Hey, Let's Work Together To Make This Forum Better!

[UntoHim]

I want to springboard off some things Igzy has posted - one just recently and the other a long time ago:

Originally Posted by Igzy

That said, as I've said before, it's hard to use this forum because there are too many categories. I strongly suggest narrowing the number of subforums and consolidating threads. Probably six or eight subforums are all you need. It's too hard to find things, IMHO.

I agree this place needs a major overhaul. I need to consult with the forum host company. They owe me some free advise - I've been paying monthly fees for a long time and have required very little of their time. If anybody wants to point me to some other forums with better setups let me know. One thing to keep in mind is that we have a WHOLE forum here to work with, not just ONE BOARD within a forum. This actually gives us much more flexibility and the ability to customize - of course this also leaves a lot of room for some amateur like me to foul things up!

Again, let's keep in mind that this forum exits for former AND CURRENT members...so whatever can be done to attract current members to feel safe, valued, respected and honored is what we need to do. Many Local Church/LSM leaders are strongly advising that current members stay away from open forums where they have no control (meaning the BARM forum and this one). They say there is nothing but "poison", "negativity" and "death" - most of us know that this is simply not true, but lets take this advantage of this new chance to prove them wrong. This does NOT mean we should let off the gas on our criticisms and exposing of the false teachings and harmful practices. I know that this can be done in an atmosphere of understanding and love. Forum software and setup can only go so far to create such an atmosphere - it takes some humans!

Personally, I would like the Bereans forum to go away, so that this could become "the forum."

I would not like to see the Bereans forum go away. If for no other reason then for documentation of all the dialogue between ex LCers and other ex members and some current members. There are some good third party contributions as well. Besides, the BARM forum focus is (or is supposed to be) on apologetics whereas LocalChurchDiscussons forum has many focuses. Apologetics is only one of many topics of discussion.

Originally Posted by Igzy

If I might be a bit constructive, I think we need to be able to talk about things other than the LC here. We need a section of the board to talk about spiritual matters in and of themselves. This is smart, gifted group of people and I'm interested in what you guys think about things without their always being in terms of the LC. For example, I've wanted to start a thread about the nature of faith. But I don't want to discuss it in terms of the LC or with obligatory jabs at the LC. Also, I'd like an area on the board where we can talk about anything. Sports, politics, macrame, anything.

I heartily agree! Just focusing on matters revolving solely around the Local Church can get real tedious. I probably don't have enough time to participate much on a board covering sports or politics but I see no reason why we can't have an area (board) for those discussions.

The real weakness of this board is that by nature it requires people to dwell on the past. Or more basically, it's a board that requires a somewhat negative attitude. You have to have a problem with the LC to fit in. Any social setting based on a negative can turn into a death march.

Excellent observation (as usual from Igz). The problem is there are no easy answers to these problems. One problem, as I see it, is that LCers have a tendency to be on the other side of the pendulum - there is nothing negative about the LC to talk about...Lee's teachings are perfect and complete...their practice of "the church-life" is basically perfect and complete...they hold all the "recovered truth" and on and on. This is to say nothing of the fact that anybody who speaks of their history in anything but glowing terms is a "destroyer of the divine building". Nevertheless, all these problems not withstanding, I don't think a forum such as this one needs to be a "social setting based on a negative" (I'm not saying that Igzy is saying this however). Some forum boards, apologetics for example, will always have a contentious "atmosphere", but it does not have to be negative. Anyway...I'm just talking out loud here.

Ok gang. Let's get some feedback. Post it here rather then disrupting other threads, OK?

One choice we have is to simply things - make the whole forum less "busy". This would include taking away many of the "modules" - mainly the ones on either side of the main, center module (the one containing "recent threads" and all the various boards) It would certainly not break my heart to eliminate the calendar, quips and quotes or listen up.

The problem with the BARM setup (one Board with one set of threads) is that things get easily buried. Currently there are over 50 pages of threads. It takes LOTS of time to search for some thread or theme you want to bring back to reactivate and bring back to the top. The search feature is cumbersome and takes more time then it's worth. When there is a multiple board setup (like we have here) one can locate something of interest by simply scrolling down the one page. I do think many of the boards and sub-boards (sub-forums) can be "hidden" behind a fewer number of "categories" - then one would have to click on any particular category of interest and it would then reveal the various boards/sub-boards would contain various threads (are you confused yet, because I am)

I am open to any and all suggestions to make the forum for "user friendly".