# Ways To Improve Going Forward: Your thoughts on the matter. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 3, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049 "2018-08-03T16:29:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/421 "2018-09-04T15:17:17Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Straight Dope printed column is Chicago-centric (was it syndicated widely?). Not really. Hardly any columns in recent decades were particularly focused on Chicago. I first read the column when I was living in Washington DC, and also read it in New York. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/422 "2018-09-04T16:13:33Z")
I’d like to reiterate the suggestion for a “like” button, or upvote or whatever you want to call it. I know that many balk at the suggestion, but we want more traffic to the board, right? What board are you more likely to return to - one where your post is completely ignored (at best), or one where you see your post has 5 likes/upvotes/whatever? It’s a nice and quick way to let someone know you read their words, appreciated them, and didn’t really have anything to add to it but just wanted to endorse the post. I know I’ve read many posts that fit this description but didn’t want to post just to say “me too”. I’m sure others have done the same. **TubaDiva** , do you think this might be a possibility? edit: I’d like to just note that obviously this isn’t an end-all solution, just another tool for the toolbox. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/423 "2018-09-04T16:16:16Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I decided to [take a break from posting](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21008171&postcount=76) about three months ago, but have continued to check in to read now and then. When I saw that the future of the SDMB was uncertain and that Charter Memberships were becoming available again, I thought very seriously about renewing my (long lapsed) membership. > > I decided against it because of this: > I actually don’t find it easy to ignore thread after thread about the inferiority of the Negro race, what disgusting freaks transgender people are, how victims of sexual assault must have been asking for it, etc. I have often been frustrated by the willingness of the Mods to let trolls troll away, for years in some cases, but I was willing to believe it was just too hard for them to stay on top of everything. Now I know better. > > Here’s what I do find easy: hanging onto my money. It’s very, very easy for me to refrain from paying to provide trolls with a platform where no one is allowed to call them trolls. Over the past few months I’ve also found it easier than I expected to go without posting here. I’m about to flounce off again for a while, but since **TubaDiva** asked, my suggestion for improving the SDMB would be to think very carefully about whether it’s really worth protecting trolls. The SDMB is going to lose people either way, it’s just a question of who. I don’t flatter myself that my absence is a great loss to the board, but you’ve already lost more valuable posters ([**Una Persson**](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php), for instance) due to the reluctance of the Mods to take action against trolls. Yeah. “The rules don’t apply to people we think contribute enough” is a real bad look. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/424 "2018-09-04T16:44:06Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Allow unlimited sock accounts. But only for paid accounts. Thus a sock problem becomes a revenue problem. Perhaps each sock account membership should only be $2 or so since it would encourage some people to do novelty socks for humor purposes. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/425 "2018-09-04T16:49:40Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > What board are you more likely to return to - one where your post is completely ignored (at best), or one where you see your post has 5 likes/upvotes/whatever? It’s a nice and quick way to let someone know you read their words, appreciated them, and didn’t really have anything to add to it but just wanted to endorse the post. I agree with this. Also, without a like button, people may tend to write posts with the mindset of “what can I say to get this quoted?” They may write things that are more controversial or inflammatory just to better ensure getting quoted for the recognition. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/426 "2018-09-04T17:55:25Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Wouldn’t a Facebook page cannibalize user engagement from the message board? I quite like the semi anonymous nature of this place, I wouldn’t be following on facebook. I was a member of a message board which covered oil and gas operations, it was a sort of dope for drilling with a lot of technical content, and an anonymous user base. It had good content, but then the founder died, the site kept going and a parallel facebook page was set up. The message board pretty much died and the face book page is now jammed full of images of rigs with meaningless ’ gosh don’t we work hard’ slogans and some of the dumbest shit I have ever read in the comments. A face book page is fine to post links and make people aware, but It could end up splitting off content and discussion. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/427 "2018-09-04T18:00:55Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Given the new ownership of the Straight Dope IP and the SDMB, and the discontinuation of the print column, I’m curious about where this fits in to the Sun-Times strategy, and why the Sun-Times doesn’t just kill the whole thing off? > > Surely, it can’t be enough simply to be “profitable”; the operating margins have to be worth it, too. Companies are always killing off products or divisions that aren’t profitable enough so that they can focus their energies on things that are more profitable. If you have ten employees dedicated to profiting $x, and they could be repurposed to profiting $x\*5, then killing of the SDMB makes sense… Websites are not very expensive. The biggest cost is likely Tubadiver, who probably isn’t available to be moved to doing something else. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/428 "2018-09-04T18:14:16Z")
So, we’re a month in the the idea drive and several of them have been implemented. Has there been any uptick in traffic or revenue. Have the current round of implemented suggestions done anything? ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/429 "2018-09-04T18:58:40Z")
I think it might take a little longer than a month to see any kind of significant change. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/430 "2018-09-04T20:42:16Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > I think it might take a little longer than a month to see any kind of significant change. So you’re saying it may take longer than we thought? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/431 "2018-09-04T21:07:08Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Websites are not very expensive. The biggest cost is likely **Tubadiver** , who probably isn’t available to be moved to doing something else. (Emphasis added.) Now that evokes an interesting image! ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/432 "2018-09-04T21:22:43Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > I’d like to reiterate the suggestion for a “like” button, or upvote or whatever you want to call it. I know that many balk at the suggestion, but we want more traffic to the board, right? What board are you more likely to return to - one where your post is completely ignored (at best), or one where you see your post has 5 likes/upvotes/whatever? It’s a nice and quick way to let someone know you read their words, appreciated them, and didn’t really have anything to add to it but just wanted to endorse the post. I know I’ve read many posts that fit this description but didn’t want to post just to say “me too”. I’m sure others have done the same. **TubaDiva** , do you think this might be a possibility? > > edit: I’d like to just note that obviously this isn’t an end-all solution, just another tool for the toolbox. Another vote for this. My question is though: Is Vbulletin even capable of a like button? ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/433 "2018-09-04T23:06:19Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Another vote for this. My question is though: Is Vbulletin even capable of a like button? I’ve seen it on other message boards. The Television Without Pity boards had it in their later years. Can’t remember if they were vBulletin or not though. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/434 "2018-09-08T17:49:45Z")
Also, this is another reason why enabling tagging posters is a useful tool. I could’ve tagged Tuba in my post upthread rather than waiting for her to notice the post while the thread drops off the front page. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/435 "2018-09-08T17:57:07Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Another vote for this. My question is though: Is Vbulletin even capable of a like button? I believe that the version of vBulletin that we are using does not have a like button feature built into it. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/436 "2018-09-08T19:00:47Z")
Another suggestion: keep thread closures to a minimum. For example, the hot chicks thread that just got closed (it’s not about that thread specifically, just using it as a current example). If people still have something to say, why not let them keep talking? Eventually the conversation will die off on its own. Especially controversial threads, if anything that keeps posting traffic up for a bit. Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![Amara\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7993a0/32.png) [@Amara\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amara_1)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/437 "2018-09-08T20:03:45Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I decided to [take a break from posting](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21008171&postcount=76) about three months ago, but have continued to check in to read now and then. When I saw that the future of the SDMB was uncertain and that Charter Memberships were becoming available again, I thought very seriously about renewing my (long lapsed) membership. > > I decided against it because of this: > I actually don’t find it easy to ignore thread after thread about the inferiority of the Negro race, what disgusting freaks transgender people are, how victims of sexual assault must have been asking for it, etc. I have often been frustrated by the willingness of the Mods to let trolls troll away, for years in some cases, but I was willing to believe it was just too hard for them to stay on top of everything. Now I know better. > > Here’s what I do find easy: hanging onto my money. It’s very, very easy for me to refrain from paying to provide trolls with a platform where no one is allowed to call them trolls. Over the past few months I’ve also found it easier than I expected to go without posting here. I’m about to flounce off again for a while, but since **TubaDiva** asked, my suggestion for improving the SDMB would be to think very carefully about whether it’s really worth protecting trolls. The SDMB is going to lose people either way, it’s just a question of who. I don’t flatter myself that my absence is a great loss to the board, but you’ve already lost more valuable posters ([**Una Persson**](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php), for instance) due to the reluctance of the Mods to take action against trolls. All of this. Let the racism and sexism continue to stand and the mods are very explicitly making a choice of who is welcome here and who is not. Bone’s comment overlooks the fact that racism and sexism will also turn off both current and prospective posters but he appears to view that (and their views) as non-important and is focused on ensuring that posters who repeatedly make racist/sexist posts stay because they “may add value”. You guys are making a very clear choice every, single day. Don’t be surprised if your choices have consequences. And to be clear Bone’s still far better on this than tomndeb. Like Lamia said, you guys just need to own your choices and make them explicit so posters can make an educated choice as to whether to remain. Like Lamia, I thought the issue was that some of this wasn’t recognized. Losing Lamia is a huge loss, potentially losing Kimstu (who has been gone for a while and I’m not sure why) would be a huge loss. It’s ridiculous that they are being compared to StarvingArtist & SlackerInc. But the “free speech” of the latter is apparently more important than bigotry. Both of them should be topic banned IMO. Finally it’s kinda telling that the mods acknowledge that there are prominent posters here who could not follow rules that would ban sexism/racism and they would, therefore, be banned under that scenario. Some of the usual suspects have jobs and one would suspect that they know enough to abide by those rules there. Why not here? Or in other words, why are they being held to lower standards than anyone else? The idea that you can’t ban sexist/racist posts because that would mean banning posts who would refuse to follow the rules…I can’t even. But you do you and enjoy your board filled with posters like StarvingArtist and SlackerInc while Lamia, UnaPersson and others like them leave. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/438 "2018-09-08T20:35:09Z")
> [@Amara\_1](#): > > All of this. Let the racism and sexism continue to stand and the mods are very explicitly making a choice of who is welcome here and who is not. Bone’s comment overlooks the fact that racism and sexism will also turn off both current and prospective posters but he appears to view that (and their views) as non-important and is focused on ensuring that posters who repeatedly make racist/sexist posts stay because they “may add value”. You guys are making a very clear choice every, single day. Don’t be surprised if your choices have consequences. And to be clear Bone’s still far better on this than tomndeb. Like Lamia said, you guys just need to own your choices and make them explicit so posters can make an educated choice as to whether to remain. Like Lamia, I thought the issue was that some of this wasn’t recognized. > > Losing Lamia is a huge loss, potentially losing Kimstu (who has been gone for a while and I’m not sure why) would be a huge loss. It’s ridiculous that they are being compared to StarvingArtist & SlackerInc. But the “free speech” of the latter is apparently more important than bigotry. Both of them should be topic banned IMO. Finally it’s kinda telling that the mods acknowledge that there are prominent posters here who could not follow rules that would ban sexism/racism and they would, therefore, be banned under that scenario. Some of the usual suspects have jobs and one would suspect that they know enough to abide by those rules there. Why not here? Or in other words, why are they being held to lower standards than anyone else? The idea that you can’t ban sexist/racist posts because that would mean banning posts who would refuse to follow the rules…I can’t even. But you do you and enjoy your board filled with posters like StarvingArtist and SlackerInc while Lamia, UnaPersson and others like them leave. If you want to gain some new posters, you’ll have to lose some old posters probably. There is something to offend pretty much anyone who comes here, “Scratch a man and find a rapist” is one of my favorites. The board is very much filled with rants and broad brush strokes. I showed the board to my wife and she just thought it was full of narcissistic know it all types and was immediately turned off and I was like "but honey Mr. Nylock is my user name . . . . " It was more upsetting than when my fish died and she asked me if I wanted to go out for sushi that evening. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/439 "2018-09-09T19:10:34Z")
> [@Amara\_1](#): > > All of this. Let the racism and sexism continue to stand and the mods are very explicitly making a choice of who is welcome here and who is not. Bone’s comment overlooks the fact that racism and sexism will also turn off both current and prospective posters but he appears to view that (and their views) as non-important and is focused on ensuring that posters who repeatedly make racist/sexist posts stay because they “may add value”. You guys are making a very clear choice every, single day. Don’t be surprised if your choices have consequences. And to be clear Bone’s still far better on this than tomndeb. Like Lamia said, you guys just need to own your choices and make them explicit so posters can make an educated choice as to whether to remain. Like Lamia, I thought the issue was that some of this wasn’t recognized. Yes, we need some consistency and realism in Moderating. Openly state that blacks are mentally inferior and that gets a Note. Imply that several posts made in the thread are untrue- _thus_ that implies that the poster is lying, _thus_ that means it’s a personal insult. _That_ means a warning. Mods must be excellent mind readers and they KNOW the first isn’t being a racist troll, but they KNOW the second is a personal insult. Call someone a taco n\*\*\*\*r and nothing is done. Make a joke about someone’s unfortunate choice of a user name- and _that_ gets a warning. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049/440 "2018-09-09T19:58:02Z")
I’m having trouble understanding what this board actually costs it’s owners? It’s text based. Bandwidth usage should be minimal. I think the Mods are volunteers? What hardware is required? Can a single server with a few terabytes of storage handle the board? Why isn’t revenue from prime memberships and ads not covering expenses? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-improve-going-forward-your-thoughts-on-the-matter/819049.md?page=23)