Some changes afoot

[peter_speckhard]

I am away from home and office for Thanksgiving and have not been keeping up with things here for a few days. Based on the reported posts and complaints, I'd have to say that some of the usual suspects have remained true to form. I won't have much chance to get things in order until about Tuesday, but in the future I'll be taking a more aggressive stand about revoking the posting privileges of people whose participation here is unedifying. Just a general warning.

Secondly, the website is running out of space. The proposal has been made to eliminate any threads that haven't been posted on for sixty days. While that is not set in stone, one thing you might want to consider doing, if you have certain topics or old threads near and dear to your heart, is to copy them into documents or otherwise save them to you computer.

Meanwhile, anyone with suggestions on how to improve, streamline, or otherwise make this forum a more generally helpful thing for all concerned can feel free to post them here. Thanks.

[dkeener]

Rather than deleting all threads that have not been posted on for 60 days, I would suggest deleting those threads that have not been posted on for 60 days AND have fewer than 100 replies. It seems to me that this might save those "near and dear" threads.

Another option would be to delete all the posts of certain people - I'll leave who up to the moderators. 

[hillwilliam]

Much of what has been stated in the past on this board has value. So why not put all of the threads that haven't been posted to for 60 days in a searchable database, burn it to a DVD and sell it for ten bucks a copy.

Losing all that historical data would only result in it being posted over and over again from memory for the benefit of the lurkers.

[revklak]

Why not just have another mysterious purge?  You could post a page for a couple of days that says, "This weblsite was updated in 1934 and these pages may have been moved at that time."  Then, a few days later, mysteriously reappear with only a score or four threads left. 

Or maybe you could just say the "divine goddess' within the system was due for a sacrifice and took all the threads...

Or what if we claimed that NASA, in an effrot to save money and their jobs, BOUGHT all our messages and threads to recycle into fuel to blow the next shuttle into space, thereby avoiding the need for O rings and thermal panels...

Or what if.......

(Oh, too much family for too much time the past 78 hours. in my house.....)

[Charles_Austin]

Dump everything over 1 year old into a server somewhere. And then forget where it is.

Ban anonymous contributions. Require everyone to use their real name.

[Scott6]

I have written some well-researched and argued posts over the years from my "Scott1" years through my current "Scott5" account. I'd hate to see them lost entirely.  If you do plan to remove them, please let me know b/c I'd like to request some type of backup for my own use.

[pr dtp]

Dump everything over 1 year old into a server somewhere. And then forget where it is.

Ban anonymous contributions. Require everyone to use their real name.

I dunno - I think the moderators like anonymou$ contribution$   

Or maybe that's it - raise money for extra storage space - by taking bribes donations like a church carnival "jails"  It costs $100 bucks to put someone in jail for a month, unless they have already been banned - then it is $10 per day....

[FrPeters]

Some threads I continue to go back to... others I never paid much attention to in the first place... so I would suggest you delete the ones I have not paid much attention to and keep the ones I value... but that is a strictly personal perspective with which others may disagree...

[Maryland Brian]

Rather than deleting all threads that have not been posted on for 60 days, I would suggest deleting those threads that have not been posted on for 60 days AND have fewer than 100 replies. It seems to me that this might save those "near and dear" threads.

Another option would be to delete all the posts of certain people - I'll leave who up to the moderators. 

  How about deleting every thread that is over 30 days old AND contains a reference to gay or lesbian clergy or same sex marriage?

[Voelker]

I have written some well-researched and argued posts over the years from my "Scott1" years through my current "Scott5" account. I'd hate to see them lost entirely.  If you do plan to remove them, please let me know b/c I'd like to request some type of backup for my own use.

Scott,

You likely know this, but...the "Profile" button at the top of the page will lead to a "Show Posts" link which will go to all your posts. If all you want is to save your responses, you can save each page of posts you have made from your browser (depending on what you use; some will save as plain html, others as some form of web archive, and, if you have a Mac (and perhaps a Windows box with the proper additions) you can print to PDF.

[Michael Slusser]

You likely know this, but...the "Profile" button at the top of the page will lead to a "Show Posts" link which will go to all your posts. If all you want is to save your responses, you can save each page of posts you have made from your browser (depending on what you use; some will save as plain html, others as some form of web archive, and, if you have a Mac (and perhaps a Windows box with the proper additions) you can print to PDF.

Cool. 

[Scott6]

I have written some well-researched and argued posts over the years from my "Scott1" years through my current "Scott5" account. I'd hate to see them lost entirely.  If you do plan to remove them, please let me know b/c I'd like to request some type of backup for my own use.

Scott,

You likely know this, but...the "Profile" button at the top of the page will lead to a "Show Posts" link which will go to all your posts. If all you want is to save your responses, you can save each page of posts you have made from your browser (depending on what you use; some will save as plain html, others as some form of web archive, and, if you have a Mac (and perhaps a Windows box with the proper additions) you can print to PDF.

Thanks, though you're right that I knew that.  Most of the posts I'm referring to were in my "Scott3" incarnation and earlier, as I haven't put as much time into my posts for quite a while as I did then.  Unfortunately, I've canned those profiles for various reasons and am now on "Scott5", so it makes it a bit more difficult to find my posts.

[Keith Falk]

We could also delete messages in our private inboxes.  I don't know how much space that would save, but it wouldn't hurt.

[Charles_Austin]

I did a quick count, as I am ofttimes wont to do. My numbers might be off by three or four, but not much more than that.
I think I counted 68 people on this forum with more than 500 posts. I did not include the moderators.
Of those 68, five are consistently supportive of the ELCA, at least to some extent. But one of those has virtually dropped out of the discussion, disgusted with the tenor of the conversation (this person told me). Another seems to be slipping away from the discussion and one has relatively few recent postings.
Four others are apparently in the ELCA, but strongly - one might say terminally - critical of that church body.
The rest are not in the ELCA, either in the LCMS (most of them) or have left or are leaving the ELCA (and in at least one case the LCMS) because of doctrinal disputes. Virtually all of those 60+ believe the ELCA is heterodox, apostate, heretical or worse and say so frequently.
That is the "balance" in this forum.
Just an observation.

[FrPeters]

Is the "balance" the numbers of people or the equal access and the lack of restraints about how much or how vigorous the discussion and debate?