TexasCHLforum.com

Keith B wrote:Not to mention almost everyone has a video camera hanging on their belt or in their purse these days in the form of a cell phone. You Tube would be full of videos of 'gun-toting crazys' walking around the stores and streets, and the media/anti's would have a field day promoting those.

And the response would be: *yaaaaawwwnnn*.

Nothing to see. Nothing changing. No carnage at all.

Keith B wrote:For one reason the moderators have to read all of the posts, so the threads make it harder and harder for us to keep up.

Threads with valid discussions and new information are welcome and requested. However, just trying to win one more to your side of the issue when it has been debated over and over on the forum again and again and again is not productive use of the medium for the readers OR the mods.

I can back him up on that. I moderate another (non-gun-related) forum.
http://www.carvinbbs.com/
There are some debates that come up once a month like clockwork. It really irritates the mods. We have to dig through it making sure everyone is playing nice. It consumes a huge amount of time that seems could be better spent answering questions and being the helpful guys (and girls) we like to be. And trying to keep the stubborn ones in line causes the mods to draw fire from both sides with everyone claiming the mods are against them. It's frustrating and very tempting to lock such threads as soon as they start without giving it a chance to become volatile.

Keith B wrote:For one reason the moderators have to read all of the posts

Surely every moderator doesn't have to read every post. I thought y'all had it divided up into sub-forums. If you don't, that's a terrible waste of manpower through duplication of efforts.

Kevin

I think this particular discussion has been civil. People may not agree on this issue, but they aren't being rude about it.
Why should the thread be locked simply because the debate could get out of hand?

No, we have our assigned topic areas. You can see who the moderators are for a particular area just below the thread topic. Some of us do read all posts though (me for one.) Just reading your assigned areas can take a lot of time. I am not complaining, just stating a fact.

The forum has grown exponentially over the past year or so, and that means a LOT more posts. Keeping the posts relevant to the topic and not rehashing threads over and over helps not only the mods, but the members. Doing that tells someone there are new and different things to read and not the same-o'-same-o' being thrown out just to be posting.

With that said, the members of this forum are greatly appreciated. The information shared on this forum is invaluable to thousands of folks on the Internet. The wealth of knowledge that exists here is vast and there is no hesitation by individuals to jump in and share their views and knowledge. I encourage the everyone to participate in the threads and share their information. In my fairly short time here I have learned a tremendous amount for the members. Thank you all!

If you want to encourage new members, you should let them talk about things that were before they joined. If you want to discourage new members, you should lock subjects that rehash old debates. They'll get the message and stop posting those subjects here and instead they'll become active in a different online board. It all depends on what kind of community the mods want to build. I'm active on a bunch of boards. One of the features most of them have is the ability to report a post to a moderator. That seems to work pretty good.

tarkus wrote:If you want to encourage new members, you should let them talk about things that were before they joined. If you want to discourage new members, you should lock subjects that rehash old debates. They'll get the message and stop posting those subjects here and instead they'll become active in a different online board. It all depends on what kind of community the mods want to build. I'm active on a bunch of boards. One of the features most of them have is the ability to report a post to a moderator. That seems to work pretty good.

For the most part people are free to post about CHL related subjects - even those that are old and stale. The thing that causes most threads to get locked is not that they are stale or boring, but that some people can not seem to discuss or debate a topic without reverting to personal attacks against each other or breaking some other forum rule. Members of this forum also have the option to report posts to a moderator.

Welcome to the forum - Since you're fairly new, I'll point you to the forum rules in case you haven't read them. http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... =2&t=10341

Why not set up a sticky sub-forum for 'dead horse' topics? Make entries for CHL badges, Post Office carry, open carry, private school/church questions, shipping firearms, drinking while carrying, etc. Essentially anything that keeps getting asked over and over. Make it read only for forum members, allowing only moderators to contribute, to keep it manageable.

Include links to existing threads on each subject, so the new member can easily find them. Or if the subject is better handled by posting a concise answer, then do that.

Getting tired of the same material repeatedly being asked isn't limited to moderators.

I don't recall what is sent to new members, but include directions to review the 'dead horse' material and also include instructions on how to use the search function before posting new topics.

It will never be possible to eliminate rehashing completely. Everyone likes to think that somehow their question is different that the previous 100 times it has been asked.

But I do think that something like this would help to minimize the problem.

A "sticky" thread with the title saying:

"Before you post an "OPEN CARRY" thread or topic, read this..."

Just an idea, and in the body of the first post, link all of the previous discussions in that sticky...

Ahm ... Do we really want to limit the dead horse postings? Almost every post is something that has been discussed before to some extent.. I think we are making a mistake when we try to limit discussion on certain topics. New folks come on and are confused about what they have been taught about signage, and having a sip of beer etc. I don't understand what the big deal is. I enjoy watching folks discuss and evangelize about the joys and damnation of open carry. Passionate discussion is what forums are supposed to be about. There was a time we didn't have any moderators at all. I think the forum was actually better when folks were actually free to say exactly what one thought. I don't mean this as a slam against them, because they really are a great bunch of people. but if its too much work for them then maybe they just shouldn't be moderating. The group was informative and fun to visit long before we started moderating. A boring thread for one will be educational and fun for another. We don't have to read boring threads and every thread that someone finds interesting is gonna be boring to someone else. Censors very seldom make for better reading.

Please don't feel that I am advocating no new posts on old subjects. I would just ask if someone posts a question that can't be answered in one response and has been heavily debated in previous threads, that they be referred to that previous thread first. If they still have questions after reviewing that thread(s), then they should post and ask. Many members do this already.

I do agree with everyone that we want to make sure that we don't stifle good discussions and learning, but we need to not rehash stuff that has hundreds of previous posts that can be reviewed for answers (or ultimately NO answer!)

Keith B wrote:Please don't feel that I am advocating no new posts on old subjects. I would just ask if someone posts a question that can't be answered in one response and has been heavily debated in previous threads, that they be referred to that previous thread first. If they still have questions after reviewing that thread(s), then they should post and ask. Many members do this already.

I do agree with everyone that we want to make sure that we don't stifle good discussions and learning, but we need to not rehash stuff that has hundreds of previous posts that can be reviewed for answers (or ultimately NO answer!)

Locking posts may not be the way to go just to lessen the incidence of posts such as OC and imbibing while packing.

Discussions ar what this is about.

As long as people agree with me then all is well and good.

Heh heh. Humor, brothers and sisters!

One thing though. Any posts about CHL badges ought to initiate the self destruct feature in the poster's computer.

Anygunanywhere

Mike1951 wrote:Why not set up a sticky sub-forum for 'dead horse' topics? Make entries for CHL badges, Post Office carry, open carry, private school/church questions, shipping firearms, drinking while carrying, etc. Essentially anything that keeps getting asked over and over. Make it read only for forum members, allowing only moderators to contribute, to keep it manageable.

On another (non-gun-related) forum I visit occasionally, someone with too much time on their hands posted a "Newbies, read this first!" or some such. It has links to discussions of many, many frequently brought up topics. A mod locked it and stickied it.

Of course, newbies rarely read that first. But every time someone brings up a much discussed topic, someone will post a link to previous discussions, which they are welcome to add to rather than starting a new discussion of the same thing.
Sort of like a FAQ, but interactive.

We're not going to lock the post because it been discussed dozens of times. As someone mentioned, new people join TexasCHLforum all the time and any given subject may be new to them. The reason we don't have a FAQ section is because I do not want people telling new folks to use the search feature to find answers in older threads. I can't stand that answer!!

The thing I find almost amusing is when a new member starts a thread on an old topic and it quickly degenerates to the same two or three people making the same arguments they've made in many many prior posts and threads. If they haven't convinced each other with a multitude of prior posts, what do they think they are going to accomplish.

Chas.

FWIW, this thread began with someone asking whether anyone in Texas was trying to get legal open carry. That question was answered on the first page.

Whether or not open carry is a good idea or likely to pass or would make milk curdle is irrelevant to the original question.

- Jim