some ideas for the forum

[lojo]

I'll miss it, I spend half my time in the romper-room

The greatest value I see in it, for the sake of the forum, is that if there were heated debates occurring in the critical sections, posters could come in, kick off their shoes, have a laugh together to ease the tensions (knowing we're all on the 'same side' in the long run) pat each other on the back, roll up their sleeves and head back into the bullring.

I'm not suggesting more adversarial stuff in the main fora; but there really are important issues that pop up almost daily... and everyone here has an opinion on them if your focus is online gambling - full on, open, honest, respectful debates will help those just lurking develop more informed opinions, will help each of us see the many facets of each issue - thus become more informed gamblers, and will make the community stronger as a whole. The stronger the community is; the more leverage Bryan will have when he deals with the issues.

I'll miss the section. But for now lets roll up our sleeves, dig into some of the issues that this site is about, and I'm sure Bryan will provide us with some sort of distraction if we need it.

[1819]

Originally Posted by jetset

IMO we already have enough distractions from the real purpose of this forum, which I believe is to exchange information, views and news primarily about online gambling.

normally i would agree with this 100%. i belong to several forums and it is nice to keep things on topic. all have a "wild card" or "post whore" section for just ranting about but most of the time things are forum specific. there are thousands of forums out there for just chatting. not my cup of tea, but they are there. the problem here is all of a sudden we americans literally have nothing to talk about when it comes to online gambling. the fact that we have made a few online friends here complicates things as we dont just want to drop of the board. online gambling and gambling in general is very interesting to me and i happen to love this forum. unfortunatly, i dont have much to contribute anymore as far as gambling goes. the wild card section was a nice place to pop in and say hello until "the land of the free" becomes "the land of the free" again.

[Mousey]

While I don't think I'll miss Wild Cards very much, I do miss not having a place to put things like this:

MySpace Hacked, Exploits Target Alicia Keys' Page And Others By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
Thu Nov 8, 7:40 PM ET

Roger Thompson, CTO at Exploit Prevention Labs, has found multiple hacked MySpace pages, including the page for Alicia Keys, the social networking site's fourth most popular music artist.

In keeping with what appears to be a new trend among security researchers, Thompson has released a video depicting the hack on YouTube. He has also posted details on his blog.

Visiting the page exposes the visitor to an exploit that installs malware unless the user is fully patched against the most recent security vulnerabilities. "They're using an exploit to install software in the background...

Granted, it isn't gambling related, however I do think it is useful information for internet citizens. But maybe that's just me... and no one needs or wants tidbits anyway and everyone sees the same news I do.

[Mousey]

Oops! How'd I get twins?? (I'd like to know just how many Mondays I'm going to be 'blessed' with this week? )

[lojo]

You can say that again

[happygobrokey]

i feel terrible guys.

i hope my actions those few short months ago weren't the match to a fuse that has now rendered the WC rubble.

i agree that all this petty in-fighting has hurt the forum, but i also agree that many of us love the WC section and it's the main reason we frequent the forum.

many of us don't need strictly gambling advice all the time because we play only rarely due to location, finances, etc. but we still love to hang out here!

suggestion: i was thinking perhaps instead of a "free-for-all" catchall category, there could be some additional "directed" leisure fora, such as "TV" "movies" "music" "tech/gadgetry" "food/drink" "health" etc, so that we can still have discussions on appropriate non-gambling topics without leaving room for quarrelling/obscenity/uselessness.

alternatively, someone could start a new board somewhere, where the meister crowd could visit and chat and shoot the poop.

there are plenty of boards that we could visit to meet our non-gambling chatter needs, but we made friends here and prefer them to meeting a new group on some other forum. not to mention that the folks here are generally sharper than the average tool.

i really feel that the WC helped this forum stick together and stay great more than it cleaved or disrupted the forum's integrity. having a place where folks could hang out on the site instead of logging out once they're up to date on the gambling knowledge they need was beneficial. having a place to chill when you can't be gambling, when you don't want to think about gambling, or to talk to people who can see it your way was nice.

i hope some of that remains, because the people here are great folks. and we have "been there" whenever someone is down and out and can comfort them and share information and strategies, for both gambling- and non-gambling-related problems.

basically, we don't want to lose the aspect of daily relations with fellow members that we've come to enjoy. being restricted to gambling and jokes makes it difficult to be posting actively all the time and keeping in touch with each other.

i hope i'm not rambling. it's just sad that WC got axed, but i'm in favour of stricter guidelines wrt topics (directed fora) and/or post content (tougher posting rules), so long as we can have some access to "small talk" amongst ourselves.

when i say "we", i don't presume to speak for the members. the use is just conventional, but i do feel that a few of the points i gave are shared by others as well. cheers,

your pal, hGb

[tennis_balls]

ALL HAIL WHEAT CARDS!





hey fun-police! GTFO!

[dominique]

IMO the problem with a category such as wildcards is that it needs 24 hr moderation.

People should not attack each other. There are always going to be opposing view points, but they need to be handled in an adult fashion. People need to be able to agree to disagree.

There is something about message boards that makes people act out of character, they say things they would never say to a person's face. And there are trolls who love to go around stirring things up. Or, someone is just cranky that day and vents and ends up offending folks.

When you have a set topic, this is less likely to happen. It is easier to keep personal disagreements in perspective when you are discussing a set of facts.

When it's a "free for all" topic, unfortunately there are no real parameters for the conversation and it easily deteriorates into mud slinging.

I personally enjoyed a large number of the posts in the wild card section, but I also found the ones that had people attacking each other pretty sad.

We are a community here, and many of us have been posting for eons and enjoy chatting about all kinds of things. Bryan provided that opportunity for years and just lately it was abused and got out of hand.

Perhaps a section that would be volunteer moderated 24 hrs by some of the old timers could be a solution? With clear cut rules, and mods would close the thread at the fist sign of deterioration?

Then again, that may give raise to complaints and arguments about closed threads.

Not an easy thing to figure out and I am glad I am not in Bryan's shoes for this one.... but I will certainly support his decision whatever it is. Wlid cards or not, Casinomeister is a board like no other and I am darn glad it's here.

[lauriejim]

Originally Posted by lojo

I'll miss it, I spend half my time in the romper-room

The greatest value I see in it, for the sake of the forum, is that if there were heated debates occurring in the critical sections, posters could come in, kick off their shoes, have a laugh together to ease the tensions (knowing we're all on the 'same side' in the long run) pat each other on the back, roll up their sleeves and head back into the bullring.

I'm not suggesting more adversarial stuff in the main fora; but there really are important issues that pop up almost daily... and everyone here has an opinion on them if your focus is online gambling - full on, open, honest, respectful debates will help those just lurking develop more informed opinions, will help each of us see the many facets of each issue - thus become more informed gamblers, and will make the community stronger as a whole. The stronger the community is; the more leverage Bryan will have when he deals with the issues.

I'll miss the section. But for now lets roll up our sleeves, dig into some of the issues that this site is about, and I'm sure Bryan will provide us with some sort of distraction if we need it.

Originally Posted by 1819

normally i would agree with this 100%. i belong to several forums and it is nice to keep things on topic. all have a "wild card" or "post whore" section for just ranting about but most of the time things are forum specific. there are thousands of forums out there for just chatting. not my cup of tea, but they are there. the problem here is all of a sudden we americans literally have nothing to talk about when it comes to online gambling. the fact that we have made a few online friends here complicates things as we dont just want to drop of the board. online gambling and gambling in general is very interesting to me and i happen to love this forum. unfortunatly, i dont have much to contribute anymore as far as gambling goes. the wild card section was a nice place to pop in and say hello until "the land of the free" becomes "the land of the free" again.

.............ive thought long and hard about this concerning the wild cards being closed and i feel with it gone i really dont have that much to contribute anymore as those across the pond and elsewhere that can gamble at ease. so with that being said i will just hang around and lurk as so many others are now doing. i feel there is alot more to life than a 24 hour gambling forum. when i joined and later started posting reg. i thought i was posting some things that would bring up some good debates or helpful items i might have ran across that maybe someone didnt see. babs advice corner was great, i had asked for advice and sought medical attention after lojo warned me that i could be at risk and he was right. i miss simmos music thread which by the way was very cool. casinomeister set itself above all other forums by having these extra sections for those who indeed just needed a break from the everyday life that does exist beyond gambling. this is just my 2 cents worth for whatever its worth..........................laurie