This Forum is a great service and of value to all of us who visit. But let's keep in mind that it's part of Tim's business and he has to make decisions that best serve PTO Today (hopefully while still being a resource to us).

So - whatever the outcome on this particular thread, I really encourage everyone to be supportive.

Someone once told me that the Quaker way of making decisions was that when an issue came up, everyone freely weighed in with their opinions. But once the decision was made, no matter how bitterly some may have argued against it - everyone supported it 100% because it was the the most productive way to move forward.

I always liked that philosophy.

I would be one of the people who prefer for the setting not to center around alcohol. There are so many other common areas to congregate. Could we not try something else?

How about calling it the virtual bar and just deleting posts after 7-10 days? I think virtual bar says it all. I would definately not be as scared of that as I was of like 6 pages of page 2 when I jumped in. Just put a tagline at the top of it that says it's a free for all and that all posts over a certain time will be deleted. Since most people come here with concerns or questions, this could be the one place that has them checking this site just because. That's what it has done for me, which has also led to me posting respones to other's issues more than I would have. I don't want to sound critical, I just don't want to lose one of the few online places I have fun on without spending money!

Okay, I can see the point here but a few observations both pro and con. Plus, since newcomer's perceptions is the catalyst for this, I would hope that we can hear from them on this.

Here are all of my thoughts on this.

Going to page two is easy. Like Cheers, we know where it's at, it doesn't take a lot to find it and we know what to expect when we get there.

Every other page, someone posts to welcome newcomers. We get new posters pretty regularly in the topic, some of the newest ones being Scott's mom, busymom1702 and library mom and quite honestly, I may have never gotten to know them if not for that topic.

That segways into another pro, which is, it's a casual place to meet new posters. Prior to page two, we got to know people the most, when they had a problem. They can have a problem in page two or want to get a little crazy or while they're doing "real laundry and cooking real dinner" slip in to sing a kareoke song.
Plus, there are no "sides" in page two.

I don't think the name of the post really matters, because just the curiosity of the name will bring people in. If you start changing the name, changing the forum, it will probably just die.

Try as we might, there is a bit of a insiders club to it, but there was that before page two started, that being displayed here. The posters in this particular topic, seem like the clique that I walked into when I first came here. Like, JHB, I know that it wasn't intentional but yet, it was and still is a bit daunting at times.
The ranting and raving is all over the boards and is out there permanently also in every other topic. On today's alone, we have rants about book fairs, rants about president's and treasurers being married and school employee and PTO member conflict.
Rants are abundant everywhere so it's ALL out there.

The length of the topic can be a concern. The number of pages may discourage someone from entering into the topic but at the same time, the length may also invite others to see why. It's neat to see how many pages we've gotten to. That in itself has been a topic of conversation there. We as members built it, with a little from me, a little from Metzy, Scott's mom, tiner and of course the topic starter, backhoed. It's a little bit of all us and it's constantly evolving. Perhaps, there is a way to just remove a few pages?

I guess I'm feeling like it's not a good idea because the people who want to "virtually" tear it down, are people who visit little or not at all. It's a part of me, I'd bet it's part of the others too.

Perhaps we could just change it to show a description of what it is instead of closing it all together?

[ 11-24-2004, 10:51 PM: Message edited by: Michelle B ]

Well, since I am making enough food to feed an army for the next week, you guys can all come my way! We just got our first snow last night.

We'd need to brainstorm a fun name for the new thread. "Page 2" was cute for the current one but wouldn't mean anything unless you were reading when it started.

I belong to other Forums whose free-for-all discussion areas are called things like "The Lounge" or "Perpetual Coffee Pot". But I haven't seen one whose format is exactly like this proposal.

Ideas?

Virtually There
Off The Record
Time Out
PTO: Parents Time Out

Get creative...

P.S. Since it's a virtual world - I'd bring a cabin (air-conditioned, of course). Oh, but wait, we can control the weather - I won't need A/C. Definitely has possibilities.

[ 11-24-2004, 10:58 AM: Message edited by: JHB ]