A simple suggestion

Recently, I\'ve been reading some online journal forums and a lot of the stuff people have to say or that people want to convey is pretty interesting stuff from time to time.  I know we have plenty of members and this place certainly does seem a little impersonal from time to time and the only way we truly do convey ourselves to eachother is what we say according to the topic, but this can lead to rather impersonal conversations concerning somewhat unoriginal topics.  There\'s no true feeling of community when the people posting have to start off with a "Yah, I agree Final Fantasy needs to be changed" and then establish themselves by throwing out 3000 more posts in a few weeks.

In other words, I think we should have an online journal section where we can inform people of our lives from time to time.  I know it wouldn\'t be all that interesting to some, but others, it\'d be a nice way to vent without being ridiculed for complaining or bragging.  I know that a lot of people in rants\\raves get ragged on simply for posting something there, but the feeling of appreciation there is much greater and it is obvious to me that people do care to at least READ WHY you are having such problems and are happy.  You see, in this section, it would allow individual people to make topics and read all topics, but it wouldn\'t allow anyone, but the thread creator, to reply to their created thread.  Now, I\'ve seen this done on other VBB boards so it\'s not a technical issue by any means.

I just think this place could use a slight personal touch and allowing people to post about just that would be a nice way to allow others to get to know you and avoid the general cynicism that this forum offers from time to time.  I know this is a Playstation board, but it has grown much larger then that in the time that I have been here.  The main forum gets less and less traffic as the days go by and off-topic and the console sections tend to dominate my time spent here, but the boards lack a space where I can really say what I want to say.

I know it sounds sappy, but for the past 2 years I have been here, this place has become somewhat of a hub where I get to freely share my opinions on just about anything that represents itself, only we don\'t get to post about ourselves at all really.  Ugh.  This post got long, but I\'m just trying to convey why I think it would be a good idea and hopefully, if you made it this far, you will consider the idea.  I know on other boards, although people are not allowed to reply, threads rack up thousands, sometimes MILLIONS of views if the people who are writing have something interesting to say and, on a rather regular basis, update that particular thread with a new chapter in ones life.

I just figure something like that could be popular here as well.  So, does anyone agree?  Hopefully people will agree and maybe, just maybe, we\'ll become more closer knit because of it.  

Actually I think it\'s an excellent idea.

[videoholic]

Sounds like a good idea.  As long as people have intersting lives.  

I actually think with how diverse this board is it could work out to be rather fun.

OMG RYU!! WAY TO SELL A TANGENT FROM MY CURVE!!!!!

Well let\'s see.  I\'m a Taurus who enjoys mountain-biking and beaches.  And my turn-ons are long walks at night, porn, and the Animal Planet channel.

What are your turn-offs?

OMG RYU!! WAY TO SELL A TANGENT FROM MY CURVE!!!!!

I was going to give you credit last night, but having never read your thread until AFTER I created mine, I didn\'t see the point.  Essentially, it\'s my idea still primarily because it beats your idea by 10 fold.  By not allowing people to reply, it elliminates those who "want to be Dr Phil" and what not and those who plan out replies saying some pointless BS that nobody needs to read or hear.

It will just be an outlet for people to get things out without being ridiculed or judged.  Hell, I\'d be interested in hearing about some of Videoholic\'s little foibles he has with his son and fatherhood (Yes, believe it or not, I\'d actually expect people to be adult about their little journals), or what life is like in Guam from serrano, (provided he actually took the time to write out a great little journal), or even to read about some school happenings from some of our younger or job happenings from some of our older ones.  I just think it\'d be interesting because everyone has a story to tell one way or another.

Well let\'s see. I\'m a Taurus who enjoys mountain-biking and beaches. And my turn-ons are long walks at night, porn, and the Animal Planet channel.

That\'s another thing.  I don\'t mean to single you out Rob, but i don\'t want people to be posting as their image that they present themselves on the board.  I think there is a bit more to you then screwing donkies and watching the animal planet channel and I think there is much more to Chizzy then his tales about masturbation, killing kittens, and beer.  I\'d rather read true stuff.  The made up stuff can stay in off-topic where it belongs because that\'s where people would get replies.

[Bobs_Hardware]

I\'m all for it.  I don\'t quite know how successful it would be tho.  I know I\'d be willing to do something like this (some friends of mine (female...yunno... cos...... shutup) have been bugging me to get a journal for some time... so now they can finally SHUT UP!  

Good idea Ryu... if it were to work out

That\'s the thing.  For it to work, we\'d need to have people willing to share and I know people just don\'t like sharing information over the Internet no matter how anonymous they make it seem.

Captain\'s Log Stardate 54321548.2 (might\'ve gotten the # of digits wrong)

I\'ve been looking through the archives of the ancients and I came accross something very interesting. There\'s this little boy who calls himself Bobs_Hardware who hoped to woo some girls by giving them a window to his soul with a journal. Unfortunately, journal only proved how ****ed up Bobs_Hardware really was so it drove the girls away. Discouraged, Bobs_Hardware give up girls and married another guy called Samwise.

How is this related to our mission? Whell .........................

[videoholic]

I\'m just afraid that like 3 people will take it seriously and then you will have 50 people making a mockery of it.

People also may just use the OT forum to reply to something read in the jorunals.

I mean if Racer had another shower experience and decided to share that with us, you think that would go untouched in OT?

I\'m all for it myself, and I believe I would use it.  It sounds like a good idea, and if it stays on the site, it could really act as an archive of the events in your life, or sorts.  It would be interesting to hear more about the people I\'m talking to on here on a daily basis.

People also may just use the OT forum to reply to something read in the jorunals.

Well, if the people who posted the information requested a topic be closed that was in reference to their thread, I would close it for them without hesitation if they so desired.  In any case, off-topic is open for that type of discussion if it\'s really that necessary, or people can just use the PM service.

I\'m just afraid that like 3 people will take it seriously and then you will have 50 people making a mockery of it.

No doubt, but I feel that is a risk of every forum.  Those who take it seriously will get more views and those who do not won\'t.  In any case, people usually get tired of being complete asses when they realize that no one will reply to their antics.

It would be interesting to hear more about the people I\'m talking to on here on a daily basis.

I agree.  I\'d like to know more about people rather then the "oh, I have a nice car and/or a kid" routine we usually get from a lot of members on here and those just come up at specific points that you miss if you don\'t post often.  It\'s like a personal profile that is indepth and is constantly updated.

[Living-In-Clip]

Personally, I\'m all for this idea. When we do it, we should also have it so where the members include their ICQ/AIM/MSN/E-mail or something, just in case another member can relate to them or wants to talk to them about something they read in this "journal".

THe question is, how would we do it? Ryu, you said you\'ve seen it done on other VBB boards, could you provide a link to show us how it would look,etc?  There also has to be the fact that some things people read my end up over in Off-Topic like Vid said. How would we handle those?

I\'m more willin\' to help star the whole thing off though. I think it would add a new depth to the community and attract more members at the same time.

I agree about the whole contact stuff.  I think the best way is through E-mail since everyone has an e-mail account and many can be made just about anywhere if you don\'t have a free one already or need a new one to handle it.  Besides, handling e-mail is kind of like handling a message board, just one query at a time.  ICQ, AIM, MSN, all that stuff is fairly optional by user.

http://www.improvisation.ws/mb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=4

There\'s the link to the journal section of another VBB forum which does it.  The \'True Porn Clerk Stories\' is what gets the most attention as you can tell from the views, which totals well over 2.5 million.  The thing is on this board, that other sections can be posted in and replied to, but one section of the board can only be replied to by those who started the topic.  I\'m not quite sure how it\'s done, but I\'m sure it\'s just a simple trick with only one area of the board.  As for the off-topic posts, we handle them on a case by case basis.  If the people in question condone that stuff being discussed more openly then it already is, then we\'ll let it go.  However, when they ask for it to be closed, we should respect their wishes since in all actuality, it is their life and we can control just how much the people are scrutinized.  Of course though, I would set out a nice set of rules for first timers and the like.

Thanks for wanting to throw your hat in to help, but right now, the one person we need to talk to, especially given this overwhelming amount of support, is mm.  I know it\'d be asking a lot of him to actually make this section and to get the features I am talking about made and put into effect as well, but in the end, I think it would lead to a greater good.  I know for sure I\'d contribute plenty to my own thread if this actually happens.