Maybe Sol can stop these forums from being 'public' posts. Maybe we should have forums that we have to join, like our groups here that we have to join. That way, if you don't want to see the crap that's posted, don't join.
I've been thinking more and more of going towards that model. It may be that new members are not immediately put into the Premium group and can choose Groups to join that suit their tastes. In theory anyone can leave Premium, but when you're defaulted into it that doesn't seem to happen. Another idea may be to remove the forums from the homepage. Users will have to actually visit their Groups to participate. I've received too many complaints to think that something doesn't have to change.
Apparently I'm not the only who thought this particular thread was overly critical.
Given how devoid all of the forums are of posts, not including new members into Premium by default would probably make the site look like a ghost town for new members. Premium is their best chance to introduce themselves to the widest possible audience. It's also where I go to find the widest possible expertise on writing subjects that I need help with, so the fewer the number of members in Premium, the less useful it becomes to existing members.
PLEASE do not force us to visit each group individually to look for new posts. That's just a clickfest that greatly reduces usability. I'd probably drop down to two or three groups and ignore everything else, which further reduces the visible activity that makes for a thriving site.
The real problem is the overall tone of some of the forum posts on this site. Other forums sites I'm on wouldn't tolerate some of the posts that we get here. I've done a few myself here, so I'm guilty too. Other sites not only have multiple moderators who give warnings and can shut down threads, but regular members also chime in when they think someone is being obnoxious or disrespectful, usually well before a moderator gets involved.
I'm not sure if our site's architecture can support multiple moderators (so you, Sol, don't have to be the only traffic cop in Premium), but there are many long-term members on this site that I would trust as additional moderators. If they issue a warning or shut something down, I'd support them 100%, even if I probably wouldn't always agree with them. I doubt it would take many interventions to raise the level of interactions to a respectful level.
