I've just caught up with this thread and am dropping in as an admin to correct a couple of misapprehensions that I wouldn't want to see accepted as true. Carol said:
Now, however, I'm concerned that we're moving towards a position on these mbs that tolerates most types of fiction being posted but only a narrow range of 'non-fiction' ideas being discussed and presented.
I'm not sure what you're suggesting here, Carol, but the admins of these boards have always taken a very open approach to discussion, whether on or off the topic of L&C (as long as topics are posted in the correct folders). There are a tiny number of topics not permitted on the boards, and these are well-advertised in the FAQ: gossip about the actors and Real Person Fiction (so-called George and Lynn stories) being the main ones. We don't close down topics or discussion; on the very, very few occasions threads have been locked it's been because the discussion has degenerated into nastiness.
If you're referring to board members suggesting unhappiness at the discussion of particular topics, then of course everyone does have a right to express her/his opinion - and, as long as it's done without flaming, the admins will not interfere.
And saying 'we've been over this before several times' isn't discouraging discussion - I've seen that pointed out in other threads, though often the poster will also give links to the earlier threads so that the original poster will be able to read them.
Also this:
A few years ago there was quite a heated and prolonged debate on these boards about the morality of nfic. I believe the nfic folder was created as a way to calm the waters at that time (I'm not sure, though, on the time sequence here)
Of course there've been many debates through the years on the morality of nfic, though I think most of those predated the forming of these boards. When these boards were established, some of the present admins (myself included) discussed what forums we would have, and there was never any doubt that nfic would be one of them. It was there right from the start, and of course member-only, with membership based on statement of age.
I believe, though can't remember exactly, that when Zoomway first moved to UBB format for her MBs nfic was also a separate, password-protected folder right from the start. In this fandom, unlike many others, nfic has always been kept separately, difficult to get without signing up for passwords or giving statements of age.
So, not suggesting at all that nfic isn't or hasn't been controversial; I just didn't want any newer members to think that there was ever a time when we didn't put it in a protected folder and that people actually had to ask us to.
I now return you all to your well-mannered debate
Wendy
Boards Admin Team.
