Head Moderators-MoreGoodFoundation Staff-

[Iggy]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am wondering if this forum could put all of the political stuff in a new catagory- called - - - POLITICS- -

Then treat it just like the Open Forum is treated - you must be 18 years old or older, and have permission from Heather/Head Moderators before you can post or read from there.

I have been conversing via the phone, IM chat, and emails with a few other members here, ones who no longer come here very often. The reason they are no longer visiting is because there is way too much political stuff on the forums. Negative political stuff. Negativity that bleeds into other parts of the forum, onto other boards.

So, please open up another board, that is privately accessed and have it be for just the political stuff??

Another thing- why is this forum spammed with all of the COMMENTS: MoreGoodFoundation? If I wanted to read/respoond to that particular forum (yes to respond you have to go out of lds.net and to another forum and sign up) I would be a member of that forum. Why drown us with that forums postings? Do you flood their forum with our current postings????

[Aesa]

I think that's ridiculous. Open discussion of the 'politics of the day' so to speak is important for people of all ages ... it certainly should not be limited to those '18 and over'.

Politics is not a sensitive issue, it's something that people should feel they can be freely outspoken on and Politics and Current Events are mutually exclusive.

And, this website is owned by the More Good Foundation.

[eternalpromise516]

For one thing, I'm pretty much 100% sure that Iggy already knew that this website and forum is run/was founded by the More Good Foundation. Perhaps a way to better "contain" these replies could be discussed. I've found a couple of them to be somewhat interesting, and have gone back to the website it originated from. I do believe the intent of the comments landing here, as well as their respective website, is to guide the questioners here to LDS.net to receive more information and answers, which is a great goal.

I think the investigation of a separate forum for Political topics would be well worth the time. I'm not sure what to think about the age restriction just yet, possibly have it set up in such a system as if a member of the community wanted access to participate, they would need to contact a moderator, regardless of age. That's just an idea I came up with as I was sitting here thinking. Even if there isn't something in place like that, at least having a dedicated forum I believe would be beneficial. If you don't like to talk politics, then you wouldn't have to go in and participate.

[Celica]

Another thing- why is this forum spammed with all of the COMMENTS: MoreGoodFoundation? If I wanted to read/respoond to that particular forum (yes to respond you have to go out of lds.net and to another forum and sign up) I would be a member of that forum. Why drown us with that forums postings? Do you flood their forum with our current postings????

YES Thank YOU! I've been keeping my mouth shut, but this is really bugging me as well.

[Moksha]

Unnecessary censorship never bodes well.

[Aesa]

For one thing, I'm pretty much 100% sure that Iggy already knew that this website and forum is run/was founded by the More Good Foundation. Perhaps a way to better "contain" these replies could be discussed. I've found a couple of them to be somewhat interesting, and have gone back to the website it originated from. I do believe the intent of the comments landing here, as well as their respective website, is to guide the questioners here to LDS.net to receive more information and answers, which is a great goal.

I think the investigation of a separate forum for Political topics would be well worth the time. I'm not sure what to think about the age restriction just yet, possibly have it set up in such a system as if a member of the community wanted access to participate, they would need to contact a moderator, regardless of age. That's just an idea I came up with as I was sitting here thinking. Even if there isn't something in place like that, at least having a dedicated forum I believe would be beneficial. If you don't like to talk politics, then you wouldn't have to go in and participate.

Oh, well I agree with a separate forum. Maybe a sub-board in this current events board?

My issue is with it being an 18+ only thing.

People like to discuss politics/social systems, etc,.

And they don't need to be 18.

[Iggy]

Oh, well I agree with a separate forum. Maybe a sub-board in this current events board?

My issue is with it being an 18+ only thing.

People like to discuss politics/social systems, etc,.

And they don't need to be 18.

That was just a suggestion- :pI take it you are 18 or younger- just by the way you jumped into defense mode.

[DigitalShadow]

I vote yes on the separate forum for politics, no on the 18+ requirement.

[Iggy]

For one thing, I'm pretty much 100% sure that Iggy already knew that this website and forum is run/was founded by the More Good Foundation.Yes I know that this site is owned by MGF. Perhaps a way to better "contain" these replies could be discussed. I've found a couple of them to be somewhat interesting, and have gone back to the website it originated from. I do believe the intent of the comments landing here, as well as their respective website, is to guide the questioners here to LDS.net to receive more information and answers, which is a great goal.

I think the investigation of a separate forum for Political topics would be well worth the time. I'm not sure what to think about the age restriction just yet, possibly have it set up in such a system as if a member of the community wanted access to participate, they would need to contact a moderator, regardless of age. Again, the age restriction was just a suggestion. That's just an idea I came up with as I was sitting here thinking. Even if there isn't something in place like that, at least having a dedicated forum I believe would be beneficial. If you don't like to talk politics, then you wouldn't have to go in and participate.

Thank you for your positive worthwhile comments-

[Aesa]

That was just a suggestion- :pI take it you are 18 or younger- just by the way you jumped into defense mode.

No, I'm eighteen. I have access to the Open forum. I just don't want things cut off to 'adults only'.

[Iggy]

Unnecessary censorship never bodes well.

(big sigh)

Moksha, I did not request censorship- I requested that the politics be kept to their own sub-group, that requires permission to read and post on that board. Similar to the Open Forum.

[Iggy]

No, I'm eighteen. I have access to the Open forum. I just don't want things cut off to 'adults only'.

That is obvious.

[Aesa]

That is censorship to a degree.

Open forum is 18 only because adults only topics are discussed in there.

Politics is not an adults only thing.

A sub-board would be fine, but I'd be quite disgusted to see politics made "private only" on here.

[prisonchaplain]

Just a thought...if I'm not mistaken "Open Forum" gets far less traffic than unsecured forums do. I don't know why political strings should be restricted. Some people do not like to discuss politics...so they don't have to. If they accidently stumble upon one, just move on.

I have no issues with making politics a category, though for responders, I'm wondering if most make a habit of clicking "new posts," like I do--in which case categories become much less meaningful.

[Aesa]

Well, current events topics could always be filtered out of the new posts PC.

Anything is possible with technology.

[Wingnut]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am wondering if this forum could put all of the political stuff in a new catagory- called - - - POLITICS- -

I've suggested this in the past, but I've been told that the Current Events forum pretty much is a politics forum, so why make a separate one?

Then treat it just like the Open Forum is treated - you must be 18 years old or older, and have permission from Heather/Head Moderators before you can post or read from there.

Disagree.

I have been conversing via the phone, IM chat, and emails with a few other members here, ones who no longer come here very often. The reason they are no longer visiting is because there is way too much political stuff on the forums. Negative political stuff. Negativity that bleeds into other parts of the forum, onto other boards.

I can completely understand and sympathize with this frustration.

Another thing- why is this forum spammed with all of the COMMENTS: MoreGoodFoundation? If I wanted to read/respoond to that particular forum (yes to respond you have to go out of lds.net and to another forum and sign up) I would be a member of that forum. Why drown us with that forums postings? Do you flood their forum with our current postings????

Completely agree. If I wanted to sign up for other forums, I would. But I don't. And I would prefer that the forum that I have signed up for not be spammed with everything from another forum.

[applepansy]

I have been conversing via the phone, IM chat, and emails with a few other members here, ones who no longer come here very often. The reason they are no longer visiting is because there is way too much political stuff on the forums. Negative political stuff. Negativity that bleeds into other parts of the forum, onto other boards.

I have had the same experience in talking to other members. What we've discussed is the level of contention which has increased.

The same people are still posting but those who don't post very much, or at all, are leaving.

[pam]

Let me give my personal perspective on this. One of the missions of TheMoreGoodFoundation is to provide good sites that we as LDS can share our beliefs about the gospel. Especially to those that might be investigating.

The site that you are all referencing is an information site where people can get basic info about the Gospel and ask questions. Having it linked to lds.net is a wonderful way for us as lds netters to assist in answering those questions. I know I've answered a couple of them.

Now as far as it spamming...if even one of those questions that were answered helped move someone even closer to wanting to investigate or join the Church then I'm all for what you consider to be spamming. I hardly think having 7-8 comments a day show up on this forum amongst the numerous other posts spamming.

I also could understand if you were a paying member of this site. If I had to pay to join a site and had comments from another site..yeh I'd be pretty upset too. But last time I noticed this is a free site. TheMoreGoodFoundation has invested a lot of money in their various sites to help share the Gospel.

Like any other thread or forum..if it doesn't interest you...move on.

Edited June 12, 2009 by pam

[Dravin]

Besides, aren't all those posts confined to the "Answer Mormon Questions" forum? If you don't want to deal with them just don't go into that sub-forum. Now there are those that use the board in such a way that the sub-forum the thread is in is moot as PrisonChaplin pointed out, which is fine, but if you don't want something from another sub-forum popping up use the built in filtering method (the sub-forums) to filter what topics you do or don't see. Honestly, it seems a stretch to call for the making private of a sub-forum when you can just avoid said sub-forum, if it bugs you that much don't click "New Posts" or even if you do, avoid the threads Political or Answer Mormon Questions you don't want to read.

I'm not interested in all the threads in the sub-forums I visit, I just don't click on the links.

[prisonchaplain]

IMHO, the MoreGood posts "feel" like spamming to folk who use the "new posts" function. Since I know they are looking for answers from LDS members, I tend to just skip the strings. At first it seemed a bit cluttering, but Pam is absolutely right. How could any true-believing LDS member here not be glad for opportunities for folk at this site to answer faith questions?

[Wingnut]

Now as far as it spamming...if even one of those questions that were answered helped move someone even closer to wanting to investigate or join the Church then I'm all for what you consider to be spamming. I hardly think having 7-8 comments a day show up on this forum amongst the numerous other posts spamming.

I guess it just feels like spamming because at least once a day, the "new posts" section on the homepage is entirely occupied with this comment feed, so I can't find new threads that are actually open for discussion here. When I click on the "see more" button, it doesn't always show threads that are new since the last time I logged in, but it very often does show threads that I commented on three days ago.

[pam]

Once a day doesn't seem too bad. There are times I log on and click on new posts and it doesn't show me any new posts...though I know there are several. And that's without the comments posts.

[Heather]

The comments are coming in from other websites, not other forums, where people have left a comment or a response to an article about the Church or LDS Beliefs. I setup it up so the titles of those threads all start the same so it's easy for those who are not interested in responding to other questions can ignore those threads. I'm also grateful for the high number of users from LDS.net who have been answering these questions and the conversations and missionary work that is taking place.

LDS.net is 100% free. 100% ad free. I really don't think it's a big deal to feed in comments from other websites from people who are asking questions about the Church. I'm sorry if it's an annoyance, but I care more that those who have questions are finding answers from Church members.

Elder Ballard said, "The challenge is that there are too many people participating in conversation about the Church for our Church personnel to converse with and respond to individually. We cannot answer every question, satisfy every inquiry, and respond to every inaccuracy that exists. As I said at General Conference in October, we need to remember that there is a difference between interest and curiosity. Sometimes people just want to know what the Church is. And some who seek answers want them to come directly from a member of the Church, like each one of you. They appreciate one-on-one conversations."

The MGF is four full time staff with a few part time staff and contractors. Together we don't even make half a department at the Church. "We cannot answer every question, satisfy every inquiry, and respond to every inaccuracy that exists."

As far as the politics thread goes, LDS.net is still governed by rules. If people are name calling or being rude, report it. If you don't want to talk about what's going on in certain areas, then don't. LDS.net does allow for a lot more discussion than many other moderated sites, but I don't see the need to restrict things to the point there is nothing left to talk about. Either way, there will be some people who leave and who won't be happy with how the site is run. It is impossible for a social network or community website to satisfied the demands of every member.

[Aesa]

I really don't think it's a big deal to feed in comments from other websites from people who are asking questions about the Church.

I agree with you Heather, I enjoy finding all these other websites.