It's really a shame about what happened to the explicit forum

[Anonymous]

I think you vastly over estimate the unique number of posters on this forum.

[Anonymous]

It is dead for sure. 3-5 new posts a day? I had followed and participated in that forum for the last two years and back then there were times where you needed to go to page two or three to catch up if you had been away for a couple of days. Sure, there was some garbage but also a lot of thoughtful and genuine commentary.

[Anonymous]

I hope the whole forum goes usernames. Less trolling and fighting.

[jsteele]

As the OP suggested, this discussion belongs in Website Feedback which is to where I've moved it.

The Explicit forum was a long-running thorn in my side. It was a constant source of problems. Since requiring registration, those problems have gone away. In terms of cost/benefit, administering the Explicit forum required more time and effort than most other forums. But, unlike other forums, I don't run advertisements there because it is against the terms of service of my advertisers. Even without running ads there, some advertisers won't run ads anywhere on DCUM simply because that forum is part of the site. So, it's a forum that requires extra effort with less (actually no) return. It just doesn't make a lot of sense for me to continue it like that.

When the forum was anonymous, it used to get about 250 posts a day. When we required registration, that number dropped to about 150 a day. That is still an active forum and more posts per day than many of our forums receive. But, the number started declining and hovered around 80 per day for a long time. Recently it went into a steep drop to about 10-20 per day. So, there is legitimacy in the argument that the forum is dead or nearly so. But, that doesn't change the fact that going back to anonymous still doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

There was a proposal for a volunteer moderator. In theory, this is not a bad idea but in practice I am not sure how it would work. It would require me giving admin level access to someone probably don't know and it is not clear how users would feel about another moderator. No moderator is every universally liked and I suspect a volunteer moderator would not remain popular for long. So, it is a can of worms I am reluctant to open.

People have opinions and I am not going to say one is better than the other. But, there are facts. Registering for an account is very easy. It really only requires an email address. A new Gmail address can be created easily so that the registration is not even linked to an identifiable email address. Logging in is easy and even easier in the new design if I ever roll it out again. Logging out is easy. All of this is a small hurdle to participate in the forum. That's factual.

It appears that many posters aren't willing to deal with even that minor hurdle. I respect their choice. However, I hope they will respect my choice not to resume responsibility for an even greater hurdle -- the problems of anonymous explicit forum -- when that will take me away from more important tasks and provide no return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's gross anyway. Bunch of perverts.

Sorry you hate sex so much.

I love sex. I visited that forum after seeing this thread. Not what I expected. And yes, it is gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's gross anyway. Bunch of perverts.

So don't go there. Just because you're afraid of sexuality

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
Subject says it all. I can't post this in the explicit forum obviously, with the new username policy.

The decision to go to usernames only was made quickly and I wonder if anyone regrets it.

I understand there was some anonymous trolling that was upsetting some of the people with usernames.

But whereas most of DCUM is a clearing house for hundreds or thousands of opinions on a topic, the explicit forum is now just the same 20 people talking in a chat room (for which there are many other available options on the internet).

Previously it was fun to imagine that the person posting in explicit was the same person posting in the schools and other forums, whereas now I have the distinct impression that the explicit forum is its own world and there's little overlap between it and the rest of DCUM (not zero, but little).

There are many people who are uninterested in the exposure of a username but who might want to post the occasional experience buried in an active thread. After all, the main selling point of DCUM has always been that it has long attracted the kind of people who would not be caught dead in the usual online chat room, who would never have their own blog, who would never make their facebook posts public. Basically professional people with reputations to protect who aren't interested in having an online avatar/personality but are willing to post anonymously.

I guess maybe Jeff will move my post to website feedback but I posted it here because I figure there are some people in this forum who can relate. I have noticed that previously, if someone had a borderline-explicit topic they would err on the side of posting in explicit, whereas now they will err on the side of posting in non-explicit. This, added to the drop in traffic in explicit, is a sign that many of the posters in the explicit forum have left. The result is that the explicit forum used to have threads that were interesting with a mix of non-explicit commentary and NSFW language. Whereas now those types of threads take place in non-explicit with people censoring their language, and most threads in the explicit forum read like a transcript of a 1-900 phone call.

Ok, that is what I wanted to say. Curious to hear what other people think.

Just to clear up a few misconceptions in this post:

1) You could post it in the Explicit forum but you chose not to because you don't want to register for a username. Similarly, you could have posted it in Website Feedback, but choose not to and that wouldn't even require registration.

2) The decision to require registration was not made quickly. I literally thought about it for years and chose that option rather than getting rid of the forum altogether. I also started a public discussion that lasted several days before making the change. Reaction in that discussion was split.

3) Besides "some" anonymous trolling, there were constant attacks on other users, policy violations, stalking, posts that provoked other users to demand that I contact the police, constant complaints about specific posts and/or posters, and on and on. The forum was a really big headache.

4) The same posters who post in Explicit always have an still do post in other forums. They simply logout. Occasionally one of the forgets and I am quickly contacted and asked to remove that post (something I always do). You can continue imagining things just as you always did.

5) Regarding the non-explicit forum, there should be no confusion that it should remain non-explicit. I am taking a pretty hard line about that and will continue to do so. Users should be aware that it is not possible to move posts to the explicit forum, so they will simply be deleted.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:As the OP suggested, this discussion belongs in Website Feedback which is to where I've moved it.

The Explicit forum was a long-running thorn in my side. It was a constant source of problems. Since requiring registration, those problems have gone away. In terms of cost/benefit, administering the Explicit forum required more time and effort than most other forums. But, unlike other forums, I don't run advertisements there because it is against the terms of service of my advertisers. Even without running ads there, some advertisers won't run ads anywhere on DCUM simply because that forum is part of the site. So, it's a forum that requires extra effort with less (actually no) return. It just doesn't make a lot of sense for me to continue it like that.

When the forum was anonymous, it used to get about 250 posts a day. When we required registration, that number dropped to about 150 a day. That is still an active forum and more posts per day than many of our forums receive. But, the number started declining and hovered around 80 per day for a long time. Recently it went into a steep drop to about 10-20 per day. So, there is legitimacy in the argument that the forum is dead or nearly so. But, that doesn't change the fact that going back to anonymous still doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

There was a proposal for a volunteer moderator. In theory, this is not a bad idea but in practice I am not sure how it would work. It would require me giving admin level access to someone probably don't know and it is not clear how users would feel about another moderator. No moderator is every universally liked and I suspect a volunteer moderator would not remain popular for long. So, it is a can of worms I am reluctant to open.

People have opinions and I am not going to say one is better than the other. But, there are facts. Registering for an account is very easy. It really only requires an email address. A new Gmail address can be created easily so that the registration is not even linked to an identifiable email address. Logging in is easy and even easier in the new design if I ever roll it out again. Logging out is easy. All of this is a small hurdle to participate in the forum. That's factual.

It appears that many posters aren't willing to deal with even that minor hurdle. I respect their choice. However, I hope they will respect my choice not to resume responsibility for an even greater hurdle -- the problems of anonymous explicit forum -- when that will take me away from more important tasks and provide no return.

You've essentially killed that "thorn in your side" you may as well pull it and then you can attract those all important advertisers. This coming from a former poster there who used a name before you required ut

[Anonymous]

I agree. I found it a very useful forum to discuss issues that otherwise may have led to divorce. Now it is useless to me.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:You've essentially killed that "thorn in your side" you may as well pull it and then you can attract those all important advertisers. This coming from a former poster there who used a name before you required ut

I may end up doing that, but I'll give it a bit more time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's gross anyway. Bunch of perverts.

Sorry you hate sex so much.

See how people are in explict. No thanks, narrow minded.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's gross anyway. Bunch of perverts.

Sorry you hate sex so much.

See how people are in explict. No thanks, narrow minded.

I don't know how you expect people to react to being called gross and a bunch of perverts. But, regardless of my feelings about the cost/benefit of the forum, the posters there were and are among the nicest and most supportive users of the website. Most of the problems were caused by the anonymous posters who are no longer posting. I know that registration is kryptonite to many of you, but I guarantee that you will get far more useful advice with much less snark or judgement in the explicit forum than the non-explicit.

[Anonymous]

IMO, the explicit forum should be deleted anyway. I never felt it belonged on a mother's site where we discuss our children, schools, laundry detergent etc. We can discuss plenty in the relationships forum regarding our sex life without having to go into explicit detail. I vote be rid of it altogether.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's gross anyway. Bunch of perverts.

Sorry you hate sex so much.

See how people are in explict. No thanks, narrow minded.

I don't know how you expect people to react to being called gross and a bunch of perverts. But, regardless of my feelings about the cost/benefit of the forum, the posters there were and are among the nicest and most supportive users of the website. Most of the problems were caused by the anonymous posters who are no longer posting. I know that registration is kryptonite to many of you, but I guarantee that you will get far more useful advice with much less snark or judgement in the explicit forum than the non-explicit.

From your statement above you said they attacked, stalked and asked for police involvement.

[Anonymous]

I think it is great, met more quality people with same intentions. Not all of us on there want to answer questions like we are in 8th grade. Some communicate via PMs and have met and well.........................