Public Forums

[gary m]

Just as a thought...
Even though I have probably never posted on any of them, I think the Religion/Faith/Spirituality forum should only be available to logged in members.

I think the Hell Hole should be closed to outside view as well as my thought is internal squabbles, bickering or whining should stay "in the family" so to speak.

[Bob Loblaw 3.0]

Why? What makes them different from all the other squabbles around here?

[Gingersnap]

I don't see much reason to shield the religion forums, either.

That said, there might be some value in making the Bones invitation-only and confining the invitations to active members. Every site has its share of lurker members who never contribute but often carry tales. It's something to think about, for sure.

[phillygirl]

I would put the prayer requests to members only. Frequently people post things of a personal nature in there and I'd rathe the casual guest not have access.

[Administrator]

I have to say that this is an issue I have been struggling with for a while (since before the re-build). Ever since the whole family room issue crept up on the original board, it's been a bit of a conundrum to me.

I think that it's reasonable to hide the prayer area from the "public eye," meaning those who are not registered, at a bare minimum. Now, we could make that some sort of minimum post count requirement, as well, but then OTOH, I don't want to deny that to someone who is relatively new but also feels in need of prayer, for example. I'm not really keen on making it "invitation only" because that ultimately means that some people just aren't worthy of praying with others, and as a Christian, I have a real problem with that. So I'm leaning towards making it just open to registered members, or perhaps make it a very low post count (like 100 posts or something).

There is a technical problem with making the Bones area invitation only, if for no other reason that it means someone, some time will post something while they are not "invited" into that area, and it will get moved there, and then we either have to explain to that person that there's a "secret" area where we send contentious posts (definitely awkward), or else if they don't ask, they just think that I dumped some thread that became inconvenient (awkward and very frustrating to me; think CW and the whole disappearing threads saga). So I think that we have to at least leave that open to all registered members who are logged in. We can certainly still avoid "airing out our dirty laundry" by making it invisible to bots, non-members, the banned, etc.



There are other open/not open thread matters to address, but now is not the time and here is not the place.

[phillygirl]

I have to say that this is an issue I have been struggling with for a while (since before the re-build). Ever since the whole family room issue crept up on the original board, it's been a bit of a conundrum to me.

I think that it's reasonable to hide the prayer area from the "public eye," meaning those who are not registered, at a bare minimum. Now, we could make that some sort of minimum post count requirement, as well, but then OTOH, I don't want to deny that to someone who is relatively new but also feels in need of prayer, for example. I'm not really keen on making it "invitation only" because that ultimately means that some people just aren't worthy of praying with others, and as a Christian, I have a real problem with that. So I'm leaning towards making it just open to registered members, or perhaps make it a very low post count (like 100 posts or something).

There is a technical problem with making the Bones area invitation only, if for no other reason that it means someone, some time will post something while they are not "invited" into that area, and it will get moved there, and then we either have to explain to that person that there's a "secret" area where we send contentious posts (definitely awkward), or else if they don't ask, they just think that I dumped some thread that became inconvenient (awkward and very frustrating to me; think CW and the whole disappearing threads saga). So I think that we have to at least leave that open to all registered members who are logged in. We can certainly still avoid "airing out our dirty laundry" by making it invisible to bots, non-members, the banned, etc.



There are other open/not open thread matters to address, but now is not the time and here is not the place.

On the prayers issue my only request was that it be for registered members only. No post count. No invitation. Just members only, the way it was on the old board. I remember stating then that it should be for "family" and Frosty asked about whether family had to have certain beliefs for entry. I recall mentioning that even he was family, albeit the weird annoying cousin, but that anyone that is a registered member should have access, just so it's not open for view by lurkers that don't register and sign in.

[Administrator]

On the prayers issue my only request was that it be for registered members only. No post count. No invitation. Just members only, the way it was on the old board. I remember stating then that it should be for "family" and Frosty asked about whether family had to have certain beliefs for entry. I recall mentioning that even he was family, albeit the weird annoying cousin, but that anyone that is a registered member should have access, just so it's not open for view by lurkers that don't register and sign in.

OK, as of now, only registered (meaning logged-in) users, admins, and mods (technically there are none at the moment; I haven't made it that far yet as far as setting up mod permissions) should be able to see that a prayer forum even exists. IOW, if you log out and then come look at the site, you should not see the prayer forum at all.

[gary m]

My original thought for Religion was because of the Prayers section and I wasn't sure if you could break it down to the sub-forum level.