Ways to get people to debate more and post less articles

[AkhandBharat]

My Ideas

1) Consolidate threads and stop posting statistics like Top Poster, Top Thread Starter etc. If these statistics show up on the home page, it will only naturally be used by members to reach those statistics and that is not helping.

2) Stop or close threads like Swine flu news, news across India etc which have either no relevance in today's context or which nobody reads. This forum is not a news service IIRC and articles should be posted only in the context in which it can be discussed from either a defence POV or a current affairs POV.

3) Encourage senior members to reply to threads and post their POV in as many threads as possible, because I've seen that the junior members start posting their POV only when an active discussion is already going on.

4) Close or lock threads when there is no active debate going on in it for months. This is a discussion forum not a news network, so topics that have no discussions going on are just zombie threads that nobody is interested in and will discourage posters to start posting news that nobody intends to discuss anyway.

 

[AirforcePilot]

AB, I agree with you 100%..

 

[thakur_ritesh]

AB,

thanks a lot for having started this thread, and please keep this thread only to come up with suggestions for the intended aim for which this thread has been started else keep off. have a healthy discussion on the points that have been made and the points that we can pick up will be announced on this thread from time to time.

please keep the focus and do not let this very important thread derail.

thanks.

 

[AkhandBharat]

Thanks TR, one way to find out threads that are zombie is to check if thread has 90% posts by one single member. If that is the case, the thread can be considered zombie and locked for a certain period of time until there is a request by another member to post, and after that time expires, the thread can be trashed.

 

[AkhandBharat]

All threads that are more than 3 months old without any active discussion could be put in an archive section, in order to keep the discussion in each forum current.

 

[IBRIS]

How about having a section for DEAD THREADS. All the dead threads older than 3 months to be moved to this Grave Yard.

 

[Oracle]

A thread less important to one can be of utmost importance to someone else, even if posting is done by a single member. For example AJTR, his posts has value. I read them from time to time, however I do not discuss on those threads due to lack of knowledge on those topics, and not interest. Your bronze can be someone else's gold.

 

[AkhandBharat]

A thread less important to one can be of utmost importance to someone else, even if posting is done by a single member. For example AJTR, his posts has value. I read them from time to time, however I do not discuss on those threads due to lack of knowledge on those topics, and not interest. Your bronze can be someone else's gold.

If you are interested in it and want him to keep posting so you can read it, you should read up on the subject and start commenting on it to keep the topic active which is what Ajtr would want, since he is posting this thread in a forum and would expect some discussion coming out of it.

 

[Oracle]

So you read them but you are not interested in it? That is contradictory.

For example AJTR, his posts has value. I read them from time to time, however I do not discuss on those threads due to lack of knowledge on those topics, and not interest.

Please re-read it again =xD

 

[thakur_ritesh]

i have 2 suggestions as a part of suggestion making and something that does not even require a nod of the mods:

1 start a thread which has header which poses a question than have a header which is a copy paste from the original article, followed by the article that you intend to post followed by your own reaction to it.

2 we can have controversial topics as a discussion point which generally do tend to attract a decent amount of discussion but while doing so we should avoid religious discussions, and then it becomes everyones responsibility along with that of the mods that no one in those threads target individual debaters.

please see if we can have these implemented and if yes then we can start of with these two right away.

PS: ideally we should not be discussing individuals, and as for ajtr i have a great liking for the articles posted, they are indeed very informative.

 

[AkhandBharat]

1 start a thread which has header which poses a question than have a header which is a copy paste from the original article, followed by the article that you intend to post followed by your own reaction to it.

I agree the thread starter should always open the discussion instead of just posting an article, which would entice other members to jump in with their thoughts.

2 we can have controversial topics as a discussion point which generally do tend to attract a decent amount of discussion but while doing so we should avoid religious discussions, and then it becomes everyones responsibility along with that of the mods that no one in those threads target individual debaters.

I agree with the part about individual debaters not to be targeted, but some topics do have religion intertwined with them.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

I agree with the part about individual debaters not to be targeted, but some topics do have religion intertwined with them.

mate its a forum policy we do not get into religious discussions since a lot of flaming, trolling and bashing happens, but then we have in the past allowed religious discussions when they have been kept civil and which if at all has to be done then as you and i have said it becomes a collective responsibility of everyone included that the discussions/debates happen with in limits, and we all in a way moderate and help the mods moderate such a thread.

EDIT:

but please do not take this as a yes to future religious talks, since that is a collective DFI management decision. thanks.

 

[AkhandBharat]

mate its a forum policy we do not get into religious discussions since a lot of flaming, trolling and bashing happens, but then we have in the past allowed religious discussions when they have been kept civil and which if at all has to be done then as you and i have said it becomes a collective responsibility of everyone included that the discussions/debates happen with in limits, and we all in a way moderate and help the mods moderate such a thread.

Well, you have to be clear on the forum policy. Either allow religious discussion or disallow anything related to religion to be discussed. I'd recommend the first one, since I'm of the opinion that a hearty discussion without prejudice will bring out many problems Indian society is facing and the focus should be only on solving those problems in a constructive fashion. Any trolls can be warned/suspended, whatever mods feel is right.

 

[plugwater]

Okay this may sound strange anyway here is my thought. I think we should ban shoutbox. there are many important discussions which it must be in threads are going over there. I am not denying the fact that there are also many useless talks in shoutbox and for those talks we can use members corner.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

Well, you have to be clear on the forum policy. Either allow religious discussion or disallow anything related to religion to be discussed. I'd recommend the first one, since I'm of the opinion that a hearty discussion without prejudice will bring out many problems Indian society is facing and the focus should be only on solving those problems in a constructive fashion. Any trolls can be warned/suspended, whatever mods feel is right.

i have already edited my previous post to add:

but please do not take this as a yes to future religious talks, since that is a collective DFI management decision. thanks.

as i have said this a collective decision so we in the management forum can debate this point and so can rest of the members here and give a sense of what they feel on the matter, and we can take it forward from there.

 

[AkhandBharat]

Okay this may sound strange anyway here is my thought. I think we should ban shoutbox. there are many important discussions which it must be in threads are going over there. I am not denying the fact that there are also many useless talks in shoutbox and for those talks we can use members corner.

I agree, shoutbox has many interesting topics being discussed which get lost. There should be a chit-chat thread which can spawn topics and older conversations can be recycled from it.

 

[Oracle]

i have 2 suggestions as a part of suggestion making and something that does not even require a nod of the mods:

1 start a thread which has header which poses a question than have a header which is a copy paste from the original article, followed by the article that you intend to post followed by your own reaction to it.

2 we can have controversial topics as a discussion point which generally do tend to attract a decent amount of discussion but while doing so we should avoid religious discussions, and then it becomes everyones responsibility along with that of the mods that no one in those threads target individual debaters.

please see if we can have these implemented and if yes then we can start of with these two right away.

PS: ideally we should not be discussing individuals, and as for ajtr i have a great liking for the articles posted, they are indeed very informative.

It was an example. As for me, I update the NE News & Discussions thread everyday. Why do I do it when I have not got a single good rating in that? I do it so that people in here know more about North East and it's problems. And I even know, not many people in here go to that thread. So, should I stop posting there? No. This thread was started by someone else and I am just contributing. If and when someone feel the need to close or archive it, please do it.

 

[Oracle]

Okay this may sound strange anyway here is my thought. I think we should ban shoutbox. there are many important discussions which it must be in threads are going over there. I am not denying the fact that there are also many useless talks in shoutbox and for those talks we can use members corner.

Shoutbox is for trolling, which obviously we cannot do in threads or lest we get a ban. Ritesh ban him now

In reality, Shoutbox is for relaxation, for a Hi or a Hello. Greeting someone is not useless.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

It was an example. As for me, I update the NE News & Discussions thread everyday. Why do I do it when I have not got a single good rating in that? I do it so that people in here know more about North East and it's problems. And I even know, not many people in here go to that thread. So, should I stop posting there? No. This thread was started by someone else and I am just contributing. If and when someone feel the need to close or archive it, please do it.

dont worry mate i didnt have you in mind while making that point but when i saw ajtr's name i had to raise that point since right now you and the rest are pointing the good that ajtr is doing but then there might have been someone who would have talked nasty about someone else which will then derail this thread and create ill will so my attempt was to just preempt that. cheers!

 

[plugwater]

Shoutbox is for trolling, which obviously we cannot do in threads or lest we get a ban. Ritesh ban him now

In reality, Shoutbox is for relaxation, for a Hi or a Hello. Greeting someone is not useless.

Just an idea mate. You can use chit chat thread for relaxation and also for hi and hello.