Ask the Staff Anything About RF

[Revoltingest]

I notice many posters contributing in a DIR not their own, & there appear to be no sanctions against this.
How does this work now?
Under the old system, we had color coding which allowed various levels of participation.
The old rules relating to color coding are still published, but I can't remember what the colors were for each DIR.
It isn't even clear if the rules are obsolete relics.
Suggestion....
The old color coding system worked, & should be re-instituted.
(For example, I could converse with Buddhists, & this went swimmingly.)
Put a letter in () next to each forum's name to represent the color, eg, (G), (P), (B)
This also has the advantage that color blind posters can see the status.

 

[Thief]

We are discussing issues related to these in the Staff HQ (ha, I feel special now ). Now even member's old Started Threads don't show.

If other Staffers have something to say here, please do.

it's been awhile....any word on the old stuff?
is it still stashed away somewhere?

 

[Smart_Guy]

it's been awhile....any word on the old stuff?
is it still stashed away somewhere?

The old stuff are there somewhere just like other threads. For some reason searching old threads and posts from the User Profile does not bring all results but using the search feature does access them. For now, search for keywords for your own username to find your old stuff.

Still no response from the RF technician. It could be a limitation in the new software that stood in the way.

 

[sun rise]

I notice many posters contributing in a DIR not their own, & there appear to be no sanctions against this.
How does this work now?
Under the old system, we had color coding which allowed various levels of participation.
The old rules relating to color coding are still published, but I can't remember what the colors were for each DIR.
It isn't even clear if the rules are obsolete relics.
Suggestion....
The old color coding system worked, & should be re-instituted.
(For example, I could converse with Buddhists, & this went swimmingly.)
Put a letter in () next to each forum's name to represent the color, eg, (G), (P), (B)
This also has the advantage that color blind posters can see the status.

The letter idea is a good one.

As to sanctions, I post in different DIRs because I consider myself a member of various groups. There has never been an issue except when I as a Jew posted in the Jewish DIR and was chastised for not practicing Judaism (actually mentioning "Jewish" in the religion field) so I've not posted there since. I take inspiration from Hazrat Inayat Khan, a Sufi teacher of the Chisti lneage in India:

The Sufi shows his universal brotherhood in his adaptability. Among Christians he is a Christian, among Jews he is a Jew, among Muslims he is a Muslim, among Hindus he is a Hindu; for he is one with all, and thus all are with him. He allows everyone to join in his brotherhood, and in the same way he allows himself to join in any other. ​

This can, of course, upset those who disagree with this philosophy.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

I notice many posters contributing in a DIR not their own..

Personally I don't see this as a problem. Not everyone here fits neatly into a particular box, and it's good if people can explore other traditions and schools of thought.

In my view the only rule for DIR's is that they should be a safe environment, in other words there should be no direct criticism of the particular tradition involved. I think it's pretty obvious when people enter a DIR to stir up trouble, and from what I've seen it doesn't happen very often. I used to moderate on Buddhist forums so I have a sense of the issues involved here.

 

[Revoltingest]

Personally I don't see this as a problem. Not everyone here fits neatly into a particular box, and it's good if people can explore other traditions and schools of thought.

I agree, since I used to converse with the Buddhists.
But the problem is the risk of getting an infraction.

In my view the only rule for DIR's is that they should be a safe environment, in other words there should be no direct criticism of the particular tradition involved. I think it's pretty obvious when people enter a DIR to stir up trouble, and from what I've seen it doesn't happen very often. I used to moderate on Buddhist forums so I have a sense of the issues involved here.

I've been kicked out of places when I was not troubling anyone.
Twas never from the Buddhist forum.
Enforcement is unpredictable, & those points last a long time.

 

[Brent W]

The old stuff are there somewhere just like other threads. For some reason searching old threads and posts from the User Profile does not bring all results but using the search feature does access them. For now, search for keywords for your own username to find your old stuff.

Still no response from the RF technician. It could be a limitation in the new software that stood in the way.

We only return x amount of posts and threads when you browse via the User Profile. I can look at increasing this a bit.

 

[Thief]

We only return x amount of posts and threads when you browse via the User Profile. I can look at increasing this a bit.

I realize my posting technique has changed quite a bit over the past seven years.
I'm looking to review
can't help but wonder if my perspective has shifted as well

you got enough tech to send all threads by Thief to my email?

 

[Quagmire]

I notice many posters contributing in a DIR not their own, & there appear to be no sanctions against this.
How does this work now?

It depends on what kind of participation we're talking about. For the time being, we're treating all DIRs as "Blue":

• For any DIR or discussion sub-forum that is colored blue, non-members of that area are limited only to respectful questions and are not allowed to make any non-question posts.

Under the old system, we had color coding which allowed various levels of participation.

Ideally, we'll get that back at some point.

The old rules relating to color coding are still published, but I can't remember what the colors were for each DIR.

Nobody can, which is why we're treating them all as blue for now.

It isn't even clear if the rules are obsolete relics.

Rule 10 arguably is at this point.

For several months now, we (and by "we" I mean @Quintessence, with a suggestion or two here and there from the rest of us ) have been working on updating and revising all of our rules.

Since we've been taking them in order and rule 10 is in fact, rule 10, it'll be the last one to get an update (we already merged rule 9 and 11 into one rule).

The we're going to work on our new Rule 11 which will be, "All members from Revoltingstan must post in hot-pink font at all times" (we'll roll that one out soon as we can come up with a catchier title).

Suggestion....
The old color coding system worked, & should be re-instituted.

Well, it only sort of worked, but it was better than anything else we've been able to come up with.

(For example, I could converse with Buddhists, & this went swimmingly.)
Put a letter in () next to each forum's name to represent the color, eg, (G), (P), (B)
This also has the advantage that color blind posters can see the status.

Then people are going to have to remember what the letters mean, and when they figure it out they'll still have to go and check to see what the colors mean.

Too many steps. Maybe something like (O) for open and (C) for closed, although we might have the same problem there too.

Really, partial solution though it was, I don't think anything is going to work as well as the color-coding did, so maybe once we're up to rule 10 we can find out if that can be re-instated.

 

[Smart_Guy]

We only return x amount of posts and threads when you browse via the User Profile. I can look at increasing this a bit.

Is it possible to make it unlimited?

 

[Brent W]

Is it possible to make it unlimited?

Unfortunately not right now.

 

[crossfire]

I agree, since I used to converse with the Buddhists.
But the problem is the risk of getting an infraction.

I've been kicked out of places when I was not troubling anyone.
Twas never from the Buddhist forum.
Enforcement is unpredictable, & those points last a long time.

As long as you are good with the Four Dharma Seals (linked in my signature line,) you should be fine in the Buddhism DIR. (Three Marks of Existence--Impermanence, Unsatisfactoriness, Not-Self, plus Nirvana.)

 

[Rick O'Shez]

As long as you are good with the Four Dharma Seals (linked in my signature line,) you should be fine in the Buddhism DIR. (Three Marks of Existence--Impermanence, Unsatisfactoriness, Not-Self, plus Nirvana.)

I'd better keep quiet about my heretical views then.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

I've been kicked out of places when I was not troubling anyone.

That doesn't sound right to me. It would be nice to think that people were encouraged to explore other traditions on a forum like this.

 

[4consideration]

Sorry to butt in here, since I'm no longer staff, but it seems it may be worthy of mentioning this regarding participation in DIRs by non-members.

One of issues with DIR's is that they are not debate locations. Problems tend to arise when non-members of a group start making assertions about the scriptures/beliefs of a religion/group that they believe to be accurate, but the members of the group are in strong disagreement with. A debate begins.

Often this is the result of an innocent disagreement/misunderstanding/ignorance of the issues/terms, etc. However, this sometimes appears to be a sneak-attack by someone opposed to the religion/group.

(I'll stop commenting now. )

 

[Revoltingest]

As long as you are good with the Four Dharma Seals (linked in my signature line,) you should be fine in the Buddhism DIR. (Three Marks of Existence--Impermanence, Unsatisfactoriness, Not-Self, plus Nirvana.)

Oh, dear......I don't know any of those things.
I never even got certified as an atheist.

 

[Revoltingest]

That doesn't sound right to me. It would be nice to think that people were encouraged to explore other traditions on a forum like this.

Apparently, armchair philosophers are quite territorial.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Often this is the result of an innocent disagreement/misunderstanding/ignorance of the issues/terms, etc. However, this sometimes appears to be a sneak-attack by someone opposed to the religion/group.

I think the difference would become quickly apparent. To me the no-debate rule for DIRs doesn't make a lot of sense and needs rethinking.

I still haven't got a clear sense of what DIRs are really for. What, essentially, is their purpose?

 

[Thief]

I think the difference would become quickly apparent. To me the no-debate rule for DIRs doesn't make a lot of sense and needs rethinking.

I'd be glad to help draw that line....
will you be posting an op in general discussion?.....or debate?

 

[Rick O'Shez]

will you be posting an op in general discussion?.....or debate?

I don't find the distinction between "discussion" and "debate" to be all that clear in practice.