A suggestion for improving DU topic balance: Current Hot Topic Forum

[Nothing Without Hope]

As anyone who has watched the DU forums, Greatest and Home Page over the last week knows, threads related to the Terri Schiavo case have dominated news and discussion. This is understandable, since this case and the actions it has set into motion have multiple major implications that go to the very basis of our constitutional democracy while at the same time engaging a wide and often violently clashing range of intense emotional reactions.

I would not want to restrain discussion about the Schiavo case, but I DO think we need to avoid the side effects of reducing coverage of all other important news and also driving a wedge between people who want the hundreds of TS threads and equally sincere people who oppose them.

I suggest a strategy to address this problem:

A “Current Hot Topic” Forum

As I envision it, this CHT forum would have a changing title that would be set by the DU admins for whatever is a major center of attention du jour, for example “CHT: The Terri Schiavo Case.” For simplicity, I lean toward having only one CHT forum topic at a time, changing over a period of a week to a month depending on when the next major hot topic emerged, but this is a point that would need discussion; adding one or two additional CHT forums if they are needed is another potential option.

Imagine the difference if the Schiavo threads could have been posted in a CHT Forum instead of all over the other forums:

1. People who did NOT want to follow the story closely could simply stay out of the CHT forum. Threads from it would still have come to the Greatest, Home and possibly LBN pages, though with other important national and world news visible in the main forums, there would probably have been a lower proportion of them.
   
2. Greater convenience in following the story, since the threads would be gathered together in one place. Depending on how stories from the CHT forum were archived, this could also apply to researching story aspects months later.
   
3. Less thread duplication, since with topics listed together, a person thinking of posting a new one would be more likely to see pre-existing threads on the same subject.
   
4. The angry arguments and alienation over the number of TS threads would have been avoided.
   
5. Most of all, vitally important NON-TS national and world stories would not have been pushed aside into near-invisibility by the overwhelming numbers of TS threads.
   

Even if a CHT forum(s) were established, decisions would still need to be made on a number of points, such as the criteria used in choosing topics for it, how to archive CHT forum threads so as to make them more easily accessible as a group during searches, and how to integrate CHT forum topics with the LBN forum. (I lean toward allowing CHT threads into the LBN forum, based on my expectation that the reorganization would naturally promote a more balanced topic coverage there.) There might be more work for the mods in moving out-of-place posts into the CHT forum, though this could be lessened by the suggestion by DUer paineinthearse of a yellow-bannered admin message at the top of GD and GD-POLITICS citing topic(s) that are to be discussed only in CHT. I would also hope that the number of misplaced posts would decrease as people became accustomed to the new forum division. Finally, there is the question of whether there should be only one or as many as two or three designated CHT forums allowed at a time. (Some of these choices might be restrained by what is doable with the DU site architecture.)

I hope that DU members and admins will express their opinions of the CHT idea and its variants and suggest others here in this thread. You may have some ideas that are better all around than the CHT forum concept. Please weigh in and discuss – but let’s not get blindsided again by what has happened to DU with the TS story. We need to keep watch on ALL important news while maintaining free, open and -- as far as possible -- constructive discussions.

[kaitykaity]

1. This is a good idea.

Hoping it stays open long enough for folks
to see it.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. It's got a good beat to dance to. I give it a "10".

[jenn1977]

3. Excellent idea ! n/t

[ralps]

4. That sounds like a good idea.

:hi: :hug:

[Bluebear]

5. Genius.

[Az]

6. Not sure I agree

Out of sight is out of mind. Yes some topics can become tiring. But that doesn't mean they aren't important. If we create a forum for each an every little discussion topic then there will be no awareness beyond that which you focus on.

Its this isolation that seems to plague the left. We each find our hot topic issues and focus on them. We may not be able to articulate on another person's issues effectively. But we need to be aware of them. And strenuous discussions between opposed positions can indicate just how important they are.

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. This is a concern that can be addressed, I believe

In the variant of the CHT forum idea I favor, several things would prevent "burial" of CHT threads:

• Favored CHT forum threads would still reach the Greatest, LBN and Home Pages.
  
• Threads would ONLY be moved from the GD and GD-P forums into the CHT forum.
  
• This is one reason I lean to having only one CHT forum at a time and having it last for at least a week, more like a month.
  
• There could be an eye-catching colored box with link at the top of the Forums & Groups page designating the CHT topic and serving as a constant reminder. There would also be yellow admin banners at the tops of the GD and GD-P forums.
  

There may be additional safeguards that would help prevent this "out of sight" effect. In fact, it is this kind of effect I've been especially concerned about: the oversight of many important NON-TS national and world news stories due to their being overwhelmed by hundreds of TS threads. Surely there is a design that will keep it all integrated so that we can watch everything more easily?

[paineinthearse]

8. I support the idea in principle

contingent on Elad's determination it is technically feasable and the other admins creating groundrules and have a way to moderate it.

I presume this "CHT" forum would only be opened once in a blue moon, only when there is a topic that is is causing, by sheer number of new posts, disruption to the LBN, GD and/or GP forums.

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. Absolutely - at this stage it's just a suggestion. The admins and mods

would need to believe in the idea and the DU site architecture would have to be amenable to the changes. As for "once in a blue moon," I suppose time and events will tell. I suspect it will be more like roughly once a month, but there's no reason to declare a new CHT just because it's "about time" for one.

[hootinholler]

10. Personally I like the idea,

But not the changing forum name. I can think of several advantages to a constant name.

1. Easier to moderate.

2. Collects all the hot topics in one place easier to browse.

3. Topics can be prevented from being created there allowing threads to be moved in.

It would improve the information flow tremendously, especially considering that RoveCo exacerbate hot topics to drown out other things.

The hot topic from a given forum could be identified in that forum with a 'sticky note' announcement, informing us where to look for them.

A great idea NWH!

-Hoot

[Moderator]

11. Locking......

Any proposals for new forums, questions
about how the site is run or questions
about rule enforcement should be asked
in the Ask the Administators Forum.

Please post this in that forum.


Thank you.


DU Moderator