Lets talk about this like grownups.

[glorff]

I believe that the Speakeasy has become something that we never intended it to be and it is threatening the stability of the board.

Perhaps we should consider changing the rules to allow hot threads to be moved there so they can continue to be discussed, but prohibit new threads to be started there.

From my point of view, I have not noticed that much traffic in the Speakeasy and most of it is of little or no value to the overall board. I do not think that anyone originally thought that it would be a place to attack each other or use profanity to blow off steam. (Many years ago my grandmother taught me that profanity was the last resort of people with insufficient vocabularies.)

I am not directing this at anyone or trying to stir something up. I am simply looking for honest discussion from as many members as possible

Is the board working the way you would like it to?

[RoboFlonne]

I don't like it at all.

[Not Sir Phobos]

I'm all for intelligent conversation without restraints and I have had some REALLY good discussions there. I believe you can drop the "F bomb" or the "S bomb" and still have a good deep discussion, but when the context of the discussion is less of context and more of being jerk because the rules allow it then all intelligence is lost and the thread is meaningless.

However, with the speakeasy it was an all or nothing deal and people who do not wish to be subjected to it have the option. For me, at least, it has worked out somewhat the way I wanted it too.

[miz ducky]

I agree that the Speakeasy is being misused.

However, I think that restricting new topics would force people to post in the open first about topics that they know could be very inflammatory (political, religion, etc).

I think that people need to work out their issues via PM or other means, and that everyone should be treated with respect on AB (all forums of AB). If two people have difficulties then that is between them. Don't bring your issues to the board just because you have a working computer and internet connection.

If someone has a bad transaction then I think it's fair that people should be able to discuss the issue to get things worked out. I think that many people have benefited from the open discussion of bad transactions, because it has helped to prevent the same thing from happening to them.

I like AB because of the level of maturity displayed by the members here.
I don't like reading the posts in the Speakeasy, it's a waste of time when people use it for flaming or bashing other members.

[Lynxa]

I've never been to the speakeasy because I keep forgetting to ask to be added : But speaking as someone who hasn't been there, I haven't noticed anything leaking out to the board in general. People have a choice whether or not to go there and whether or not to participate. If they show their "true colors" over there, then that's their business, and they will eventually suffer the consequences in the form of ill-will.

I assumed that the whole point of the speakeasy was to have an unmoderated place to discuss heated topics. People will have to learn how to ignore those who post simply for inflammatory purposes.

And personally I think modding language is just silly. It's very easy to skip over offensive language, and I don't see any problem in cursing to let out a little steam.

[Shampoo]

I think theres no need to shut down the Speakeasy
no matter how ridculous its topics seem.

It was created to house threads not deemed appropriate
for beta because of hot button issues/controversies or
simply because of redundancy in subject.

If you dont want to read it, you dont have to.

Infact you have to e-mail/pm a mod to get access to it
Surely it was done so members wouldnt have to scrumb
thru topics and find the mindless chatter-threads
as soon as they logged in.


As for the member mudslinging, yea there
are obvious attacks on there-- even threads that were created
solely to call a member out. Imature? Sure.


But to say that deleting on the whole category will
magically make the "hate" go away or beta a better place is naive.

We're all human beings. There are some here that I
absolutely cant stand .
Hence why I exercise my shine ignore button.
As I'm sure there are some on here that get very
irritated and p.o'd by my bluntness and messages riddled
in emoticons.


Last thing I want is beta to become censored and another
animealpha. (Im sure some remember good old Al and his
big ban stick of justice)

I agree we should be more courteous overall towards
each other but I dont want more "rules" imposed
to guarantee that.
All they ever do is scare the good posters
away and bring overall blandness to forums.

[Gonzai]

Thank you Dave!! Here I thought I was the only one
who thought that way. I haven't a problem with
The Speakeasy!! Actually, when we first created it,
there were some really great debates that I enjoyed
reading. People spoke their thoughts, and no matter
if others disagreed and the discussions got heated,
everyone moved on.

Now, it has become a place to only bash the people
that you don't like, and see how much you can shock
others. I am not going to mention any names, however,
one person, in my opinion, changed the whole feel of
the Speakeasy, and the shit has rolled downhill ever since.

assumed that the whole point of the speakeasy was to have an unmoderated place to discuss heated topics. People will have to learn how to ignore those who post simply for inflammatory purposes.

I can see where you are coming from Lynxa, not being a
member, but the heated topics anymore are nothing more
then people bashing. Also, if I were going to ignore the posts
that were there strictly for imflammatory purposes, then I
wouldn't need to be a member, cause that is all they are
anymore.

[Lynxa]

I can see where you are coming from Lynxa, not being a
member, but the heated topics anymore are nothing more
then people bashing. Also, if I were going to ignore the posts
that were there strictly for imflammatory purposes, then I
wouldn't need to be a member, cause that is all they are
anymore.

Then start a new thread.

But Shampoo pretty much said what I was thinking, only better and with the use of the "double flipper" emoticon that I have yet to find a use for.

I guess now I need to become a member to figure out what the hullabaloo is about (especially since I supported its creation in the first place. )

[sugarcels]

"Speakeasy"? I have no idea what that is. Guess it's good that I don't

[SME]

I like some of the topics that have been brought up in the Speakeasy. I really like the idea of being able to express yourself. True, the recent threads have made me scratch my head and wonder, but the overall idea for the Speakeasy is to keep things like that out of the public eye, and only for those that wish to see it. That's the reason why I joined the Speakeasy, depending on my mood if I need a good laugh or if I am interested in reading other people's opinion on a heated topic, I can go right there and get it.

But alas, I do agree that the recent people bashing is getting quite absurd. It really seems as though some people do have too much free time ... and for the first time ever I utilized the ignore button. But, the Speakeasy was designed as all-and-all, and I'm not for taking that away. When things do get way out of hand, that ignore feature is there. I'd rather just keep those sorts of discussions out of the regular threads, otherwise it would cause a lot more problems. Either way, we can't please everyone...

[ReiTheJelly]

IMHO, the existence of the Speakeasy keeps the more inflammatory threads out of the regular A-B forums. Being a member of the Speakeasy is voluntary - if you already are a member and don't like it, I'm sure the Admins would be more than happy to remove you.

[JWR]

This is one of the reasons I never bothered to ask for access to the speakeasy for I come here to Beta for fun and informitive posts , not to read a bunch of peole bickering.

To me the whole problem is solved if you just ignore those who act out of line there. If no one bothers to respond or take the bait then it will stop.

Of couse most can't avoid watching a train wreck in progress.

The speakeasy was set up cause those that wanted it asked for a place with no moderators or rules. Now it seems some don't like that some have decided to test the limits that freedom grants. Those who wish to use that area need to set their own limits and not react to those who try to bait them.

[kizu]

I signed up for the speakeasy because I wanted to be up to date about issues that has become controversial and thus moved there. I wanted to learn from the post there... I can honestly say that was a bad idea. Now I just observe and see who's who and what bad laundry is out there. I use this information to determine how I interact with the people in the community. Initially it was interesting too I must admit but in the end, I just don't visit it as much and consequently don't visit beta as much neither.. I know it shouldn't affect beta but I guess for me it does, especially since Speakeasy members and Beta members are one and the same. It turns me off... Now of course my opinion don't mean much to others, and I'm not imposing my opinion to this community. I am however expressing how I feel. It's quite sad that some people are rude or inconsiderate. It really drives people away, it's driving me away. The issue for me isn't about the speakeasy I guess, it's how people treat each other in this rather small community. But I hear this was rather common in the old days, thankgoodness I wasn't around then.

[EternityOfPain]

IMHO, the existence of the Speakeasy keeps the more inflammatory threads out of the regular A-B forums. Being a member of the Speakeasy is voluntary - if you already are a member and don't like it, I'm sure the Admins would be more than happy to remove you.

Agreed, even more so you can leave the group anytime you want without the mods/admin help even. Go to groups and then click on"leave group" its as simple as that.

Now, it has become a place to only bash the people
that you don't like, and see how much you can shock
others. I am not going to mention any names, however,
one person, in my opinion, changed the whole feel of
the Speakeasy, and the shit has rolled downhill ever since.

Shampoo has summed up my opinion nicely. As far as Gonzai stating that a single person changed the whole feel of the speakeasy in rolling it downhill is ludicrous. Everyone has to account for there own actions. Even if one person starts bad mouthing another that doesn't justify an explanation that everyone should follow suit and therefore the blame is on the initial person. Thats like saying I killed a person because I saw someone on the street doing it and then going in to testify that i am not at fault because i saw someone do it first.

[Keropi]

Certain things were beginning to "bother" me a few months ago so I decided to take action.

For the past few months I've been keeping a log (on paper) of the times I've visited here. I write an asterisk next to the "time" on the paper if I was logged in during my visit here. If I was logged in the Speakeasy is visible, but if I was not logged in the Speakeasy won't show.

I used to only "login" around twice a day, but because of recent increase in board activity I now login about 2-6 times a day. I discovered that when I see "downer" material less often it bothers/depresses me less and the longer I go without checking in the boards the more likely I am to want to see if anything new is there (or in the regular parts of the board).

So I'm not visiting here every 10 to 15 minutes logged in like I used to, but visiting every 40 to 90 minutes works out much better for me. I'm probably not making much sense here, but the system works out pretty well for me at any rate.