Category: Let's talk
I am just wondering how many people would be interested to sign up for a cleaner, more serious version of the zone. kind of a social hub for the blind that focuses more on the creative, serious, aspiring, and productive side of us.
in other words, I am looking to build or experiment with the idea of another social hub for the blind, and I am interested in hearing people's opinion in what they would expect / want in such a startup.
don't get me wrong, the zone is really good, it's just that maybe, not everybody is comfortable reading / hearing all kind of stuff. granted, I, myself, would want to spend sometime in the zonebbs, and would be looking for fun / daring topics, and the zone fits perfectly for that. all I am thinking of is variety.
p.s. if this was discussed in the past, please provide me with relevant links. thanks.
hey.
yeah i would be interested. there was something like it, blink nation which i enjoyed being a member of. didon't really take off though, and it's now closed. if it's closed for good or just for some time i am not sure. never really took off though, i guess.
Yeah. Blink Nation was this place you describe, although, like Dan said, it really didn't take off. Such a shame, because it really had a lot of potential. Also, don't forget the Safe Haven topics on here, and the Safe Haven channel on TeamTalk. At least The Zone has a place for those who don't like the subject matter of the other boards.
I'd say that's what safe haven is for...
hi. I know safe Haven and probably other boards are close to what I am describing, however, I am talking about the whole experience in the site. the zone isn't just boards, you know.
as I said the proposed site seeks variety rather than compitition. just thought I'd explain.
It honestly depends on what's being braught to the table. If we're looking at something new, then it has a better chance of drawing attension than a "cleaned up ZoneBBS." Many have tried the "clean zone" approach, but many in the past have lacked the feature set and creativity to draw, and more emportantly keep users.
Just my thoughts.
You can't control your members, and members shape a community. So if you create a social website for blind people and Zone users join it, it'll probably be similar in character to the Zone.
Well from what I've heard Blink Nation will be coming back but due to other projects the admins just haven't had the time to investigate the cause of the problem in the first place. I'm just gonna wait and see.
just what exactly is it you're looking for though? no swearing? no sex talk? no freedom of speech?
As said above, a website such as the zone is shaped by those who use it. I don't imagine that when J created the zone he said "I know, we'll start this website, and people will go there, talk about sex, swear constantly, get into online fights and dramas and it'll be so great." I imagine that when he created the zone he did so purely as a community site and as it grew and more and more people joined so the zone became what it is today.
And the reality is that while you can set certain stipulations wrt content, if there's a choice between two sites, one where people can say what they want and one where they are moderated, the majority of people will go to the former, because people don't like being dictated to.
I don't agree with much of the content on here either, but equally I wouldn't want t have my comments moderated, so I would choose to stay here over somewhere where I was told what I can and cannot say. People have the option not to read it.
I like the zone as is. There are many boards to choose if someone isn't interested in the content of one or more.
hmm
clare you bring up some very good points
that's what spoilt blink nation, because zoners joined that site and started there drama there.
i do think though there should be a safe version of the zone.
somewhere you can filter all the bad language, somewhere where safe haven becomes a chat room, maybe a variety of diffrent text chat rooms to pick from to prevent everyone getting involved in 1 whole drama that they don't want to take part in.
and here we go again, same conversation people have started on here hundreds if not thousands of times, and it always ends up the same way. I do agree with many of Clair's points.
Well, if you don't like the boards, go to Safe Haven. If you don't like public QN content, turn off your publics. If you don't like the content of public conferences on ZBP, go into private conferences. If you don't like what somebody talks about to you on the zone, the ignore link should be right below their QN, or in other cases, their username.
I agree that while I don't like a lot of the content here, I sure wouldn't like my contributions to be dictated, and I just skip over the content I don't like, or ignore someone if necessary.
Exactly. As for switching off public quicknotes I did that ages ago when I first joined.
I AM HUNGRY!
LOL!
I think its a good idea to start a new more serious network.
Fair enough, but it won't be the zone. It will be, well, whatever the other network is.
Feel free to start it, just don't be surprised if you don't get much membership. If you make strict rules about what is allowed to be said, it will lead to stagnation and lack of differing views, lack of variety. You'll at best get a subset of people that think largely the same way, with the same views.
I agree with the last poster here. very well said; thank you.
Agreed with Senior about a site being shaped by its community. So that means you'd have to police who joined, and probably have a very strict banning policy when you felt someone was getting out of line. And people think we're bad about banning around here? Clair too raises good points. A, "safe site," will mean curtailing freedom of speech, and I for one would not join such a site.
Having said that, in the same vein as the freedom of speech thing, I think starting a new site would be a good thing, if that's what you want to do. Having options is never a bad thing. So, more power to you, if that's what you choose to do. Just because many here would not join it does not mean it's a bad idea.
Conservapedia, anyone? The site not searchable on Google who tries to be a Wikipedia counterpart but fails on so so many levels when conducting basic searches on both simultaneously.
Go for it if you want, but stagnant is the best term describing its outcome.
great views! I didn't expect to get any reaction to this post. thanks to all who participated and please keep them coming if any of you has something to be said about it.
I would agree with most people that I wouldn't participate in a site where I wouldn't be free to voice my opinion or where I would be policed. that said, I will respect any guidelines if the site I am joining has such clear ones.
I did say in my original post that I think the zone is a very good idea, and despite all, it's a successful site. in the home page the zonebbs has a disclaimer that says:
"Please note that we prefer not to censor our members thoughts, and believe in freedom of speech. There are options to ignore most forms of communication if you choose not to participate, and we encourage you to make your own decisions as to what you view as acceptable content. We are not your parents."
the zone has quite a variety of personalities, some of them I respect and like to hear. however, for some reason, the general impression one would get from the zone is a punch of guys who have nothing better to do with their time than to swear and to be offensive, or addictively play the games. it took me time to find the good side of the zone because that's not so easily clear or highlighted.
I, however, am still interested in getting your brilliant ideas about your expectation of another site that has different focus. I said that before, but I want to imphasise that I seek variety. As far as I know, the zone is the only social website for the blind that managed to remain active until now. perhaps another addition wouldn't harm? especially if that other proposed site seeks to offer a different perspective.
Like many have said, I'm pretty sure Chris and J didn't have that in mind when this site first came to be. It's the users who have made it this way. Is it a shame? Well, I guess that depends how much time you spend around here, and how much you value the Zone's community as a whole.