I think the trolling is a big part of it also. If people could learn to accept other people’s opinions and not try to block them by trolling or attacking them for it the discussions would be a lot easier to follow. I know this because I am usually in the middle of most of them. I could probably help by not responding to the attacks as much as I do.
Fornits isn't about being polite. On these fori the person who shouts the loudest gets heard the most.
Secondly, I thought there was value in having the threads line up with the most recently posted ones at the top. This allowed for a fresh view each time a person entered the forum and one could instantly see what was the hot topic for the day at a glance. Now we have forums like “News Items” near the top, which had a handful a views per year and virtually no posting and is now getting some attention because of its location (although small). Whereas there is activity (posts) occurring in threads further down the page, but no one sees them so no discussion is generated
yeah I miss the boards bumping themselves automatically as well. hard to be arsed to keep track of the more obscure forum. I'm still waiting on someone to move the facilities Q/A and YLF forum down a few notches. I'm not at all comfortable with them being located at the top of the page.
Thirdly, I don’t see how trying to integrate scientology into the whole mess is going to help anything. I had a run in with them when I was in college, they were dishonest to me and I feel they are very deceptive and dangerous, but I think it would distract from the Troubled Teen Industry to introduce that here (in any form), but that’s not my call, good luck with it.
Last I checked it wasn't illegal to be a sciencetologist or being in any sort of cult. However, given the somewhat successful trend of trying to convince people their children are at risk due to cultist nutbags I don't see anything wrong with tying the two. However, I notice that many a times the comparisons seem all very superficial. For example, group A does this and so does group B so therefore they both must be the same. A clearer example would be the US Marine Corps requires all recruits to take an oath prior to admissions and some cults require new members to take an oath therefore the Marines must be a cult.
I think we ought to be very careful slinging around the word cult and tying the TTI into other movements myself. However, if the connections are genuine, and a great many of them have turned out to be, then by all means make the connections based on demonstrated facts. Not wild speculation and personal interpretations based on second hand observations.
As for Sciencetology? well.. I have my doubts about it, but I do know the long term protestors of sciencetology from groups like
www.xenu.net are a fairly highly motivated bunch. Maybe that spirit and willingness to protest could seep into the ranks of the TTI counter-culture. I have no faith in the flash in a pan groups like Anonymous who are nothing more than a bored internet subculture that will always be looking for something new to torment. Tying this into a group like that is futile. They have a demonstrated record of showing only a fleeting interest and a thirst for sensationalism.
