Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Mindful Thread Posting
ThailandTom
Veteran
Federica is really getting pissed and I am sure I would be as well after a while of moving threads here and there all day long. Buddhism for beginners is not a place where you can just drop any old thread! So please, instead of your threads being banished and slaughtered by the mods, put them in the correct place 
.... Is this thread in the correct place....?
.... Is this thread in the correct place....?
0
Comments
B4B- Questions/posts about Buddhism for beginners.
Meditation - Questions/posts about Meditation.
....and so on.
@Malachy12 - write your post.
re-read it.
Look at all available options.
(hint: more often than not, threads are being posted currently, that seem to be more suited to either 'members oly' or 'general banter')
Anything simple and basic, concerning an aspect of Buddhism, goes in B for B;
Anything with a more complex twist, (ie, not something a beginner would necessarily have come across yet) goes in Advanced Ideas.
Arts and writings covers links and references to reports, accounts, interviews and articles connected to Buddhism or at least with some interest,
and Modern Buddhism I guess would be some matters you find currently which would seem to be more based in 21st century thinking, rather than directly affiliated with the Buddha's Dhamma....
It seems to be all I'm doing at the moment.
Why the hell should Moderators be mindful FOR you - !?!
So I don't think it's worth closing the threads with thoughtful responses over it, rather than just moving them while stating the proper place for it. Otherwise you will just keep closing threads that don't really need to be closed and it seems a little angry like. That's just my opinion and perception on the matter though.
The rest of the threads are self-explanatory, but you should really consider GBTHSTPIT.
I think the posts in this thread adequately outline the different sub-forums and their function.
I can't believe people need it any more simply put.....
Just beginning to get a little bit peed that I seem to be doing this with increasing regularity.
Yesterday I actually moved 8 threads.
Tell me why I should have to keep doing that, again?
yeah.
That's a no.
Doesnt make much difference to users.
Thanks to another member, now I know you can search for
a topic on google.
Done all of the above a thousand times.
Still no co-operation from members, so taken action to prevent further inattentiveness.
Moderators have a hard enough job without having to nursemaid the intentions of members who can't be bothered to do it for themselves.
Now you want them reduced again.
What the hell is it you guys expect from us?
"buddhism for beginners" can also be sort of a misleading title for those who ARE beginners. beginners might feel safer posting a post on meditation in BFB rather than the "meditation" category because they are judging the complexity of their question/topic and not the actual topic itself.
and for the record, i almost never look in the actual categories themselves. i usually just browse the "all discussions" it's a feature i really enjoy from the new site.
I believe that plans are afoot to to actually remove a default location and compel members to select a destination. But as Lincoln really has so much to do at present, and his cup runneth o'er, this is more "in the pipeline" than "imminent"....
If we do have brand-new members, and they do as you outline, I do cut them some slack.
I'm not a completely heartless and callous meanie.....
Thanks to all for comments and contributions so far.
That or put up with loads of bloody loonys.
More fool them if they are familiar with my house, to keep making the same error, again, and again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
(tell me when you've had enough of hitting your head.....
The problem with miscategorized threads only started with the shift to the new site. If you care about the categorizations, design is the appropriate level at which to address the issue, not chastising the endless flood of new users who are understandably ignorant of the issue, because categorization takes a back seat in the new design.
Look at the role categories played in the old design: they were the first thing you'd see when you went to the canonical discussion page. And to post, you were forced to choose a category before taking any further action. Now, it's easy to just forget that the categories are there. It's counterproductive to abuse posters for ignoring something so ignorable. It reminds me of the Maths teacher who felt that since he had been teaching the same material for 20 years, the current batch of students ought to be quicker on the uptake.
So the category framework has faded into the background of the design, yet the site is humming along just fine without them (modulo moderator angst.) Seems to me that the site could profitably ignore the enforcement of proper thread categorization, anyway. I certainly never got any use from the categorizations, even on the old site. They seem to primarily get used as a policy tool in attempts to control the discourse. (E.g. "Is that really an appropriate derail in the beginner's category??") And I doubt that many new users are using the categories at all. The new design would discourage it.
Why not experiment with making the default category some kind of catch-all (say "Buddhist discussion"), ignoring the whole issue for a few weeks, and seeing whether we descend into the rhetorical equivalent of Lord of the Flies as a result?
Sorry, just being honest.
Federica, you honestly did not see this coming? I saw it was going to be a problem as soon as the switch was made.
Yea I don't see what has changed lincoln.. I just hope that this thread has helped to decrease the number of incorrect postings and has given some time back to your day federica
Sorry about the junk threads. Please delete them.
With categories, the more you have, the harder it becomes for people to select the appropriate one, and the more likely they are to start defaulting to one favorite, however inappropriate. It starts becoming the moderator's job to make the choice for the poster by moving the thread. I think that's undesirable.
I'm one of those people who is unaware of the categories. I always view the list of all discussions. In addition to that, I can bookmark discussions I am interested in, and I can see a list of threads I've posted in. Add that to modern search tools like Google, and I'm not sure that the categories are really necessary. I understand that you need a "members only" category if you want to restrict access to those posts, and you might want a Beginners section where ungentle posts or threads get deleted or moved, but in that case you would want to keep both out of the all discussions list so that people like me who don't notice the categories don't post there inappropriately.
Looking at it a different way, categories aid with searches and allow you to limit participation. Nowadays there are other more effective ways of searching and if you want to limit participation through categories, you're defeating the purpose by putting the threads in the all discussions list.
Just some thoughts.
I'll have to see what happens when I get back home to my Ol' Google Chrome.....
@RenGalskap: You can please some of the people all of the time...
careful thought and much trial and error went into creating the forum, and all the sub-forums.
It took time, but basically, all the categories match peoples' needs.
Basically, what you got - is what was generally found to be necessary.
People are just going to have to think a bit, before deciding on the category, and posting their topic.
It might find threads going into a category which may be inappropriate, on reflection, but let me tell you - I really believe it can't be worse than it is at the moment. I think the need to transfer threads WILL decrease.
Notice I said "from the home page".