If there’s one of the many takes from this election is that Social Media is fully against out political side. And on that, I am seriously thinking on doing something I swear I’d never be involved with again: A Forum.
So, I am putting out there for you guys to think about and see if it would be a good idea you would like to be involved. There will be rules, of course, but aimed at keeping the place clean and encourage a polite conversation and free exchange of ideas. Chest thumping idiocy and behind-the-keyboard machismo will not be tolerated.
Would you guys be interested? Do you think it would be something others will like to be a part of?
Tell me your opinions and ideas in the comments.
The biggest thing will be keeping the keyboard kommados out. Id b in if we kept it to just those already here.
We will get some, in fact I hope we get some so I can do the “Pour encourager les autres”
I am going Roman Law: Very few rules, but you break any and you are “dead” AKA kicked out. I figure after three or four well publicized bans, the word will get out.
I am even thinking about crating a “Safe room” so if you had a bad day, you can cuss like a sailor, kick crap around and let the steam out before joining the “civilized” folks 🙂
A Rant Room.
So many people just want to point fingers and call names.
I used to read a lot of comments on blogs I like, however,
We have digressed to the point where intelligent conversation is constantly interrupted by the mind numbed agenda of others..
Just saw the Rant Room idea, that could be fun.
The Rant Room is fine as long as it’s for cussin’ and general incivility. Still has to be policed for any whiff of criminality; a handful of good o’l boys talkin’ trash about taking revenge on politicians can all too easily be transformed into a terrorist conspiracy in the eyes of the State.
Maybe.
– It’s not THAT different from what you’re already doing – just that subscribers could start a thread, not just comment.
– Alt social media platforms exist. I’m active on Mewe. Never got around to Parler because it’s hard to get an account if you don’t use a cell phone. I have a Gab account but never use it. Minds, ditto. Minds may ultimately be the best, but it requires study.
I truly miss forums and have never been in to facebook so missed out when many of the local clubs and big chats went to that format.
My only concern would be getting enough folks in to populate it. There are some truly wonderful commenters here and lots of experience along with funny stores and insight to benefit from.
I’m in.
I’d be very intetested.
Facebook just banned a 350k+, fast growing group aimed at stopping election fraud.
I don’t trust Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
I do trust Miguel and J.Kb, having seen how they engage with (polite) opposition.
I’m for it.
Any thing which enables greater mental interaction with well-above-average intelligence and patriotism is absolutely welcome…I’m in 100%. For years I’ve relied on this website for doing the work I no longer have enough time to do–the political heavy lifting. The more the better, if you’re game for the extra work, I’ll certainly be very appreciative.
While I see merit in the idea and would possibly be interested in participating, great care must be taken with regard to who is allowed to join. Otherwise the forum could quickly dissolve into a cesspool and have no credibility while also not bein of use to anyone.
I think that’s the long term solution, especially if we can’t ever get social media to stay hands-off on content.
I am new to your site and appreciate all the work you do in finding the information. I don’t normally comment. If you start a forum, does that mean you will no longer blog here? Also, If I was allowed in your forum, am I required to actively participate or can I show read and learn?
Blog will continue as usual. Not giving up this sucker!
Idea works for me.
I like forums.
Still visit at least one daily – would be more but my old stomping grounds slowly died.
Love reading the blog. Have never commented. Just like to read and learn. If you start a forum I would like to be able to read and learn there also. Who knows, I might actually comment there.
I’m in
I’d be interested in checking it out. I tend to prefer smaller fora rather than larger ones anyway.
There’s one I still frequent that’s been a bit slow lately, but with thoughtful, conservative, and (relatively) polite people still on it. Email me if you’d like to check that one out. Disclosure: I don’t own or operate it. I just like it.
I don’t know if this is acceptable, but my name is not Richard & I’m not normally a hijacker, but I’m feeling pretty apocalyptic right now, so:
I hope you folks realize that Dims could still take the Senate AND the White House. Some of you are going to be real sorry if you trust in some mysterious plan, everything goes south, & you realize you could have helped prevent it. Pull out that credit card. If we don’t stop this, we’ll never have another honest election & the U.S. is over. YOU can help. Do it NOW.
https://secure.winred.com/tmagac/election-defense-fund-cond?amount=45&utm_campaign=20201106_149545_2020-election-defense-trump-country-rs_erictrump_tmagac&utm_content=gop_direct-ask&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pu_1949&recurring=false&money_bomb=false
An interesting notion. There are of course various specialty fora out there, but methinks there’s room for more, especially if they’re comfortable-sized and somewhat managed.
Thinking back to the late, and much lamented, Neptunus Lex: he had a very civil (and diverse!) comment section. Apparently he’d quietly banished a few (only a few) troublemakers. One thing that came out after his death was that a resident Progressive troll was in fact the alter-ego of a right-leaning friend of his, who understood the Prog mindset well enough to put on a convincing impression of a sane one. This both helped avoid groupthink (there were also some actual moderate-Progs who stopped by from time to time, but the resident Devil’s advocate had his place) and flushed a few hotheads who couldn’t stay civil.
So… needs occasional action to banish radicals, provocateurs, and general troublemakers, and also needs enough diversity of thought that, should the group go veering off into crazytown, someone will drop in a dose of sanity.
(Expect provocateurs. Leslie Fish has been telling tales of confidential informants and such lately. There’s a long history of dissident groups being infiltrated and, through a few crazy remarks, transformed into criminal conspiracies.)
@Eric Wilner – That’s interesting. Always a bit of a shock to see a name you know in a radically different context – in this case, Leslie Fish. As if some minds in the same river of thought at some point swam in the same obscure brook. I’ve had that experience twice before. Once, at my first Libertarian Party national convention when it came as a shock to realize that all my fellow crazies not only knew who Robert Heinlein was and didn’t need a caption to identify a picture, but assumed by default that you did too. Then when I discovered a book in my grandmother’s library from somebody I thought of as an F & SF writer that no “normal” person would know about – L. Sprague de Camp.
I know Leslie Fish. Sort of. I had no idea she was such a widely known figure, I only knew of her music, but I ran into her on Quora a few years ago.
I’m in. Hell, I’d probably throw in some shekels like I did for UATV and social galactic.
A complaint I have about blog post/comment thread format is that after a day or two, it’s basically gone and new people won’t see it again. If you went with a forum it’s easier to refer back to something. I’m in.
Yes, please. We need to organize and communicate. I sincerely believe we need a massive demonstration and/or march so they’ll know we aren’t afraid to show up. We could talk about ways to show them we aren’t all talk. We have weeks, not months.
I’m in!
In.
I’m in.
I’d swing by periodically. My recommendation is to recruit a handful of moderators if you’re serious, otherwise you’re the only one with skin in the game and it will become a burden. FWIW I have been getting a lot of mileage out of Parler.
Thanks for what you do.
Chest thumping idiocy and behind-the-keyboard machismo will not be tolerated.
Chest thumping idiocy and behind-the-keyboard machismo will identify the Federales.
…when did we get to Michigan?
Do it,I will play!
I would certainly like to read. I don’t post often, but I’m interested always.
I enjoy other forums (yes, “forums” and you can look it up) and I would be glad to listen (read) and learn here while occasionally contributing
Congratulations. Yet ANOTHER hornets’ nest gets the boot!
I am subscribing to blogs, etc, ditto mewe because we need alternates. Yes to a forum. I may not post much but yes anyway.
Looks like a pretty good movement for forum.
I am in.
A forum provides more opportunity to converse about a particular subject. And the subject does not have to be tied to today’s posts from our hosts. A bit more gun talk would be nice. (Although, it looks like the gun grabbers will start occupying more real estate on the gun free zone pretty soon.)
A closed mail group would work fine. I’m in, and I can help, have set up several of them.
Actually i’ve been thinking an old school bbs would ve useful If you had it secure so only people who logged in and had permission can see or enter it and if you had it attached to a static IP then rather than it being at say http://www.gunfreezobe.com people would type say 192.169.1.209 into a web browser to get too it.
One more little note… I’ve been blogging and commenting under my own name since forever. Gives me kind of an incentive to keep it sane, in normal times.
Times being decidedly not normal, I have a feeling a well-guarded secret identity (with a distinctive new writing style) may be in order. I hope enough other new pseudo-people will be cropping up around the same time to make identity-guessing difficult.