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Poll Question: Should we....
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: The BULLpen
    Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 5:02pm


Some of you who have been around a while know that I like to "think out loud" and run ideas past people.

Some things running through my mind:

Do we need/want an area for folks to discuss things not permitted in the forum?

If so, idea #1 would be to create another discussion topic area and call it something like the "BULLpen". Subtopics like religion, politics and guns would be there. Discussions of sex and drugs would still be forbidden. Moderation would be minimal. Enter this area at your own risk - you will likely read things that may offend. The primary concern of mine is that things would "spill over" into the main forum. Also, ANYTHING posted there could be viewed by anyone visiting the forum - as with everything else.

Idea #2 would be to create emojis or some sort of "designator", perhaps in the signature area, to indicate a members willingness to engage in (for example) religious conversations - via PM (only). I should credit StephenH for sparking that idea in my noggin, this morning, with something he posted.

Or....perhaps you have a better idea????

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 5:26pm
The site works the way it is, let's not mess with a good thing. I'm not out to annoy anyone here with my political/religious/cultural opinions, of which I have plenty (I can already annoy folks just fine with my technical opinions Tongue) so why have a bullpen? 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 5:27pm
David, those are all good ideas, but I think they can lead to conflict, divisiveness, and a segmentation of users. 

By establishing a "bullpen" where nearly no topic is restricted, people will eventually know who is of this persuasion or that and I believe it will inevitably spill over into the "non-partisan" areas.  If people knew my true political/religious beliefs, I may end up with a zillion followers or be blackballed by the board.  If you really want to know how I feel, read my comments in the Washington Post.

We have a huge, almost mind boggling, array of sites in the internet to express our views apart from rPods.  Maybe we should follow the kiss rule and keep this limited to the things we share in common.  

There is an additional reason for this.  We have on our board people from all points of view imaginable.  When we stick to talking just about rPod and camping related issues we discover that there are really a lot of truly wonderful people out there with whom we'd never interact if we knew their religious or political beliefs.  Eventually, we get an idea of who is leans a little this way or that, but because we have to avoid hot button/dog whistle issues, we regularly interact with people who see the world much different from our own views and truly enjoy the conversation.  If we saw how they really feel about certain issues, that would most certainly not be the case.  [That is one reason one of my sons-in-law and I almost never speak.]

As for icons or emoji's to indicate one's willing to discuss issues, that's like wearing certain color clothing to communicate certain personal preferences.  It will label people and lead to conflict.  The PM system works just fine as it is.  We can glean from people's posts or signatures already, enough information to know whether we may want to engage in a pm conversation.  And in simply sending an email to someone you think may be interested in discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin and what happens to unbaptized babies when they die [I'm revealing my background], you can just ask.  The worst that will happen is the person will tell you to buzz off.

So, I say leave it as it is.  Don't fix it if it ain't broke.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 5:35pm
Leave this forum alone, there are multiple places on the interweb to discuss social, political issues. It has no place here. This is about camping and RPod dedicated issues, if we leave that we have basically ruined the best forum there was for us.   If I want a condescending lecture on life or some members opinion of America I can find that. I want to share RPods and RPod issues here. Nothing more nothing less.

I don't want any emojis attached to me. Not here.
Mike Carter
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 5:53pm
+  to the above. Leave it alone. It's working.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 6:09pm
Thanks for the opportunity to vote, I voted to Leave the Forum Alone. As an American, I defend my right to be offended and to decide for myself what is and isn't offensive. But as has been said in a few ways here, there are a zillion places to talk about All That Other Stuff ... this is the only place where we can talk about our RPods and related topics. Often my view would be, hey no problem! I'll just ignore the topics I don't want to read. But it adds work to some or other extent for our admins. All of that said, if this change is made, I won't object or be offended by that; I'll just ignore the topics I'm not interested in. I also don't like the idea of trying to label (with emojis or otherwise) and would not go along with that for me. Thanks again for asking. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 6:19pm
nope. not needed. I like the current format just fine.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 6:33pm
^^^ What they all said. This forum has a high signal to noise ratio and I'd prefer to keep it that way.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 7:15pm


I love you folks!   

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 7:21pm
The forum is great the way it is.  
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