Posted by olysi79 on October 16, 2007, at 9:21:15
In reply to Re: closing boards and renaming boards » Dr. Bob, posted by Netch on October 16, 2007, at 6:32:55
Keep it basic in my honest opinion.
Low travelled boards get closed, high travelled boards remain.
To avoid fear, I think that possibly once a person registers and before he or she can post, he or she could be taken through a few explanations of the board's purposes, alongside a disclaimer of the board's intentions, rules, and an understanding that many of the board's posters are expressing their opinions to avoid the newbies becoming frightened, etc... You already do this when one registers, but it needs to be taken further, especially when articulating the diverse array of opinions on the boards. As an example, when I was a newbie to the boards, it was the fact that I was reading alot of what I perceived to be "the truth" about these situations from posters that scared me. I thought that it all applied to me. I did not carefully consider that we all have unique biochemistry, life experiences and diagnoses, etc. That can create an intimmidating experience.Finally, as far as policies are concerned, I think there needs to be an effort to keep threads directed at the questions asked by posters. Often times, a person will ask a question in which they want insight from a person who has perhaps had similar experience, only to have their thread hijacked by someone asking a completely different question or offering irrelevant information. It robs the poster of having his or her question answered, and stops a new thread from being created with an appropriate subject line, which unto itself could create a rich archive of useful answers. I think there needs to be reporting of thread hijacking and a policy against it, then the the hijacker's posting needs to either be deleted or be recreated as a new thread.
poster:olysi79
thread:788194
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20070817/msgs/789556.html