Why is the general discussion forum so important?

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eye_of_tiger
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Why is the general discussion forum so important?

Post by eye_of_tiger » Wed Jun 08, 2016 1:39 am

I do not think that it is a coincidence or mistake that the General Discussion forum is only the second item in the forum listing, that is after the Introduce Yourself board.

From what I understand about Swetha's original plan for this forum it was always meant to be a place for members to begin contributing (after having first introduced themselves) to the community. A starting point or launching pad to discussing more specific subjects in more detail, in another more appropriate and more closely defined forum.

Even the general discussion forum rules are global rules, which are meant to apply to this entire website.

http://mysticboard.org/ge ... nquot.html

If you accept this explanation of the purpose of the general discussion forum to be a place where you discuss subjects not already covered by other forums, it would be easy to think that it is simply a grab bag or lucky dip of subjects which do not belong anywhere else, but I believe that this underestimates its true value as a forum in it's own right.

There are a large number of subjects which overlap or straddle several different forums at the same time. They could easily belong in one or more of them. You may not be sure which forum you should post your new topic in, and this is where I think that the general discussion forum gives us a great advantage as a type of sorting out point.

Some subjects are so multifaceted (complex) that they cannot be allocated to any one specific forum, so they should probably remain in the general discussion forum. Cross posting the same subject to several forums is discouraged. And there is always the possibility that a discussion will without any warning go off on a very different path to the one where it began.

In my opinion the general discussion forum is often undervalued and unrecognized for what of considerable lasting value it is able to contribute to the discussion aspects of this website.

I think that it is wrong to regard it as anything other than the central core discussion forum, which if properly used  connects with all the other discussion boards, in complex, constantly evolving and surprising new combinations.

I suppose that if you managed to read all of what I have written above without falling asleep from extreme boredom (sorry), that I now have explained why I think that the general discussion forum is so important.

What is your opinion, and have I missed out anything which you think should be added to the list of its advantages as the central key discussion forum on Mystic Board?

Thanking you in advance for caring and sharing,

Brian :smt031

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Talia
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Post by Talia » Wed Jun 08, 2016 11:12 am

I think that this is a great post but what we need is more posters lol. Forming a community and a bond between contributors and participants should be a main part of the Gen D board, keeping in touch, keeping informed and keeping updated, how are you, what are you doing, whats for lunch, cultural food difference and the weather lol! But such a huge forum but so little posting traffic is strange don't you think? What am I missing?

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Post by eye_of_tiger » Fri Jun 10, 2016 1:27 am

Forming a community and a bond between contributors and participants should be a main part of the Gen D board, keeping in touch, keeping informed and keeping updated, how are you, what are you doing, whats for lunch, cultural food difference and the weather lol!
Dear Talia,

This is exactly the type of helpful feedback which I was looking for, so thanks loads.

On other websites the more social functions listed above are performed by way of text or voice chat software, but because MB does not currently have chat room (s), new members are confused about where they are supposed to meet and socialise. And the Introduce Yourself forum certainly does not fill this space, as it is presently set up.

You are not missing anything. Possibly one of the main reasons for which members are hesitant to post on this board is that its exact function is poorly defined or not explained. So it has become in essence a place where you post anything which does not seem to belong to or fit on one of the other more specific discussion forums.

Better defining and explaining the intended functions of the general discussion forum to both new and "older" members is the whole purpose of my posting. As all forums including this one are continually up for review in both their format or even whether they will be continued, it is I believe critical that we discuss between ourselves and reach some sort of shared agreement about what does or does not belong on this board.

I am hoping that people will then feel much more confident to post here in the future, particularly after having personally shared their own ideas and opinions about better defining the functions of this board with each other, as well as with their friendly site administrators who are doing their level best to make the whole site as user friendly as it is humanly possible to make it within the restrictions of time and limited energy.

Thanking you once again for your ongoing support and constructive feedback,

Brian :smt038

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