Proposal: new debates board (yes, including religion -_-)

[jane1234]

What exactly is the point of having anonymous posts? If it's so people aren't worried about what other people think, then it's a bit pointless when mods/admins can see who is posting what. Not naming names here, but I think a lot of people are going to be put off posting stuff (especially regarding religion) when they know that certain people participating in the debates can see who's who. I'd say people would be just as worried about what admins/mods think as regular users, if not more so.

I understand that mods/admins need to see who's who for moderating purposes, so I don't think the anonymity function is particularly helpful when half of the people participating in the debate can identify everyone anyway. 

[ninwa]

That's why I added the "ban religious discussion" option.

[burbs]

The anonymous thing sounds good, perhaps have a button that people click... like Suspected Troll. It wouldn't send emails to mods or anything (that's what the report button would be for), but just when a mod  goes to the forum they can check out the suspected troll posts and see if any actually are just bored teenagers.

We already have this, but nobody uses the report function, they just start fights in threads.

yes they do everybody does wanna take this outside i will destroy you!11!1 when im through with you your gonna be so russty not even WD-40 can save ur oxidised ass



(yeah I know, I mean an alternative to the report button... one where you just flag the comment and it gets checked at some point... if that made sense)

[MuggedByReality]

   As I said, I'm all in favour of ninwa's proposal. However, I don't really see what's wrong with things as they are. If you hate acrimony, it shouldn't be too difficult to discern which threads to avoid, (unlike in past AN eras, when people squabbled about notebooks and how to treat pre-pubescent members and suchlike.)

[ninwa]

Damn, probably shouldve had a "keep status quo" option

However, acrimonious threads seem to re-occur every month or so, with the accompanying discussions over whether to ban certain debate topics, so the current system apparently isn't working

What exactly is the point of having anonymous posts? If it's so people aren't worried about what other people think, then it's a bit pointless when mods/admins can see who is posting what. Not naming names here, but I think a lot of people are going to be put off posting stuff (especially regarding religion) when they know that certain people participating in the debates can see who's who. I'd say people would be just as worried about what admins/mods think as regular users, if not more so.

I understand that mods/admins need to see who's who for moderating purposes, so I don't think the anonymity function is particularly helpful when half of the people participating in the debate can identify everyone anyway. 

So those who may be timid about posting their own opinions might be more tempted to do so under the cover of anonymity. Also, I think normal members make up the majority of those participating in debate.

Mods and admins will keep a strict code of confidentiality (replied won't hint at who the commenter is, etc.) unless the CoC is actually breached.

[taiga]

Religious debates(?) are probably the best way to target a large chunk of students and intimidate the hell out of them such that they don't want to stay here.

[Souljette_93]

I don't see the point of being anonymous either, why be afraid to stand up to what you believe in?

And yes, ban religious debates. I think I'm only one of the two ( from the votes) who wants it. If you want to discuss something or an issue you have with religion or a particular religion go and PM the respective people  privately.

[ninwa]

And yes, ban religious debates. I think I'm only one of the two ( from the votes) who wants it. If you want to discuss something or an issue you have with religion or a particular religion go and PM the respective people  privately.

+1, but unfortunately the majority has spoken

[Russ]

If we're going to implement the board, should we use an SMF mod to prevent people from posting threads without moderator approval? So you submit your OP and it has to be checked to make sure it's had effort put into it and is well constructed rather than "abortion is evil, discuss".

I don't mind writing up some OPs if people want definite topics to start with

[taiga]

And yes, ban religious debates. I think I'm only one of the two ( from the votes) who wants it. If you want to discuss something or an issue you have with religion or a particular religion go and PM the respective people  privately.

+1, but unfortunately the majority has spoken

Adding in an option once 20 people have voted won't work -.-

[ninwa]

Adding in an option once 20 people have voted won't work -.-

even if the neutrals and negatives had all voted to ban religious threads, it would still be the minority

If we're going to implement the board, should we use an SMF mod to prevent people from posting threads without moderator approval? So you submit your OP and it has to be checked to make sure it's had effort put into it and is well constructed rather than "abortion is evil, discuss".

I don't mind writing up some OPs if people want definite topics to start with

Good idea but then you'll open the floodgates of "mod abuse" etc

[Truck]

Debate board = good idea, +1 from me.
No respect = really smart, definitely another +1.

However, I'm really really skeptical of anonymous posting. If anything it seems to me like it's going to be more of an outlet for trolling then anybody being too "shy" to post on their real account. If people really are scared of saying their opinion they can just as easily make a new account with a proxy anyway, I don't think having an anonymous post option is going to do anything positive.

[Eriny]

^ I agree. Having another board as such wouldn't be a problem, but anonymous boards seem to be asking for trouble. People are even nastier than usual if it means that they won't get caught out and so the quality of debates would suffer.

It's also probably worth remembering that the vast vast majority of debates on AN are fine and respectful, it's just a few really contentious issues that can sometimes get a little out of hand.

[ninwa]

Okay, well, without anonymous posting it's pretty much the same old debates/rant board except respect has been disabled

[Eriny]

Okay, well, without anonymous posting it's pretty much the same old debates/rant board except respect has been disabled

That works. Maybe we could also establish a rule against petty name calling/attacking people instead of arguments as well. I think that would be helpful.