Special User Sections > Site/Forum Features

About the Basement (Soap Box) Section

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mouser:
We have recently created a special section of the forum, the Basement (Soap Box), to hold discussions on matters that we have traditionally said were off limits on the forum (things like politics, religion, etc.).

Update:

I have now modified the forum so that Soap Box posts do not show up on the UNREAD posts page.

The motivation behind this change is that the soap box should be a very minor part of the forum, and that its controversial nature is likely to turn people off and make them less likely to want to participate on the forum.. or at least less likely to be civil and engage in the main subject matter that we'd like to focus on.  The Soap Box is something I am still a bit uneasy about, because I feel like it has the potential for disrupting the comity and focus of the site.  And I'm uncomfortable with the tone of the posts showing up side by side with the software discussions.

So anyway, this is an attempt to ensure the Soap Box remains a very very minor part of the forum.


I note that this may not be the ideal solution -- it might be better to let people to opt-in to listing new soap box posts in their unread list, for people who do want to follow such posts.  For now, if you do want to follow such posts, you need only bookmark the unread posts link but with the board id of 311 specified explicitly:

For example:

* https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=unread;boards=311 - unread posts in soap box section
* https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=rtopicsdense;sort=creation;boards=311 - recent topics in soap box section

The long term policy of the DonationCoder forum is to be respectful and avoid topics like religion and politics.  We set up the Soap Box so that we would have a place for discussions that became inappropriate for the main sections of the forum.  But even with this section, we ask people try their best to ensure that this section does not become their focus on the site -- it's not what we are about.  Use this section sparingly and make it a very small part of your stay at DC.

This forum is our home.  We work hard to be welcoming and helpful to friends and strangers who hold widely differing views of life.  If you are making a post that is significantly at odds with this idea, please consider whether there might not be a better website to make such a post.

[cross-posted in soap box section]

Ath:
If you filter out the soap-box forum from the 'unread' page, shouldn't these messages also be filtered from the 'recent posts' summary at the bottom of the forum home-page?

AndyM:
Excellent idea.  :up:

This is why Mouser makes the big bucks.  ;D

mouser:
I'm also playing with renaming it from Soap Box, which sounds like it is practically begging people to get up on their box and scream, to the Basement, which does a bit more to convey the unusual nature of the area.

mouser:
If you filter out the soap-box forum from the 'unread' page, shouldn't these messages also be filtered from the 'recent posts' summary at the bottom of the forum home-page?
--- End quote ---

yes, i need to add that too.

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