G-rated Gold membership?

powernoodle

powernoodle

Power Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2004
Messages
11,974
I enjoy my Gold membership, but have grown weary of the x-rated thread titles that come with it. I have kids, and do not want them to walk past the computer and see that stuff. I don't really want to see it either.

So, I'd like to suggest the addition of a family-friendly Gold membership status that excludes the hardcore stuff.

In the alternative, would it work for me to switch my status to Basic for general BF surfing, and then switch back to Gold if I want to sell something? Any reason not to do that?

thanks!

:thumbup:
 
The only problem I can see is that once you do post something for sale, then switch back to basic for surfing, your sale thread shows you as a Basic Member and folks are going to report for selling or not changing your user group in the sale thread. You will have to stay Gold until item sells. Perhaps Spark will have a solution for a Family Rated Membership that enables us to support the site and not have the Grandkids shocked at Thread titles when they walk by.

Good Suggestion,
Jim
 
My suggestion is that we recognize that when one goes into the forums in question, one has to expect some "adult-oriented" materials, BUT, the titles can appear on the screen even when the reader isn't in those forums. It's sort of a leak out of which a tiny, and very specific, bit of the content of those forums can spill out to where it shouldn't be. This is a trait of the forum software's design and won't be easy to fix.

My observation has been that these potentially-offensive titles come from just a small handful of members. It would be very simple, and quite mature, for these few members to recognize this problem and simply alter their practices to solve the problem.

Correcting the problem themselves would be better for these members and for everyone than what might happen if new rules have to be made.
 
Gollnick said:
My suggestion is that we recognize that when one goes into the forums in question, one has to expect some "adult-oriented" materials, BUT, the titles can appear on the screen even when the reader isn't in those forums. It's sort of a leak out of which a tiny, and very specific, bit of the content of those forums can spill out to where it shouldn't be. This is a trait of the forum software's design and won't be easy to fix.

My observation has been that these potentially-offensive titles come from just a small handful of members. It would be very simple, and quite mature, for these few members to recognize this problem and simply alter their practices to solve the problem.

Correcting the problem themselves would be better for these members and for everyone than what might happen if new rules have to be made.
Click to expand...

Did not know just how true your statement was until I went to said forums and looked at the titles and the members who posted them. The titles that are NOT family friendly seem to be limited to 3 or 4 members who do make it VERY obvious as to what the thread contains in the title.

Would it be asking too much for a PM from a Mod or Spark to those individuals so that Global announcements or new rules for everyone does not have to be made?

Jim
 
One could also disable avatars, sigs and images to make the site more work / family friendly. I've skipped many a risky pic / sig with these options disabled.
 
Nordic Viking said:
One could also disable avatars, sigs and images to make the site more work / family friendly. I've skipped many a risky pic / sig with these options disabled.
Click to expand...

But, that will not disable the thread title. I realize that RichardJ has a good suggestion, but I participate in several forums and want to hit the new posts button, just to see who has what new, makers and collectors alike.

Jim
 
James Todd said:
Did not know just how true your statement was until I went to said forums and looked at the titles and the members who posted them. The titles that are NOT family friendly seem to be limited to 3 or 4 members who do make it VERY obvious as to what the thread contains in the title.

Would it be asking too much for a PM from a Mod or Spark to those individuals so that Global announcements or new rules for everyone does not have to be made?

Jim
Click to expand...

Those titles are obvious because some people don't want to see that sort of stuff. Making nonobvious titles would cause a rash of people complaining about unknowingly clicking on a thread and being presented with content they are uncomfortable with.

A suggestion would be either making an option, or an individual request to prohibit access to those specific forums. I don't think you'll get a half way point where you can post and view those forums, but don't get the titles.
 
powernoodle said:
I enjoy my Gold membership, but have grown weary of the x-rated thread titles that come with it. I have kids, and do not want them to walk past the computer and see that stuff. I don't really want to see it either.

So, I'd like to suggest the addition of a family-friendly Gold membership status that excludes the hardcore stuff.

In the alternative, would it work for me to switch my status to Basic for general BF surfing, and then switch back to Gold if I want to sell something? Any reason not to do that?

thanks!

:thumbup:
Click to expand...

+1

I don't really feel that watching over my shoulder at home before clicking on "Community" is much of an added value.
 
It would just be a little friendlier if the "most recent post" thread titles didn't show until actually entering the forum
 
How about a better solution that doesn't involve censorship or telling people they have to watch their language in the few places on here where it's OK to be a little off-color? Perhaps bending the rules a bit to allow the people who are bothered by this to have a second account as Registered Users?
 
I kind of like Samael's suggestion.

I'm not easily offended myself and have no children at home, but it would kind of be nice when I hit the "New Posts" search not to have results from W&C and the Cove show up on my computer at work. I generally don't navigate to those while I'm at work, but I do hit New Posts a lot.
 
When I could surf this site at work, I used the link richard_j posted so I could avoid the less friendly thread titles.
 
My 'home Page' for Bladeforums is my User Control Panel. I have about 15 forums subscribed ( you can have more or less.)

I never hit new posts: too busy and irrelevant to my favorite discussions.

If one did this, and did NOT subscribe to Whine and Cheeze or Pirates Cove, problem solved. Custom tailored to your liking.

Coop
 
By subscribing to everything except W&C and the Cove, you still have to click on each forum to see whats new. For my part, the ability to click on "new posts" and see everything thats new is the best part of Bladeforums.

What I'd like to see is the ability to click on "new posts" and see everything except the porn, and retain the other benefits of Gold membership (private messages, selling in the exchange, etc.). That way, Sparks continues to get my $25 each year, and I get a full service Bladeforums that I don't have to hide from my kids. I'm here because I love knives, not to see the xxx stuff. If a person is into that, so be it. But it would be real nice to be able to opt out.

That might require a "Silver Membership" or whatever (Gold membership minus the porn), but thats what I'm here to lobby for. If you don't ask, you don't receive.

:thumbup:
 
T.K.C. said:
I wish there was the option to NOT see W&C and some others.
Click to expand...

That would be nice, but Spark doesn't make the forum software and so not everything is possible.

Also, I don't think we should have to modify the forum's fundamental behavior because of the hijinx of a handful of specific members. The mature thing would be for those members to recognize this issue and adjust their behavior.

It is well-known among those who can see them that we have two forums where one must expect that the content of any thread, no matter how seemingly-family-friendly the title, may be adult-oriented. In those forums, the reader must expect adult-oriented content. BUT, outside of those forums, all of the site's contents should be family-friendly. This means that if we have this one, specific little "leak", then the folks in those two forums need to take care that the material they know will leak is family-friendly.

Again, I just hope that we don't have to modify the forum or issue and enforce a bunch of new rules because a few members are unwilling or unable to make a few simple changes to their behavior.
 
James Todd said:
Would it be asking too much for a PM from a Mod or Spark to those individuals so that Global announcements or new rules for everyone does not have to be made?
Click to expand...

Maybe some of the non-moderator folks here could PM those specific members and say, "Hey guys, look at this thread. Maybe, you didn't realize this problem. It would be better for everyone if you guys would voluntarily clean up -- and keep clean in the future -- your titles so that the moderators don't have to make a bunch of new rules you -- and many of the rest of us -- may not like."

Once you see a problem, fixing it yourself on your own terms often leads to an outcome you will like better than what might happen if you, instead, force the authorities to come in and fix the problem.
 
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