Here is the topic to discuss the forum in general.
Adding new sub-boards, re-arranging them, and what content we want where.

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Discussions/topics that have been brought up

- Whether we should add/remove/merge sub-forums?

- Whether we should or should we not add a sub-forum where discussions on religion/politics would be allowed?

- Whether the news team should or should not have a seperate (invisible) sub-forum?

- Whether we should change/update the forum rules?

- The possibility of saving/moving content to sort of a web archive

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The things we already talked about in the first Revival threads were how to spark activity on the various sub-boards but perhaps this is the time to evaluate and re-think the general set up.
Will we keep our LotR boards as they are? Do we need a seperate sub-forum for The Hobbit now, and what about the rest of the sub-boards? For example it has been suggeted to remove/re-title the Signature board entirely and just have a main testing thread. Or none at all because you can see what your signature looks like on any of your posts and your profile.

Well, it doesn't take main priority at the moment but I think it would be interesting to open up for that discussion. This is quite esential to the whole feel of A-U (like we have been quite upset every time the mods have meddled with threads. ) so I'm sure there are multiple opinions on it.

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I do think that we should give the Hobbit its own subforum or it'll end up in Khazad-dum, not that theres anything wrong with that but if the Hobbit brings more members, having its own subforum will help.

@El: the thing with having a subforum like that(adult discussion) is that I could see it turning into something of a debate thread which is against AU rules I beleive. And in a way it wouldnt be fair to younger members unless they likewise got one.

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
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(Edit in a form of a doublepost because mobile device wont let me edit:) And I'm not saying that, El, because I myself am shy of being an official adult. But instead maybe we can make that debate forum that was made more official.

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Actually, the thing that would worry me about an "adult" part of the forum would be having allowance/restriction by other means than date of birth. It seems far too fluid and subjective to say one person is mature enough, and another isn't. We all will have different thoughts on that. I could just see letting some people in and some not be a potential problem.

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going on a journey through my old claims

I'm of the same opinion. I don't think this is a good idea and there's no chance that this is going to work out very well or at all. I think we should just to discussing controversial topics on an entirely different message board.

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I agree with Haldir. Any debates should be held on an entirely different forum. Politics and religion are far too divisive to discuss, unless people are specifically sniffing out a debate. A sub-forum, in my opinion, is too close. People could wander over there, see people bashing their view-points, take it personally, and jump in. A separate site is enough removed so that if you really like a good argument, you can go there, but if you don't, you don't have to be bothered by it. Didn't Eru or someone set up an A-U debate forum a few years ago?

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

I'm not sure why a news team should have an invisible sub-forum? I don't see the use of making it invisible, as everyone may just read what they are discussing, and if they don't want to than they'll just don't read it..?

As for the adult discussion section, I agree with Haldir and Taur. Even being an adult doesn't warrant a debate not turning into a quarrel. AU is a very diverse community, obviously with many members having different views on religion, politics and life, and I think that it would not be for the benefit of this forum to have such a section on here. Like Haldir suggested, visiting an external forum seems the best solution to me.

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It doesn't matter you don't believe in God, He believes in you.

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

JF, you've got a lot of great ideas! As for the members awards, unless more awards are going to be handed out in the future, I honestly don't see the point for that section to have its own place. If anything, it should be moved into the Your Life or Misc. Randomness section.

I completely agree that the Hobbit should have its own section! It's a great way to show that this site is still current, and it will make room for awesome future discussions.

Since the Hobbit will mean new soundtracks (OH MY GOSH. Totally just realized that. ), I think the LotR soundtrack section should remain open, but I agree that it should somehow be merged with LotR gaming or another section. I'm not at all a gamer myself, but I do think it would be nice to have a place available for gamers to discuss LotR or other games.

I say the Signatures and Avvies thread has to go. I don't know how others feel about it, but I've used it a total or 3 times or something, and only when I first joined. It's easy enough to just check your own profile.

And as for clubs and contests, I second what you just said. I know there are some contests and clubs that I started that are completely un-used and could definitely be deleted.

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i'm back for a little! i'll see how this visit goes.

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

In regard to the politically and religiously debate forum, I understand both sides of the argument. Having been a co-orgniser, co-operator, co-owner, or whatever of a forum that supposedly encouraged freedom of debate of political and religious ideals, I cannot tell you how horrific and sometimes mind-numbing stupid comments and posts got in the discussions. However, this has been a hotly-debated issue, an issue that I took the trouble of waging a movement.

Thus a compromise. A couple stages at least.

As I understand it, it is within the rules to state religious ideals in your signature but not political ideals. That will have to change to allow political ideals.

Merely identifying yourself should be allowed as well. If I'm not mistaken, and in this case I believe I am not, my movement was created after an incident where we simply had to identify our political ideals. No one is to take offense simply because of the identity of a member and nor should they.

But since we are talking about a sub-forum, it is of my firm opinion that any debates regarding politics or religion should be taken to Eru's forum, sadly neglected now.

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I was cured all right.

We all know that politics is everwhere and a strong religious faith can be such a strong part of a person's being that it is hard to seperate. So we are all political and we're all religious even on here. And we do co-exist quite peacefully together.
However, considering the diversity and the sometimes frail balance we keep here I don't see a need for a seperate debating forum. I can go elsewhere for debates.. which I do and it works fine. Personally I've had PM-discussions on religion with many people here and there is always facebook and IM if people want to debate.
I didn't think I would ever say this but yeah, I know I can debate my opinions elsewhere.

A question though: Do we need to go over the rules of the forum again? Like should it be allowed to state your political belief in your signature as well as religious?


Good job, JF, so beautifully structured you are!
I do agree with most of your ideas but instead of talking about what particular threads and sub-forums we want, perhaps it could help us to ask what we the want the various sub-forums to do. Like how do we welcome (new) people, what do we emphasise, how do we present the sub-forum categories?
I have never had to think about building a forum but I imagine that you'd want to put related topics together.

So the first sub-forum should welcome people... include announcements and member-related stuff. We might of might not include MA there.
What kind of new interest and new members would The Hobbit attract? People who would be interested in gaming, soundstracks, ME-languages? And would we - the old members - feel like posting there when the Hobbit buzz grows?

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While I personally would love to be able to debate politics and religion freely on this forum, I realize that it will probably never happen. But I do think that you should be able to state what you believe in (whether it be matters of faith or political ideologies), not only in signatures but in posts as well, if it's relevant to the topic in question - but that we're not allowed to question/debate/attack/insult each other's beliefs. You can state your own, but you have to leave it at that.

Sharing but not debating.

Say someone comes along in a thread and goes "I believe in corporal punishment". I would personally love to counter such a statement and start a debate about it, but instead I just state what I believe in and PM the member if I wish to discuss it further. It would be much easier to know who to PM-debate with if we all knew where we stood on issues.

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As far as I'm concerned, the rules pretty much indicate that anything is fine to mention as long as it isn't something said to counter someone else's standpoint on said religious/political issue. I don't see any argument coming out of just stating one's political and religious views as long as the parties interesting in discussing it further are responsible enough to immediately take it to PMing if they wish to expand on the matter. Yeah. I really don't personally see any harm coming out of something as simple as mentioning one's views... lightly... as I realize that someone's simple view or opinion could very well turn into some sort of heated and controversial essay.

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