Separate Forum for Political Discusssion-suggestion

Second the motion.

 

I think splitting FHOP into two forums (politics & non-politics) is a pretty good idea. A lot of people aren't interested in the political discussions and it can be off-putting to see them dominate the new post list.

The biggest downside I can see is that for a period of time it would create more work for our wonderful moderators. They'd be the ones responsible for determining if a post was political or not. And then they'd have to move posts as necessary. In the beginning, until everyone got used to the new system, that could be quite a task.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HBO6 @ Nov 14 2006, 02:48 PM) [snapback]348921[/snapback]</div>

You can create a thread in any forum, regardless of content. I've seen more than a few posts get moved from Prius Main Forum to FHOP because that's where the post belonged. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Plus sometimes a topic doesn't start out political, but ends up that way. The ultimate judgment of what is or isn't political would reside with moderators. They'd be getting more reports/PMs about posts in the wrong forum, etc.

If it's to be done, it has to be well thought out. Does "FHOP-Politics" encompass religion discussions, too? They're not political in the traditional definition, but they can be just as heated.

As I said, I'm in favor of the idea. There would just be more work for the moderators while people get used to creating threads in "FHOP-Politics" instead of "FHOP-Other". That's something Danny & the mods will no doubt take into consideration if they decide to implement a change like this.

 

As I've already said:

The issue is not that FHOP is not working; it's that FHOP posts show up with everything else when you click on "View All New Posts" (which is what most new users start out doing).

I think that the solution can be simple. Just make the "View All New Posts" hyperlink go to only Prius-related posts, and make a new link that shows everything, including FHOP.

Vince

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(VinceDee @ Nov 14 2006, 02:20 PM) [snapback]348967[/snapback]</div>

Sounds good to me.

 

Perhaps in the near future political threads will not be such a problem, since the smack down is over. They sure did blossom with the populace's discontent.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MarinJohn @ Nov 14 2006, 06:37 PM) [snapback]349037[/snapback]</div>

Must you drag politics and make the implication Bush is at fault for FHOP too??? :lol:

...anyway, back on topic, I'd go further and say, whatever way you break it up, have an area that's an unmoderated "bad lands", enter at your own risk type thing... This way, all the mods have to do is simply move topics around that don't fit, and reduce the amount of baby sitting, as it's pretty rare people get out of control in most other areas...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Nov 15 2006, 12:25 PM) [snapback]349468[/snapback]</div>

YES!!!

Or "The Octagon".... but that might be copywritten by the UFC.... lol h34r:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mystery Squid @ Nov 15 2006, 09:27 AM) [snapback]349428[/snapback]</div>

This is a FANTASTIC idea. If no one else will, I'll second it.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Nov 15 2006, 10:25 AM) [snapback]349468[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mystery Squid @ Nov 15 2006, 10:43 AM) [snapback]349482[/snapback]</div>

"Cage Match" & "The Octagon" are great suggestions. Or you could stay with the FHOP them and call it Fred's House of Rhubarbs.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mystery Squid @ Nov 15 2006, 09:27 AM) [snapback]349428[/snapback]</div>

As long as it does not show up on View New Posts or can be 'turned off' - maybe make it member only so you actively have to register for it if it's going to be unmoderated, because the site owner (ie, the legally responsible party) will certainly want a 'check through' disclaimer or "I am 18" validation

 

I am a member of the Tivo Community also. They do not have a problem like this. They do not have a "ten most recent posts" either. If you want a forum you select it from a menu at the top of the page. One of those is "the most recent posts".

The Tivo Community is larger than PC. My impression is that it is several times larger but I can not find the numbers.

FHOP draws hits. Rotton fruit and other things draw flys. Hits seem to matter. Many enjoy FHOP.

Can it exist whithout being so "In Our Face"?

After all, it is Danny's call.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HBO6 @ Nov 14 2006, 11:35 AM) [snapback]348908[/snapback]</div>

I'd prefer it if 'view all new posts' didn't list any FHOP threads.

If they listed it somewhere else that would be better for me. Could there be 'view all new prius posts', 'view all new FHOP posts', and 'view all new posts' (combined) links?

 

It's been brought up before, but I'll add my support again.

I'll add a suggestion for dealing with the semantic nuances involved. For the front-page link, I think it should simply be called "ISSUES". To truly cover the waterfront, including the already-existing "Environment", which I recommend stay as it is (only it would be more "informational" and less controversy), "SOCIAL/POLITICAL ISSUES" would be even better, but Danny might not want to take up that much space with it.

As for FHOP, it could either remain of be dropped---but if kept, it should be only "inside", on the forum listings (along with "ISSUES" being repeated for consistency). Again, if Danny wants to keep FHOP for historical or personal reasons, that's his call.

I see no need to try to isolate "political" (in the narrowest sense) issues from all the other kinds of issues we deal with---religious, "patriotic", "gender/lifestyle" (e.g., homolsexuality) or any other. We could spend weeks just discussing how to make THOSE distinctions. But let's just (at least for now) address the problem at hand: getting FHOP stuff out of people's faces.

 

How about adding a second list of 'latest posts'? We could have one that shows only stuff in the Toyota Prius Forums, and another for the latest posts in all the other forums.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HBO6 @ Nov 14 2006, 12:35 PM) [snapback]348908[/snapback]</div>

About 1/3 of the post topics here are for Fred's House of Pancakes. That number should go down as we drift out of election season. If you look at the number of responders for each of these you'll notice that FHOP is pretty popular. With 2/3 of each page taken up by our main topic, the Prius, that ratio doesn't seem so bad to me. If we choose, we can simply ignore the Fred's HOP's postings if they're not to our liking.

What I do appreciate about FHOP is that it provides a forum for those who would not otherwise get involved in political discussions on the web (me, for instance). It's a way of expressing one's opinion in an environment that isn't cluttered with lengthly diatribe.

I vote to keep FHOP as is. Even if it's made to be a separate section I suspect that far fewer people would go there.

 

I'm all for a solution that gives an easy FHOP-free search link for new users and apolitical users to view only the Prius posts, and a separate search link (less noticable, unbolded, etc) for the those who wish to see the FHOP stuff.

But make no mistake, FHOP is the reason PriusChat is as vibrant and active as it is. For me, FHOP fills the time between interesting Prius posts, keeps me on the board, and therefore allows me to respond quickly to Prius related questions.

If you were to drop FHOP completely from PriusChat, you would end up with a board like PriusOnline.com, which gets maybe 20 posts a day if it's lucky. If you look at the main forum list there, only the top 4 threads have been responded to today. The next three were last responded to yesterday, and it goes downhill fast from there.

There is never any reason to spend more than about 5 minutes a day on PriusOnline.com because that's as long as it takes to read an entire day's worth of posts and even respond to a few. Therefore Prius related posts seem to languish there to be responded to in hours or days.

On PriusChat, most Prius posts get responded to in minutes, and by 5 or 6 people. Why? Because the people are actively engaged in the site discussing FHOP topics.

So, by all means, provide the shy a way to easily filter out FHOP and make that option the most visible to new users. But don't divorce FHOP from PriusChat unless you want to see PriusChat wither on the vine.