What would your ideal forum look like?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I'm not just referring to SFN here. I mean a community website in general, one that's not just "friends" from real life like Facebook or Twitter.

 

So, what would your ideal Internet community have? Would members be anonymous, or would they use real names, like on The WELL, a 25-year-old discussion forum? How would moderation work? Would bad members be banned immediately or be given a chance?

 

Just throw some ideas out. I'm curious to see what people think.

[Genecks]

It would have a picture of Washu (from Tenchi Muyo) on the front page as part of the banner.

And I would be a moderator. :3

And it would have an over-abundance of nerdy women.

 

But more realistically...

 

I think this forum works out quite well.

It doesn't get quite as much attention as some other websites, though.

I think that's because the other websites are more developed and specialized.

That isn't to say this website doesn't have said potential.

 

I use different forums.

I use chemicalforums, sciencemadness, linuxquestions, sos math, and sometimes biology-online.

I'll be on zoklet if I feel like killing some time or talking to a more chaotic, abrupt crowd.

That's the gist of my activities.

Edited April 4, 2010 by Genecks

[the tree]

Sometimes I'm on a forum because I want help with something, or because I want something to do or because I just want to chat about something. An ideal forum would cater well to those at all levels - whether it's in a field I know like the back of my hand or something that I only found out about this morning.

 

Moderation would somehow result in the right discussion winding up in the right place all the time. Banning would be okay because there's always people who just don't want to play nice and inclusion really does stop at the kid who only want to join in the game so he can kick the ball over the fence.

[zombieSquirrel]

Well, I'll give it a shot.

 

It would have a blue color scheme that's a little darker than this forum is. The background would be a simple picture or art that also is mostly blues. Maybe the background picture could also be the logo.

 

It would be an art and music forum, and I would eventually try to get some kind of online class or tutorial going for each subject, along with a questions section for each of the classes/tutorials. Above each class/tutorial I would have a "What you need and how to get started" thread. I would also try to set up areas that are dedicated to linking to other good resources, and probably some links to recommended stuff to buy for whatever you're working on. There would also be a bunch of general discussion forums for each subject, and a "water cooler" forum for chatting.

 

The moderation and rules would be pretty much the same as they are here, with a few tweaks and changes. I would probably have any email addresses posted on the forums deleted. Any talk about doing something illegal like pirating music would be a major no-no. The moderators would have a hidden moderator's forum. I might try giving some of the older, more trusted and cool-headed members of the forums the ability to pull a Houdini on really offensive posts until one of the mods could check it out.

 

Members would have user names, just like most other forums. Avatars would be an earned privilege, but it wouldn't be too hard to earn. A member could have that privilege temporarily or permanently removed if they intentionally use an offensive picture, depending on what the moderators decide after discussing it.

 

Edit: There would also be an official "Welcome newbies! Come introduce yourself here" thread.

Edited April 4, 2010 by TriNitroSocks
additional information.

[Mr Skeptic]

Some random, perhaps impractical ideas:

I'd go with, a forum that uses tags rather than subforums for classification, with each tag also being in the more general classes (eg global warming would be in politics and meteorology and environmentalism). It could have several tags, even very highly specific ones. You could set it up to give a priority bonus to tags you are interested in, so interesting stuff is visible, and also the computer should be able to make some good guesses as to which topics interest you and put those threads near the top.

 

I'd have several options for the general structure of a thread: it could have the posts nested by which post they reply to, or chronologically, or it could have a poll, or it could have a wiki of sorts at the top, or perhaps a summary of the main points made during the debate, and an optional experts-only mode.

 

Ideally the moderation could be mostly done via crowd in a way that can affect the visibility or prominence of good posts. The system could analyze the sort of posts you like to see and make those more prominent for you personally

 

People could make groups (eg by expertise) and exclude non-members from posting (but not reading) on certain experts-only thread, allowing certain topics to be discussed without crackpots, fanatics, Einstein wannabees, or distractingly ignorant folks distracting. Just for certain topics, or for the folks who want to have a highly technical discussion without having to explain stuff to random people.