Editor’s note: Many people read this as a suggestion to handle all long threads or to put the entire Parents Cafe in one thread. The first is not what I meant, but I can see why people read it that way. Re-reading, I see I wasn’t clear on that point. I’m mostly trying to figure out how the make the COVID-19 threads work. But also future proof the site for when this news item is blessedly in the past. The idea is to have a place for the conversations similar to those threads.
As for the second, I agree that is insane. It never crossed my mind that anyone would think that would be a good idea. Hopefully that’s a comfort?
Hi all!
Remember when I wrote about the long coronavirus threads? That was just last week! There were 290 replies and I learned a ton. My biggest takeaways are:
- The theme change hurt site navigation considerably.
- People really like having space to have intelligent conversation with each other.
- We’re sending mixed signals about moderation.
Someone recently pointed me to a Medium post called “The Worst Rebrand in the History of Orange Juice” about Tropicana:
That probably sounds familiar, unfortunately. So we’re starting to bring back features of the previous design that might seem old-fashioned but really did help people navigate the site. In response I announced an index of all the forums on one page. There are a lot of other things we need to fix, but this is looking like a step in the right direction from your feedback.
Believe it or not, I also want to make sure the conversations continue on the site. In community building terminology these threads act as a third place where people can relax with their friends. Many people reported coming back every day specifically to see what other people were talking about. This is how life-long friendships are developed and these spaces are becoming rare in American society. During stay-at-home orders they are virtually non-existent except via the internet.
These conversations are, by nature, a little more loose than what we hope to see on the forums in general. So it makes sense that they will be moderated a little differently. So here’s my plan for the month of May:
- Someone who wants to host the thread will start one called “May 2020 Chat” in the Parents Cafe. I’ll close the existing thread and add a final post linking to the next thread. The name makes clear the topic is free to roam around and that it’s limited to a particular time. For the foreseeable future I’m afraid the topic will be COVID-19, but hopefully there will be a month in the future where that won’t be the topic. And it should be easy enough for people to find the new thread if they’ve been active on the old one.
- Chat threads have relaxed moderation. I’d rather people didn’t post entire news articles, but you can quote more than normal. “Off-topic” isn’t really a thing there either.
- Please avoid political debate. If that happens, I’m encouraging moderators to just delete overtly political replies without warning. If it gets bad, I’ll step in to give a stern warning. We don’t want this to be a place people feel uncomfortable in.
- Obviously rude and abusive behavior is not tolerated. Respect each other.
I’d like to try this approach for May and see how it works. If it allows these conversations to continue and isn’t a burden on the moderators, I think we’ll have a good framework to use in the future. If it doesn’t meet those goals, we can try something else in June.
If someone starts the next thread, let me know in the replies below so I can link to it when I close the existing thread. Also, I’d appreciate that thread having a link to this one and a short summary of what’s expected. Thanks!
Why exactly is it problematic to have a thread with a gazillion posts?