten to know each other a bit (as much as the Net allows at any rate).

The Study is for more serious talking points than the more 'light' "Bar & Grill" but I really think that Partisan Politics should have no home there. Stick all that in a bespoke Politics forum and, within a specified time frame, after the first thread on a soapbox a poster makes, charge for each subsequent thread on the same theme; with an exponential scale that'd do it.

The answer is not going to be an easy one in all seriousness. Making it SM only has the advantage of keeping it hidden from new sign ups, so they don't get driven off by it before they have a chance to get their feet under the table. Of course there is the downside that if people are paying to see it then they are going to be even more infuriated and offended by the political 'eternal tidal wave' (and it does feel that way).
 
Keep it, opt-in if you want to view or post there. we are after suppose to be adults......:)
 
Or...how about a part of the study that is like it is now, and then the rest for everything not confrontational, you could call it the arena and put it in the same area as the U.S. political thread. that way it would be hard for people to not intentionally go there, and you could just not list it in the new posts when people "pop" in to see what is new on the site. It would be a fight club, where no one talks about the fight club kind of thing. Now, I think what the study is now is fine, but this might be a solution.
 
:chuckles: It's an idea ... but {there is always one of those isn't there} what we are really after is more mature, intelligent and adult conversation, not a sanctified area for mud-slinging. Now the problem is that that, so it seems, that is what we are all saying we want but that is not what we are getting.

That's why I said earlier that we have to change if we want the site to change. Talk about politics is not the same thing as preaching about politics. What we have is the latter and, significantly, the views causing the trouble are those held by a tiny minority of the membership. What the rest of us want is not 'censorship' {ooh scary bogey-man}, it's a bit of consideration and some normal decorum. It's self-censorship and an appreciation of when we've had our say and noone wants to hear any more then it's time to be quiet for a bit. That way the tail might stop wagging the dog.

Addendum: I realise I'm muddling two trains of thought here from two threads. Hopefully those involved reading it will be able to stitch them together - now I'm back to the LOTRO instance I'm half way through before I get my ears shouted off by my Kinnies ...
 
Sukerkin, not to complain,but to do it anyway, I post articles and videos, as well as making my own comments, but I have to say I am also polite when I do it. I definitely can't say the same of many of those who disagree with me. By making a seperate area, the people who complain about how others post, and what they post, will go there with the understanding that if people express their point of view differently, it is in an area that you really have to go to in order to be offended by it. Not so much the mud slinging is in my mind as a place where the faint of heart go knowing they might not like what they see there, but there will be no excuse to complain about it.

Articles and videos aren't much different than what you see in the martial arts side the same with the articles.
 
Just a note: If this goes the opt-in route, due to the nature of the software, it may be an opt-out instead. I'll have to figure that bit out I suppose.
 
I would say to make it an opt-in, but if a user chooses to participate, they agree to some form of hightened accountability. I know that sounds ambiguous as all hell, but it would make more sense from my perspective than the SM-only solution. To use billicihak's reasoning (ironically enough), all it would take would be for the offending posters, for lack of a better term, to put $5 down and the same problem exist. So I think the opt-in option, while not a simple solution, would be the best way to address the problem.
 
Risk is people trying to buy access or thinking that paying for it = exemption from the rules.
Doesn't work that way. Even if I have to issue refunds.
 
Bob, do what you have to do to preserve your sanity and quality of life. It is, after all your site.
That said. I'd prefer leaving it as is, or opting in or out.
 
how about make some rule like, for every post in the Study, you have to post in some martial arts section. Maybe do a 1:3 study/martial arts ratio requirement...
 
Bob Hubbard said:
Risk is people trying to buy access or thinking that paying for it = exemption from the rules.
Doesn't work that way. Even if I have to issue refunds.
Click to expand...
Bob,

FWIW If you are asking these questions in August of 2011, imagine what August - or late October- of 2012 will be like!?
 
Exactly. Oh and make it invisible to all who don't want to see it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

So Long, And thanks for all the fish

Previous Thread

Sam Harris: Religions Are Failed Sciences

Next Thread

Latest Discussions

Back
Top