Since a lot of people are afraid to directly contact the site administration sometimes, I thought it best to create a general thread for the discussion of the announcement put up last night.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about it, please post them here. If you have a question but don't want to post here, you can always PM a moderator or admin and we will keep your name out of the thread when we address the question.

Thanks!

Joe

Great idea. Make it invisible in the forums.

Quality is definitely better than quantity. Instead of hiding the post count completely what I've done on my website is simply not let posts count in certain forums. I think most anything in The Lounge and its sub-forums should not count. On my website this hasn't slowed the traffic when it doesn't count which suggests to me that those members really don't care about the post count. Which is really as it should be.

Now, tell me if I'm over stepping my boundries here, but to my knowledge, isn't the Lounge area made to hold those threads that don't have a set area in the rest of the forum?
If the post count was to be discounted there, we would have to do the same with the teen forum, since it's a mini lounge from what I've seen. There are serious questions being asked in both forums, while still also being fun and informative.
Like I've said, the lounge and the teen forums are both places for threads that don't fit anywhere else in the forums.
So, lets not be that hasty. Hiding the count on the forums, yes, I can see that. Have the post count shown on the profile page and keep a close eye, like it is being done now, on the threads.
Again, if I'm over stepping my boundries, or have upset anyone, please tell me and I will edit my post. By the way, sorry I didn't quote but there's a bit to much with both posts to quote and save space.

Going off topic is certainly a thing that needs to be checked. I went through a period where I was constantly going off-topic, though now, I try to keep it checked.

Just my 0.5 cents.
BeaStKid

Here's a basic overview of the forums and their functions:

-All the specific author forums are for the discussion of that author's work, but also may include most any other topic (if forum appropriate in the first place) at the author's discretion. For example we've had authors start holiday threads or threads about issues specifically important to them.

-eFiction is for the discussion of works in eFiction

-The poetry forum is to discuss poetry housed at GA

-The Story Cafe is for the discussion of gay literature not housed at GA

-The Archive Suggestion forum is for the submission of a request to add stories to the archive.

-The various announcement forums are self explanatory and announce the release/addition of whatever class of work (hosted, shared, promising, eficition, poetry, archive). Actual discussion and replies in these forums aren't allowed.

-The Soap Box is for the discussion of political issues or issues that might normally be too controversial for the regular forums (such as religion for example). It is further broken down into sub-forums based on political leanings (Right/conservative or Left/liberal).

-The Administrative Communication forum is designed for the members to contact the administrative teams with questions or concerns, and also designed to keep members up to date on policy changes and announcements.

-The Teen forum is a general forum for Teen related sexuality issues, and is normally more serious in nature.

-The Member Q& A sub-forum was actually created to in many ways mirror the Teen forum and discuss more serious adult issues and seek advice/ask questions. It is also more serious in nature.

-The Games and Humor forum was created to be the silliest, most playful forum on the board. It is for playful, chat style posts, jokes, games, and all around silliness. It isn't a good place to bring up serious issues.

-The Lounge is a general forum for topics that do not fall under the scope of the other forums or that would be further divided into one of its sub-forums. While it isn't as serious in tone as the Member Q&A and Teen forum, it also isn't as playful as the Games and Humor forum. Threads should still remain mostly on topic and issues should not get buried under masses off-topic posts.

The main thing we want to avoid is having someone begin a serious discussion and having the spirit of that discussion lost under masses of unrelated material or having it disintegrate into a flame war between posters. Pay the members who start these topics respect and discuss the topics. Leave excessive amounts of joking and teasing for the Games and Humor forum, PMs, or IMs, and don't post material you know will antagonize other members and lead the thread into a round of bickering.

Take care all and have a great day
Kevin

I disagree with Jay

The post count is a good indicator if someone is relatively new and 'dangling their toes in the water' to test out posting. Some GA members make a point of being extra welcoming and nice to the newbies in the hopes that they continue to participate. Not having the post count will make it harder to determine this.

Hiding the post count doesn't really solve the problem of some members making inappropriate posts as specified in the Forum Etiquette announcement.

It appears to many that it's just a handful of members who are abusing the posting guidelines.

Take Care,

Vic