Hi folks,
Heliodromus wrote: "I see that CoinTalk, which is relatively vibrant, seems to have addressed this by a posting culture/protocol where people starting topics invite others to reply with a specific related
type of post. This at least gives beginners, who may not feel confident enough to start new topics, an opportunity to post, but the downside seems to be that it encourages more of a "show and tell" environment rather than focused discussion."
otlichnik wrote: "Ben's analysis supports my gut beliefs.
Forum is in risk of stagnating somewhat. The "in things" these days appear to be more along the lines of "There's a full moon today, join me in showing your coins with moons on them" - which cointalk currently leads on - and "
Help ID my coin" - which I think
Forum still leads on."
I would like to add my thoughts, and I
hope I don't ruffle too many feathers. In the recent past (about 1-2 years ago), I
had some issues with a small minority of
Forum members who "attacked" me because they didn't agree with my posts, particularly in the ID
Help section. One long-term
Forum member (who is not well liked here) actually publicly defamed me several times during that time period. Joe
had to warn him several times to stop attacking and defaming me to get him to stop doing that. During that time period, I felt like I was walking on eggshells every time I logged into
Forum. It's like I was afraid to exhale.
Because of these attacks, I seriously considered permanently leaving
Forum. The main reason I stayed is because I
had too much invested in
Forum (my website). If it wasn't for my website, I probably would have permanently left
Forum because of these repeated attacks on my character. At that time, I discussed these issues with a close
Forum friend of mine (you can probably guess who it is) off-site. He agreed with me. He also told me that these
types of things (the attacks on me, etc.) are what caused him to post very infrequently here in
Forum and to post much more frequently in CoinTalk.
At that time, Joe and I exchanged numerous PMs. Among the primary issues I raised were the very things contained in Helio's and otl"s quotes above. In fact, I even mentioned CoinTalk in my PMs to Joe. Joe didn't agree with my suggestions to stop the stagnation of
Forum, to stop the hostile environment here at times, to stop the nastiness at times (#1 rule - "be nice"), etc. And he basically stated that I was wrong. This forced me to modify my
style of posting, especially in the ID
Help section. For this reason, I am glad that Helio, otl, and others have publicly stated here what I was suggesting to Joe in private at that time. These posters basically repeated my suggestions to Joe during that time period. This demonstrates that there is some support for these changes (in addition to my opinion).
I like Forum's academic nature. However, in my opinion, I don't think it would be a crime to create more of a "show and tell" atmosphere in
Forum. I think Forum's academic nature and lack of "show and tell" atmosphere is very off-putting to potential new
members.
Meepzorp