I have observed a few changes to this community that are, in the long run as you will see, not conducive to the development of an online community.
This community has a lot of members. It takes many years to build up a community of that size. That's the good thing about it.
I fear that the current spate of observations I have made may harm the community or completely destroy it over a long period of time.
Some of the changes I have observed are:
1) The moderation has become more restrictive. This will kill the community. It grew because of its lenience and because it accommodated free thought and free speech.
Recently, even while I made no derisive comments on any particular individual, I received flak from some people who seem to be long-timers here.
Also, recently, in the last 3 months, I have been asked not to post my posts here or there or in more than a single forum or this or that.
In the long run, dear moderation team, this attitude will discourage posters and they will slowly reduce in number.
Please think about it.
I have been a part of online communities since 1997, when many people had no idea even what the Internet was and whether it existed. I tell you out of my experience.
2) Usability wise, this forum is getting worse.
For example, earlier, on the top-right of the screen, you saw your own name and if you clicked it, you saw your user control panel screen, from which you could see your contributions, followers, etc.
Now, they removed your name and you see only the link 'Your Notifications' in that space.
You can still get to your user control panel, but it takes 3 more clicks and 3 screens to jump through to get there.
3) Usability glitch
Earlier, you had the option of editing your posts. Now, they have taken it away. As a result, any spelling errors, typo's you make, anything else you want to change that you posted is now not available to you.
That can be quite uncomfortable.
These changes can be reversed.
It clearly shows that the people making these changes have little or no experience in building online communities.
I will add more as I observe them.
I would hate to see this community die. I request the current team of moderators and administrators to take these suggestions in a serious light and do something about them.
This community has a lot of members. It takes many years to build up a community of that size. That's the good thing about it.
I fear that the current spate of observations I have made may harm the community or completely destroy it over a long period of time.
Some of the changes I have observed are:
1) The moderation has become more restrictive. This will kill the community. It grew because of its lenience and because it accommodated free thought and free speech.
Recently, even while I made no derisive comments on any particular individual, I received flak from some people who seem to be long-timers here.
Also, recently, in the last 3 months, I have been asked not to post my posts here or there or in more than a single forum or this or that.
In the long run, dear moderation team, this attitude will discourage posters and they will slowly reduce in number.
Please think about it.
I have been a part of online communities since 1997, when many people had no idea even what the Internet was and whether it existed. I tell you out of my experience.
2) Usability wise, this forum is getting worse.
For example, earlier, on the top-right of the screen, you saw your own name and if you clicked it, you saw your user control panel screen, from which you could see your contributions, followers, etc.
Now, they removed your name and you see only the link 'Your Notifications' in that space.
You can still get to your user control panel, but it takes 3 more clicks and 3 screens to jump through to get there.
3) Usability glitch
Earlier, you had the option of editing your posts. Now, they have taken it away. As a result, any spelling errors, typo's you make, anything else you want to change that you posted is now not available to you.
That can be quite uncomfortable.
These changes can be reversed.
It clearly shows that the people making these changes have little or no experience in building online communities.
I will add more as I observe them.
I would hate to see this community die. I request the current team of moderators and administrators to take these suggestions in a serious light and do something about them.