HEY. Fucking read this.

[howling_off_key]

So I realized most of the people I consider my TDF peers are now more or less gone from TDF. Can you give me a few sentences as to "what happened" or what, if anything would bring you back? Did you outgrow it? Did you get a life? Get into a fight?

Basically: What would make TDF "better"? New rules, less rules, new mods, more mods, new look? Should

Comments

[sololobo]

For me its mostly because if I did post, no one would read or comment or discuss or seem to care what I say, so whats the point in posting. Which ties into your "lets post and walk away" point. I pretty much agree with you on everything, but getting rid of GC would piss a bunch of people off. I also agree about the suicidal stuff. It's hard to motivate me to post when some 13-year-old is annoyed because he mom won't let her go to a dance wearing her purple hat.

Also, I would like quote notifications. I brought it up before, and Nordy mentioned she thought it was possible, but wasn't sure. Yeah, you can just search your name, but having something come up that says, "Hey, this person mentioned you" and/or "Hey, this person quoted you!" would help encourage actual discussion instead of just posting and walking away.

tl;dr- TDF is the new Twitter.

[exanimate]

I love the idea of quote notifications. I also like the idea of a post liking system, although I know that's been brought up and thrown out, because I think it would encourage people to post things with the opinions of other people in mind.

[sololobo]

I like that too, just because sometimes someone says something and I agree, but can't really post anything other than "Hey, I agree".

Basically, I think TDF has grown to such a size that we need more than just posting to get by. A lot of other forums I'm on that are -significantly- smaller have a system of quote notifications, mentions, and likes, and I think it helps a lot. I get PMs from people sometimes saying, "Hey, I notice you liking a lot of my posts; lets talk."

[theredison]

I have been and always will be a huge component of post liking or quote notifying, because I've seen other forums use it, and it's not hard to do, and is a great way to get the community talking to each other or enjoying each other's presence ("Oh they mentioned me, better jump in and discuss~" "oh they liked my post, I think I might send them a silly message, I never knew they were into Avatar/Pokemon/Supernatural/Dr. Who/knitting/insert silly thing here"). There are also so many times where I wish I could just "like" someone's post, because it's such spam to just post and say "that was funny" or "i agree."

So yeah this is my obligatory "I like this idea/agree with it/bumping this up" post.

[howling_off_key]

Here's a thought that's kind of expanding on what you said: maybe we should get rid of saying that there's any kind of "age limit" for settling? Personally, I think it's useless to tell someone they're not settled at any age and calling someone out on it just causes stupid drama.

[exanimate]

It's an open community where people can open up without judgment

I honestly have never seen TDF this way. It's an open community (a bit too open to me - I wouldn't share something personal with people I don't know - though that's other peoples' prerogative) and people can open up, but there is a lot of judgement. A lot. It's not on forum for the most part, but it still exists as part of the community.

I'd also politely disagree on the point that younger members may feel it's cool or hip to be depressed and/or suicidal. It may become normative for them but I don't think they would believe it's some kind of 'in thing'.

[joking]

Agreed. I left because I felt that my maturity level (if not my actual age) was much higher than the average in the forum. And I joined the forum to have serious discussions about the nature of identity and to meet like-minded folks, not to babysit a bunch of hyperactive 13 year olds, which was what the modding job felt like after a while.

[fluorescentbird]

I'd support getting rid of GC, in all honesty. :/ I know people need to vent about things, but again, there are other outlets such as livejournal. And given that we have so many younger kids seeing all that stuff, it probably does influence them. I think it'd be good to at least get rid of Shout/TS, or start new threads? Not sure. They're just cesspools of negativity, and it /is/ depressing

[howling_off_key]

I think getting rid of ALL of GC is a a lot, especially since we're all friendly and like talking about doctor who and sherlock and whatnot. Top Secret needs to die, but we can keep from going overboard in casual conversations.

[fluorescentbird]

**getting rid of Shout/TS

Sorry, typo on my part. XD Wasn't paying attention. Getting rid of Shout/TS is what I'd like, not the entirety of GC. I should actually pay attention to what I am typing. ._.

[_wolfling_]

Lock TS and Shout. Lock the FUCK out of them. It's really getting unnerving in there, and it feeds on itself.

[exanimate]

QFT on your opinion. I have over 9000 studies and theories to back up the point that depression/suicide/etc. as normative behaviour is not healthy for younger members. Even setting that aside and assuming the counterargument is that people need a place to receive support, most members are not receiving support. It's also not the place to seek support, period. A suicide support thread is worryingly involved for what TDF should be.

I don't support anything as far out as nuking GC in it's entirety, but I do think that Shout and TS at the very least need a revamp. Locking them and starting new threads sounds good to me.

I think a lot of people will kick up a fuss about this, so a good way of getting around this may be to have an offsite location for some of this stuff in the same way TDF mature functions?

[exanimate]

Also, perhaps a place for younger members to post? I recall bringing this up in the past and I can't recall how it was received, but as Games functions as the younger members' GC in a lot of ways it's not like it would be changing much to allow a place for the younger members to connect with people on their level. I know a lot of forums employ this tactic as a way of allowing both older and younger members to feel more comfortable.

[bellajedi]

Mostly just cause I have no brain-mouth filter and have a hard time not telling stupid people they're being fuckin stupid. And multiplicity, little kids being dumb, etc etc I have to stuff my hands in my mouth to follow rules. Also a little bit of what everyone else said.

[bellajedi]

I also am totally down for it being more of a personality typing forum haha, daemonism can only go so far and also other personality typing would be TOTALLY NEW AND EXCITING and such.

[exanimate]

Or instead of gearing it more towards personality typing, we can create an offshoot forum, perhaps? I know a decent amount of people who would be down for a more structured approach to form finding, and trying to change TDF like this in the past hasn't worked (and offends some TDFers, too). I think if it's handled well and made by people who are respected within the community, other members won't look at it the way they tend to look at 'copycat' TDFs.

[fluorescentbird]

I'd be up for an offshoot forum, I think it'd be neat. Especially if it involved more structured formfinding.