A debate forum?

[DuckLady]

In theory, the idea of a debate forum is good. However, it is important to the owner and admins of the board to keep it family friendly and safe. That is the commitment to you. No matter what you think of the moderation here, it is always done with careful thought and with your best interests at heart. The staff often discusses actions before it is taken. We want our children to feel safe here and we want to be able to participate in a friendly atmosphere.
There are plenty of forums on the web to debate and argue.

Hinkjc (Jody) said it best.
We want to be educational, not argumentative.

 

[Barb Schuetz]

I thin a "controversial" section is a good idea. A place to post about what we've learned so far on this forum is controversial. Such as predator control. Not neccissarily a place to argue but a place where other forum members see it's "controversial" and can choose not to have to even see the thread but others can feel free to post their thoughts without someone locking or deleting the thread. Maybe a member vote? Since this forum and the work the moderators do IS for the members?

 

[Motherhenandflock]

How American is this: a debate about debate!

 

[cookinmom]

Woo Hoo! I didn't think about the kid aspect of it. Although, they're getting to see some adults act pretty much like kids in a lot of the regular posts lately.
One BB I used to go on had a special section, and to get access to it you had to email an admin to let you on (it was a gardening forum!). I never bothered with it, so I don't know what went on in there

but maybe something like that could be used to keep out kids, in case the language got bad.

Or better yet, maybe we (those of us who are sick to death of the arguing), should resolve to ignore those who must argue with everything they read.

 

[joebwe25]

Quote:
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!
I really do feel safe here as a child and my dad is always worrying about me getting into stuff like that.
Like terrielacy said, "There are plenty of forums on the web to debate and argue."

cookinmom, this is a chicken forum and there are a lot of kids.
And if there ever is a debate forum on here you could keep kids out but I still think it is necessary to not have one. I want to keep it safe for people like me.

 

[wren]

Thank you moderators! The reason why I visit and post here is because 99% of the posts are helpful and well thought out-even the threads with arguements. I want to relax and learn without worring about any possible flaming. Compared to other sites our community is wonderful and I value it! My sister looked over my shoulder to see the smilies and asked "Where are the bad ones?" LOL. The fact that we are debating the value of a debate forum is a good sign IMO. Go us!

Edited to add well said Nifty Chicken!

(1 post down)

 

[Barb Schuetz]

I agree that the forum should remain a safe place for youngsters but I feel I must remind that it's a family friendly forum, not a forum for kids. This means that this forum is here for adults as well as children. And of course, when ppl's views differ, it's going to eventually get heated. If we want to learn from each other, we need to hear each other. That's not to say that ppl need not control themselves and lack tact. I think all that's being requested is a place to agree to disagree on various topics in a place that's optional for members to be a part of. I don't think that this place should lack any of the forums rules or regs and on that note should be perfectly safe for young eyes. In fact, I think it's a really great idea and not all that hard to do. I may start a vote regarding a 'controversial' board on the other forum.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Our mods are amazing! I've been to a LOT of open forums and if left unchecked topics / tone can quickly go south.

I always brag to my friends / piers about how we have such a diverse community here and how amazing it is that everyone gets along so well. We have members who literally baby their chickens (see chicken diapers) and others who only raise chickens for food. Somehow everyone is able to get along super well and a LARGE portion of that is because of our excellent moderators and all the hard work they put into this forum.

Footnote: I get email complaints from members that the moderators were too strict or weren't fair. Yes we do have a diversity in our moderators and the way we all handle situation. With that said, every one of them works very hard for the betterment of this wonderful community.

Now, regarding a debate forum: My PERSONAL opinion is that I don't think very much good would come of it.

Best case: people would argue and remain civil and be able to debate in an adult manner.

Worst case: fighting, hurt feelings, trolling, threats / bashing via email, even more reports / emails to all of the BYC staff, etc.

Please keep in mind that the moderators are already super busy with complaints via email... in my opinion a debate forum would only make their jobs harder.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Silkiechicken's idea is brilliant and should be implemented.

I think everyone agrees this is a great site with a great group of people.

My biggest complaint about this site are that threads are locked out too quickly.

It seems that what some of us see as a discussion others see as an arguement.

I've been involved in some heated threads but everyone has been very respectful.

I'm on some forums that are nothing but a bunch of nut cases who argue for the
sake of argueing. Backyardchickens.com is nothing like that.

NiftyChicken, the moderators, and the members have built a very wonderful and
respectful culture here. If the same people are permitted to voice opinions
in a less controlled evironment the outcome should be just as educational.

I do think religious and political threads should be avoided. This is a chicken board.

Like Silkie said, if ya don't like it, don't read it. It's that simple.

 

[cookinmom]

Rob you're probably right. It would probably go "best case" for about the first 15 min, and deteriorate into worst case pretty quick!

We do have excellent mods. That is for sure. I too have seen other places on the web where people were asked for opinions etc, and some of them are absolutely brutal and quite vulgar. We have a great bunch here for the most part.

We mostly just wanted to vent our frustration with every cotton-pickin post turning into a debate on something almost unrelated.