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Forum News / Discussion on forums (A newbie's perspective)
« on: March 04, 2021, 12:13:07 PM »
A comment in another thread prompted me to write this and I am not sure what section of the forums it should go into, so I apologize if I have posted this in the wrong place.
The comment in question was about topics belonging to someone or a group of people.
I know I am new to the aChat forums. Maybe things work differently here, but my experience on forums has always been that once something is posted the topic belongs to the community. It is a place for discussion, sometimes agreement and sometimes disagreement. From the perspective of someone new, this idea that certain topics belong to certain people is incredibly unwelcoming. This is a community not a private conversation. If I see a post and I have something I would like to share or comment on I should feel welcome to share or comment. Whether I agree with the original poster or not should be irrelevant as this is a forum for discussion. It is okay to exchange ideas, to agree and respectfully disagree with one another.
Along with that I would like to say that the bullying and mocking of people is also very unwelcoming behavior. It does not matter if the person being mocked will ever know. When a new community member sees that behavior, it discourages them from sharing their thoughts for fear that they will be the next person mocked.
I appreciate that everyone has been kind to me as I dipped my toes into the forum. It would be great to see these forums be a thriving and welcoming part of the aChat community. I think these forums need to be treated less like a personal playground and more like a community for that to happen.
The comment in question was about topics belonging to someone or a group of people.
I know I am new to the aChat forums. Maybe things work differently here, but my experience on forums has always been that once something is posted the topic belongs to the community. It is a place for discussion, sometimes agreement and sometimes disagreement. From the perspective of someone new, this idea that certain topics belong to certain people is incredibly unwelcoming. This is a community not a private conversation. If I see a post and I have something I would like to share or comment on I should feel welcome to share or comment. Whether I agree with the original poster or not should be irrelevant as this is a forum for discussion. It is okay to exchange ideas, to agree and respectfully disagree with one another.
Along with that I would like to say that the bullying and mocking of people is also very unwelcoming behavior. It does not matter if the person being mocked will ever know. When a new community member sees that behavior, it discourages them from sharing their thoughts for fear that they will be the next person mocked.
I appreciate that everyone has been kind to me as I dipped my toes into the forum. It would be great to see these forums be a thriving and welcoming part of the aChat community. I think these forums need to be treated less like a personal playground and more like a community for that to happen.