WOW I have sat here this morning and read every word of this. There are some great points being made. There are also some I do not agree with. I love this board. I am pretty new but I have made good friends (I think). I don't mind hearing of bad things in people's lives. That is what makes us humans. And the ability to help someone with advice or encouragement makes us friends. The "rose colored glasses" board idea is unrealistic in my opinion. If all I wanted was quilting help then I would stick to YOUTUBE and the like, but here I can get both help and "human interaction". I don't really like the segmentation that has been going on but I see the need for it. I don't like the idea of a few policing all of us but again I see the need. More rules would make more problems. My view is that we don't sometimes see that things are getting out of control. Things look different from inside of a situation then they do from outside so.....
Admin you would like some suggestions on making this a better board. Well here are mine:
1. You need tools. Like caution flags. If something is taking a bad turn then throw the caution flag on to show the posters that they need to check themselves. Maybe three levels before a deleted thread. Then no one is blindsided by a deleted thread. They would know it was coming. If someone doesn't agree with the caution flag they can take the point up off line with you one on one through a PM.
2. A calendar. If you can put up a calendar and the posters can choose to enter their BD's or anniversaries and the like for others to view and send best wishes via diaries or PM. One stop shopping as it were.
3. A "stay at the top" option for a limited amount of time on a new thread. A check box that if checked would alert a moderator to review for approval. If approved it would stay at the top for X amount of time and if not it would just be another normal thread.
I know all of these thing require more work for you in the beginning, but I think they may make the moderators job easier in the end. Plus it would be more fair for all I feel.
I think the Moderators do a marvelous job and I would not want that job for myself. Thanks