Wow, The back porch is slow...

[vickie gee]

Ya'll are probably right about the no poll. Let's face it, the Back Porch got about as interesting as watching paint dry. And in spite of being from the South, considering myself a lady, and more closely aligned with the Tea Party or Libertarians than the rinos or libs, and being very opinionated, I have to admit I miss the friendly banter. I do feel the majority of contributors have moved on and the forum is basically in sleep mode. But as I said, I have little time due to where I am in life presently to post much. I do wish Debby and the mods the best of luck, no matter what decision they make. I know that their jobs had to make them feel like day care providers at different times when someone is posting in a manner disguised as particles from outer space in order to conceal their identity or true agenda. Also, they had to deal with name calling, videos filled with hate, f-bombs, and various other stuff that was spineless. I have to admit that I miss having the time to post articles that should get all our attention, no matter where you stand religiously or politically. We are all facing surviving financially and trying to live a life free from enslavement and have free choice as to how we ensure our health, well being, and happiness. I am a firm believer in standing for what you believe in, as most of you know. I also believe you should be mature and polite about it. I know that in the past I have surely stepped on some toes but I rest assured that I did not break any toes. LB is a great place and we should all strive to have the integrity of it preserved. I hope others will step up and put some life back into the discussions and be brave while at the same time keeping it respectful.

 

[REO]

I once talked about a place here called the basement or the woodshed

I think....We used to post about food and projects we were working on and recipes etc here and then the forum split into a bunch of tiny specialized places and scattered interests, until they died out. I miss the way it used to be. Main forum for horses and here for photos, food, arts & crafts, family news etc. We had 2 main places to come read to catch up with everyone

I *love* all the special forums Debby made for us. I was excited about them! But it seems no one really uses them and I miss it all. That's what I meant

 

[Riverrose28]

You guys all bring up some interesting points, and this forum is more then likely one of those that your danged if you do, danged if you don't.

 

[anoki]

I keep checking in here, but I very rarely post or read on the main page, because I'm no longer 'in' minis….

I did notice once things got split into different specialized places (like REO stated) the Back Porch got slower. I understand the reasoning to making the other areas, but I would always just come to the BP and see it slow and leave again….

I can't say I miss the Political posts, I never posted on them anyway, and rarely read them, because I don't live in the US (and most of those posts tended to be US based and many were not open to outside views).

But I do miss how busy the BP was, whether I was posting or not….and I don't want to clog the board with shameless brags about my dogs, no matter how much some people keep saying they love hearing about them (that being said it's been pretty quiet here with winter being so horrible)….

I know this board goes through lulls at times, hopefully this is just one of them and it will pick up again!!

~kathryn

 

[Marty]

I love a good heated discussion on any subject be it political or religious, financial, anything. Bring it on. But it can be done without being evil and mean and launching deliberate hate attacks on any forum member.. It's ok to speak your mind and speak it firmly but a full blown nasty hateful thread is where I say nope and will not engage.

That said, there is a certain place on FB that I consider a "cess pool". It is full of people, mostly newbies who haven't a clue of how to care for their animals properly or even close. It makes my head spin and my heart hurt to hear what they are doing with these little guys. Its clearly the blind leading the blind. I have posted the LB link on there quite a few times in hopes that they will come here and get some serious help and I wouldn't want any of them run off if they find their way here.

 

[Debby - LB]

thanks all! anybody can post about food, projects you are working on, recipes and news stories etc here NOW that hasn't changed. Recipes, once they move down the page, will be archived in the recipe forum. The recipe forum was to preserve the many years of good food posts and make them easier to search for... and it has a pretty good following, I love reading the what's for dinner posts. I wish more people would add a photo of their recipe it would make its corresponding Pinterest board more interesting.

fyi Debby made the specialty forums because she was asked to, not because I swooped in here and decided to break everything up on my own. Robin you were the first to want the craft forum, then Liz contacted me about how many members always wanted a craft forum and we went from there. A book forum was recommended as a idea too so I approached Sara about that and she was initially concerned about breaking up the back porch so I said hey if if doesn't work we'll move it back so we tried it.

The one thing that I myself always wanted and tried to implement here from the get-go was a place to be able to talk about world current events and news stories, politics etc....THAT was my baby. We can't moderate those types of posts with the rules that are in place on THIS bp forum, it wasn't working at all, the complaints were overwhelming, those posts had taken over the bp so I opened the news forum. I was sorry to see that go but I understood completely when it got to the point the moderators were too overwhelmed so I put it to a vote and the mods voted it down and I closed it. I had even brought in a new moderator who had not been affiliated with LB at all...and even she couldn't deal with it.

I might be wrong but I think the rules I/we put in place for that new news forum were too strict. In the back of my mind I always thought that if we left the members alone, eased up on the rules and let them work out their problems themselves it would have settled into a good place to discuss and debate current affairs.

 

[Debby - LB]

ps Katherine I love your brags and photos of your dogs!

 

[Ashley]

I too think it has changed to the "boring" side. That said I do look maybe once a week. I dont really come here much anymore just because my life is so different now then when I started here years ago. I havent had horses in 2 years and just over all im a different person with a different direction to my life.

 

[REO]

I wasn't complaining about all the different forums, I love those and thought/think they're great! Sorry, I was just relating why I thought the BP is slower than it used to be.

 

[REO]

Things are always worth trying!

I love that as things, members, interests change, you're always willing to give new stuff a try.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I love the Back Porch. I'm not into social media so this is my only internet spot for that sort of thing.

I have no trouble staying away from a hot kitchen if I know it's hot. What turns me off is reading a topic I think is going to be fine and having bad stuff jump into it, catching me unawares.

I think it's great to have all sorts of topics, political and social. But maybe there could be an icon or something on the topic title to warn possible viewers of a hot kitchen. If I want to hang out in a hot kitchen, I'll call my mother, or get together with my sisters!

I don't like vulgar words or topics mentioned in the title line--and I don't think that has anything to do with being Southern. There has been a time or two with vulgar words in the topic line and I tried staying away from the BP until the topic moved on down to the next page. And I am fine doing that, if most people are okay with No Holds Barred. But is that most? Or only a vocal few???

I can't even put my horse's registered name, Wacrapas Dapper Dan, on the Forum without getting creative, so why should I have to look at vulgar words in a topic line?

 

[Debby - LB]

<quote> What turns me off is reading a topic I think is going to be fine and having bad stuff jump into it, catching me unawares <endquote> This is a good example of why we put the more controversial news and political topics into a separate forum last year. There are just some topics that are going to turn that way and I didn't want the majority of this boards members to feel this way.

 

[REO]

I liked the separate forum for the hot stuff.

People could chose to go there or not go there, no surprises

 

[Marsha Cassada]

See? My horse's name is W A S H I T A S Dapper Dan. W a s h i t a is a Kiowa Indian word and there are a river and county named that. Also a famous battle there with General Custer.

Just felt a need to get that out there! Wacrapas just doesn't have the same euphonious sound to it, somehow...

 

[chandab]

I can't type my address due to forum censors. My address is: He11 Creek Road. [so, the 1s work, its still not actually typing my address.

]

 

[SampleMM]

I'm going to be posting more because I love LB and all the wonderful folks on here. For awhile, I was sucked into that Facebook vortex, but I'm done with that.

 

[chandab]

I'm on FB but much prefer LB for my horse fix.