Well what do you want the layout to be?

I don't know if you guys want it more traditional with Safe Haven and Controversial and all that or not? I'm just trying to get the ball rolling.

We can do a layout simular to the one we had if that's what people want. But right now, all ideas are welcome on that. This is the creative process phase, the brainstorming phase. So have fun with it.

jsut my opinion; simple is better. a private area for members only (no bots, etc.), a public area for people to look at and see if they want to join; maybe a pics area (public or private), and a safe haven kind of place where personal challenges or fits or whatever can be had witout the hole world knowing. always need a joke thread-might want to make one 'ga, pd, r& x'-or whatever the damn movie people use nowadays...no sense in not warning some sensitive people if they are wandering into an area where we are discussing our bodily functions (no naming names, but you know who you are....lol!)....

maybe i'll think of more later; greased the truck today...tired as an old goat pulling a tater wagon.....
reb

OMG I just noticed something so cool. Your "who is online" tells you that you have a bot online.

Yes, I noticed that too. It is nice to know when they are there.

I'm also thinking of not making things too complicated. What about a forum that is private for all personally identifying information, like photo's, names and autobiological information as well as intros? It's easy to figure out what should be in a closed forum, but my question is what should we put in an open forum?

Melodi, maybe general stuff that would give guests an idea of the "flavor" of the place.

I agree, that's a good beginning. Some of the humor forums could be open too.

I think that we should have two seperate "controversial" forums, one for debate on controversial subject matter without the irreverence and lewdness, and one where people can be crass if they so choose, and where absolutely anything goes other than personal attacks. Both of the controversial forums will be private.

Profanity should be kept to a minimum in all the other sub-forums, but this shouldn't necessarily be enforced with an iron fist unless it gets out of hand. I think it's very important that people don't feel like they have to walk on eggshells.

That way, we can respect uninhibited speech and have a peaceful forum for those who want to avoid the crassness at the same time. VL wasn't just about being crass, and neither will this forum be. This is the best compromise I can think of.

What do you guys think?

i'm ok with whatever y'all decide. for me, if someting is too gross, i don't read it. if something is too' nicey nicey' i won't read it. i know what i like, and know what i don't like
reb

I'm remembering that on vl, lewdness and language could appear anywhere on any topic, but with the exception of one person, little was done solely for shock value. I think the idea of simply warning in individual threads that excessive language or raunchiness is there should be enough for those that want to avoid it. There is no way to warn realistically about the occassional swear word that comes up in natural conversation and as long as we make that clear in the introduction to the site, I don't see a problem with it.

But if people want a forum solely for going off the deep end with, that's fine too.

reb wrote:i'm ok with whatever y'all decide. for me, if someting is too gross, i don't read it. if something is too' nicey nicey' i won't read it. i know what i like, and know what i don't like
reb

Seriously? It seems like you are the type of guy whom nothing is too gross for.

OoO! Fossy, you are tempting me to be sarcastic....i think your post had just a hint of sarcasm, a bouquet of 'whatcha gonna say back', that light fruity vintage flavor of sour grapes, requesting a 'base' main course....i could say 'well, i talk to you, so that shows my standards.' lol! but i'm restraining myself (note, this is sarcasm maybe over the line-i hope ya know i'm joking back in the spirit of the words you posted as i took them...lol!-i allus say 'be sure you can take what you dish out )

by the way, have you stopped beating your boyfriend yet?
reb

We haven't even started the forum and already things are going delightfully off topic. I love it!!

I've been thinking that I'd like the forum to be up and running in 2 to 4 weeks and to continue to evolve. If it needs more time, so be it; but it feels like it needs to come together sooner rather than later.

Here's a suggested set up: Open forums: Rules, announcements and suggestions; General (including all how too questions, on any topic), Jokes and humor, and All things mass media (books, movies, tv, music, youtube, etc). Closed forums: Controversial, Off the deep end, personal issues, dreams, psychic and sexual; health and nutrition and original creations; autobiographical and intros. Of course we can think of clever names for these themes. Moderator's forum to discuss issues on maintaining the site; a forum to store past disputes in locked threads avail to moderators and admins only, and a forum available solely for mediation that is private to only those involved.

Any changes or alternatives? Is there too many or not enough sections? This is all brainstorming at this point.

I seem to be having problems editing my earlier post here for a couple of typos and adding this: a locked forum (or locked forum within rules and suggestions) for the Nothing Forum as a historical record, once our site is up and running.

Twice, I amended my post, and twice, I found myself off the site and on a blank page. I need to research this.

i frankly don't care about 'colors, style, artistic attributes...' those kinds of things. after poking around in the instructions, it's my perception that being able to post at all is a big step. anything after that is gravy. has anyone tried to post a picture on the forum 'direct' (i.e., not a photobucket link or otherwise? i still have 'pictures' turned off on my os')

our first action should be to figure out how to defeat bots, and to temporarily locka thread, if necessary, imo. 'looks' comes after 'works'; i.e., form follows function in my little weird world...

reb

Yes, Logan posted his picture in introductions. I've been wondering if we want our discussion group to be a closed forum. But, by keeping it open for now, other vl members can look on before deciding to register, and some seem to need that. There is no way we can keep bots out of an open forum, from what I learned early on shortly after an aimoo post of mine turned up in google's search results on a topic.

thanks. i guess my position would be that perhaps introductions and a 'general chatter' or jokes page be open, everything else closed unless you register. do we have anyone who knows how to do 'funky letters' to keep bots and trollers from spamming us? i'm full of questions and bs, but not much else...

reb

ps, ifyou wouldn't be posting those topics that are of such general interest, your handle wouldn't show up on google! lol!

reb wrote:thanks. i guess my position would be that perhaps introductions and a 'general chatter' or jokes page be open, everything else closed unless you register. do we have anyone who knows how to do 'funky letters' to keep bots and trollers from spamming us? i'm full of questions and bs, but not much else...

reb

ps, ifyou wouldn't be posting those topics that are of such general interest, your handle wouldn't show up on google! lol!

I can't help it if some aspects of my life are of such wide interest!

We do have some security from the host on spammers I think. Just go poke around the forum help support forum on the admin tool bar. Right now, we're thinking of adding a closed forum for any general discussion and chatter, so we don't have to worry on what we say. It'll be a temporary forum for everyone to use until we get a permanent site up.

Justin found out that we can't back anything up; we do have a general restore of the whole site. But we are considering a host that will allow wider forum options as this one seems quite limited. So, if anyone wants anything saved from this site, please do so as we go along as we can't make copies of the whole to take with us.