@ThatOneDude said in Changes to The Hog Pit:
Wasn't this place created to talk freely about "things"? Starting with Mu*'s?
The mods made it very clear that this board isn't the same as WORA or SWOFA.
I fail to see how one cannot "talk freely" about "things," even after moving the Hog Pit to an area that people can elect to access.
“It is better to live doing the things that you like. It is foolish to live within this dream of a world seeing unpleasantness and doing only things that you do not like.” -- Yamamoto Tsunetomo.
@Ganymede said in Changes to The Hog Pit:
@ThatOneDude said in Changes to The Hog Pit:
Wasn't this place created to talk freely about "things"? Starting with Mu*'s?
The mods made it very clear that this board isn't the same as WORA or SWOFA.
I fail to see how one cannot "talk freely" about "things," even after moving the Hog Pit to an area that people can elect to access.
Of course not.
Then when it's all over and the rest of you are ready for Dead Animal Pickup, I'm gonna go balls deep into Dahl. But only because she asked me to. Sweet-like. - Riddick (2013)
What @Ganymede said. I'm not sure how this is catering or making it difficult to freely discuss things. Oh no, you have to choose to see it? Where is the problem?
@Sunny said in Changes to The Hog Pit:
What @Ganymede said. I'm not sure how this is catering or making it difficult to freely discuss things. Oh no, you have to choose to see it? Where is the problem?
Well, I mean you can choose not to have certain boards flash already.Now you have to know it even exists to get on it. That's meh to me.
Its not a big thing, I just don't see the point.
@lordbelh said in Changes to The Hog Pit:
Its not a big thing, I just don't see the point.
This really. It's not a big deal. But it's one thing to change things around if the change is really needed. It's another to do it just because a few people are morons.
@TNP said in Changes to The Hog Pit:
It's another to do it just because a few people are morons.
Although it's probably fair to say that the recent idiocy was the catalyst for the change, there is likely a large population here that prefers not to get ripped to shreds for saying innocuous but ignorant things. And we do unintentionally dogpile with the ridicule at times.
The idea of making the Hog Pit opt-in is less about the recent explosion of crazy -- if you'll recall, their crazy happened in the non-Pit areas first, and were then moved as appropriate -- and more about trying a new way to encourage more discussion rather than all ugly all the time. We don't dislike the Pit, and certainly we've all posted there our share.
It's an attempted shift in focus, I suppose. Making it opt-in means someone who wants to interact with that level of vitriol (giving, receiving, or just watching from the sidelines), has to make the decision and act on it, rather than it being splashed willy-nilly even on those who don't care to do so.
She says with run-on sentences a-go-go.
ES
Hiding it won't change the content of other posts.
It will just decrease the number of posts in the Hog Pit.
@Admiral Presumably the idea was that Pit-ty comments or threads will be getting moved to the new Hog Pit where they can stay out of the faces of those who don't want to see them. Or that's how I read it.
@Arkandel That is how I read it too.
@Admiral said in Changes to The Hog Pit:
Hiding it won't change the content of other posts.
It will just decrease the number of posts in the Hog Pit.
You're absolutely correct that it won't change the content of other posts. That's not the point of the shift in focus. 
I want to allow the Pit to do what it do, but not have it front and center. This is an attempt to do so. It might turn out that this doesn't have the effect we aim for; it's easy enough to change back if that's the case. We're not married to this idea 'til death do us part.
But I at least want to see what the board can do when the Pit and its environs are opt-in instead of automatic; what sort of tonal change will or won't take place? I'm personally hoping it's towards the positive (that is to say, towards conversation and benefit-to-community, not specifically treacly sweetness-and-light). Glitch and Theno can speak for themselves on what they hope to get out of it.
As to decreasing the number of posts in the Pit itself, I suspect that putting it behind a curtain will make folks even more likely to go vitriolic, but I'd be glad to be wrong.
ES
As @EmmahSue said, it is more about trying for a different focus than a direct response to our recent spate of darlings.
@Admiral
I think you might misunderstand. Hog Pit is where posts with high levels of vitriol belong, which means there should be commensurately less of it in other categories.
@Arkandel and @icanbeyourmuse have the right idea, I think. The occasional topic move or split isn't a big deal, but it'll hopefully encourage thought about where you're making a response when you're considering how to convey your message.
@Glitch said in Changes to The Hog Pit:
The occasional topic move or split isn't a big deal, but it'll hopefully encourage thought about where you're making a response when you're considering how to convey your message.
I don't see how it'll make any difference at all. Once you join a group, the topics appear on unread messages right along with all the other ones. When I reply, I don't even really notice which category a thread is in.
Which is exactly why it's no big deal to me. Beyond having to click 'join' a single time, it changes nothing for established users.
We haven't taken the final step yet, since we're moving everything in stages. The final step (DUN-DUUUUN) will hide all Hog Pit posts, including notifications on unread threads, from anyone who hasn't joined the Pitcrew.
ES
I don't understand what this really fixes anyway. If you don't wanna see them, can't you just...not go to the threads in the first place?
Yes, I know. But once we click 'join' that one and only time, nothing at all is different for us. It won't change our posting or replying habits at all. It'll only keep new users and people who don't want to see Hog Pit posts from doing so. If that's the point, cool. I get tired of marking things read that I don't want to read myself. But I can't see how it's going to do a thing to change the tenor of replies in any category. If someone is likely to go hog wild (see what I did there?) in the constructive category, they're going to, even if they clicked 'join' once 5 months back.
... that's us.
My uninformed prediction: With the Hog Pit behind a wall, the crazies that don't see it will just spread their joyous lunacy as they see fit. If anything, it ensures misplaced asshattery.
@DnvnQuinn said in Changes to The Hog Pit:
I don't understand what this really fixes anyway. If you don't wanna see them, can't you just...not go to the threads in the first place?
Same reason the political threads are behind a wall. Some people don't want to keep seeing (1) pop up in red every time there's a post in a place they just don't care about.
@ThatOneDude said in Changes to The Hog Pit:
Wasn't this place created to talk freely about "things"? Starting with Mu*'s?
The mods made it very clear that this board isn't the same as WORA or SWOFA.
I fail to see how one cannot "talk freely" about "things," even after moving the Hog Pit to an area that people can elect to access.
