Philosophy Discussion Forums

I think title describe it all. However I think, probably newcomers may have facing the problem with having their topics or threads approved, and may have to wait for a long time. I think it can be perfectly justifiable, if the site can have a newcomer's section, such that newcomer's have their topic instantly published, and thereby answered their queries, and also get understood by moderators, whether the poster is worth enough to contribute to the site, and have their opinions (moderator's opinions) of the poster (newcomer) viewable to all. I certainly think that the arguments going on in closed rooms, about the individual, is not much likely to be just.

So can we have newcomer's section, in which their topics/queries can be published instantly?

Thank you for the suggestion.

I think the forum would have too much spam and other issues that lead to complaints by members about other member's posts. That would then become an inefficient use of the valuable time the volunteer moderators donate to this philosophy club.

I appreciate the brainstorming and sharing of suggestions.

Scott wrote:Thank you for the suggestion.

I think the forum would have too much spam and other issues that lead to complaints by members about other member's posts. That would then become an inefficient use of the valuable time the volunteer moderators donate to this philosophy club.

I appreciate the brainstorming and sharing of suggestions.

I think you mean a "newcomer's section" when you are saying "forum would have too much spam". I think, even if it will be spammed, it will only be one section, not the whole philosophy site. And secondly, if you are concerned about complaints from members, then I think, if you can, don't allow a report button, and let everybody to be a judge instead of a victim, and remind the newcomers that they are yet to be full member of the site. I think it will not be the matter of worry about the valuable time of moderators.

I think it is very less likely that undeserving people come up here and will say all the rubbish. I think most of the people coming here are more or less interested and competent enough to take part in the site. I think, we should not lose 10 for avoiding 1. It is a net loss.

While unwanted posts from newcomers are a nuisance and it's good that the moderators are vetting them all, the disadvantage is that some useful newcomers will become tired of waiting won't return.

The disadvantage of Okisites's suggestion for a corral for newcomers' posts is that newcomers might feel relegated to a third class waiting room.

I wonder if it's made clear to newcomers why they have to wait. I wonder if there could be a variety of moderator whose job is only to clear newcomers' contributions. There might then be enough moderators to get rid of the long waiting time.

Belinda wrote:I wonder if it's made clear to newcomers why they have to wait. I wonder if there could be a variety of moderator whose job is only to clear newcomers' contributions. There might then be enough moderators to get rid of the long waiting time.

There is a category of moderator for that purpose but unfortunately not enough volunteers.

Well, if it helps:

• I'm a newcomer

• I'd hope I fall into the class of 'useful'

• I joined five days ago and still can't post

• It took me a fair amount of research to find out why

• It's only because I found this thread that I believe that this isn't a problem specific to me.

• I do feel a bit like I'm a 3rd class waiting room.

Appreciate that moderator resources are limited, but it is frustrating. How many people leave during this introductory period? Is it enough for this to be a problem? Would a moderation-free introductory zone give a better or worse impression of the boards than silence?

Togo1 wrote:Well, if it helps:

How many people leave during this introductory period? Is it enough for this to be a problem?

I recently joined quora.com, and it is also a serious website, where questions are answered. It is specifically made for answering questions, and sometimes the questions and answers belongs to philosophical realm, which mostly don't have perfect answers anyway. And you will see, that spams, irrelevant answers, are discouraged there in very effective ways, and not many really goes beyond the limits. (I am not advertising about Quora.com, I am just telling Site Admin, contributors, and moderators should learn something from this site, as I think this site i.e. onlinephilosophyclub.com can really become a world class philosophical site). So lets talk about quora.com here, that how it is managed i.e. by what rules, however I can understand that many rules of Quora cannot be useful here, as it is a philosophical site allowing controversial subjects, and quora is a question answer site.

• Quora is a site which allows users to post only with their real names revealed, and by their real email address and informations (including name) given in that email address, however Quora gives the privilege to post as "Anonymous", which privilege can any time be lifted permanently, if the person breaks the rules 3 times even after warning, after which a person can only post with his/her real name on screen.
  
  Perfect English is not very much valued at Quora, however in its rules it is clearly stated that one must use perfect English grammar, to post in Quora. But one can easily understand that, this rule is flexible, which is not here in this site. At Quora question answered is valued highly, question asked is important, than how it is questioned and how it is answered, as far as it is understandable to people. The rule about perfect English is just too much here in this site, which imo don't really contribute to the goal of having good philosophical/argumentative discussions, as far as the language is understandable. I believe Scott Sir really don't want to create the site specifically for native English speakers, and laid the rule, as it is a goal of a site to make people on site learn good English, rather than having ability to present philosophical/argumentative discussion.

So what exactly I want to say is that this site needs some flexibility in rules, and it can really be international level philosophical site. The only thing, imo, restricting this site to grow bigger is strictness in unnecessary rules, and the rules which hurts the users, who are real contributors, even if they are not really contributing any money to it. I feel that this site needs the rules which are moderated by rules itself, rather than other human moderated, or just a deliberate intentions to moderate it, as I always think, it is better to be moderated by rules itself, rather than human. This site do not have rules moderated by rules or system itself, and rules are moderated by human, who are more fallible. The moderators here are fearful to go against the rules, because of strictness laid by admin, to make everyone follow the rules strictly, which actually does not contribute to the goal of the site.

Please don't take it as comparison, which probably seems like insulting or derogatory. Take is as an honest advice.

Would a moderation-free introductory zone give a better or worse impression of the boards than silence?

Well, we have introductory zone here, but what we don't have is newcomer's section, where newcomers post questions and get answers or have discussions. I think certainly, Newcomer's section will give better impression of the boards, and certainly better than the silence,

Thank you, Okisites.

When I read the title "Can we have a newcomer's section?" I have a curious habit of reading it as "Can we have a newcomen's engine?" This is irrelevant to the op's idea .

I have only had three posts approved in over two months even though I have written more that this
I wish to contribute more here though what is the point if my posts are stuck in moderation for ever
A site with not enough mods on it is not going to be very efficient so can you please get some more

Surreptitious57 wrote:A site with not enough mods on it is not going to be very efficient so can you please get some more

I agree. I'm trying to find more moderators.