Posted by violette on July 17, 2010, at 17:34:17
In reply to Re: Point system, posted by vwoolf on July 17, 2010, at 16:00:12
I think it was nice of Deneb to think of ways to improve the site, and it was a creative idea. People thought it through and those who considered this idea saw the drawbacks and expressed their opinions that overall, people do not think such a system will benefit the community.
VWoolf described the effect of a point system for a mental health support site very nicely...and I agree though I don't care so much about how a point system would personally effect me. VW's post was eloquent; it really resonated with me and led me to think it is one which I think Dr. Bob should especially take note of.
It seems sometimes, Dr. Bob, what you think may be helpful for posters doesn't match up with what posters tell you feels beneficial to us. I think most of us realize (by now I hope) you can't make everyone happy, but at the same time, when you get strong, adverse opinions for feedback, it might be important to more strongly weigh the opinions of the members who actually use the forum over your own opinions?
You can 'attract' more people here by incentives and marketing such as Facebook and Twitter...and filtering the posts to a dozen other sites...but it's kinda like sales-where the customer is incentivized to buy the product-then later realizes they should have made a different choice and regrets their decision when things turn out to be not so desirable...
Like when you buy that dishwasher from that appliance store-you take it home, it's broke. You can't fix it yourself, your stuck with it-while the retail dealer argues you 'should have' bought the warranty if you expected (the brand new appliance) to be fixed. (This is not uncommon, btw.)
I am not inclined to post here much anymore due to several reasons. Not being able to edit or delete posts concerns me, such as what I may write during times of mental distress. I saw others thought there are some drawbacks to this, very valid concerns such as being bullied or 'looking' ridiculous when others' delete information. At least you are here to address those concerns in the unlikeliness it would happen, and at least someone could delete their own post if others deletions somehow made them feel uncomfortable...So that's a feature that drives me away, as it makes more sense to allow that feature on a forum where people discuss sensitive topics, some in vulnerable mental states. The benefits of this feature greatly outweigh the risks, imo.
Some of the aspects of this forum led me to find another place that is much safer and where I'm comfortable with the moderation...It turns out I fit in much better with the community as it is more therapy minded as a whole. But I probably would not have sought out another forum if I was happy with this one.
I'm not concerned if no one misses my posting here since I don't feel I fit in well anyway, but wanted to let you know the reasons why I am not inclined to post here much anymore-FWIW. I check in here out of habit still, but partly from OCD anxiety which is slowly disappearing, but sorta lingering. I've already been welcomed and have developed a relationship with others who I found to be extremely supportive on another forum, so I probably will just slowly disappear from here, as many others seem to do...
As I mentioned before, you could always do polls such as survey monkey to see what features members prefer here-and publiclly post the results for discussion.
I noticed that recently you did try to make some (more subtle) improvements...there's still much room for growth, however. So good luck with the forum...there's alot of potential here. :)
poster:violette
thread:952980
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20100714/msgs/954808.html