Yeah, seems kinda weird.
Sounds like the "take politiczzz out of muh gamessss" crowd.
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The mental health of this community [Read Staff Post Before Posting]
- Thread starter Jindrax
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Yeah, seems kinda weird.
Sounds like the "take politiczzz out of muh gamessss" crowd.
That's a feature for a lot of people who get their news from here.
It does feel like this is being used as a push for that in some cases instead of people making more positive threads, which anyone can go do right now.
So I've never been so low as to want to kill myself, fortunately. But I mean, asking people who have been there, is there an element where just being noticed and having people engage with you helps? I just worry that shutting down these suicide threads aren't actually helping anyone but those who want to just pretend the problems don't exist. And that's not trying to cast aspersions on anyone for their thoughts, but if keeping those threads open while other members engage to help can keep someone alive, isn't that worth it?
All this would be better managed if we had a way to ignore threads without going into them (an idea I saw brought up before in a separate topic.) If you're in a bad spot yourself and clicking into that thread bothers you, being able to ignore it right on the main page would probably be helpful.
All this would be better managed if we had a way to ignore threads without going into them (an idea I saw brought up before in a separate topic.) If you're in a bad spot yourself and clicking into that thread bothers you, being able to ignore it right on the main page would probably be helpful.
It's not like the world is in a happy state nowadays to be honest. With fascists taking power spots in many governments actively destroying the world, the catastrophes, the abuse, the "doom clock", climate change. There's a lot of crap going on, much more i'd say that in the past generations.
This feeling that the world is inching closely to the end and nobody with power does shit about it, + the anti-science movements and the cultist-"save ourselves, fuck you got mine" rightwing parties are too much. It could easily explain the nihilism and the mood around boards like this one. It's understandable. I feel like left-leaning places tend to shift toward these feelings because they can empathize more.
It's good they make those threads even though they can be rough. It means they want help and are reaching for it and they believe this is the place they will get it. I don't think I've seen any one making fun of the OPs if those threads and certainly no "do it" posts so I think there's something to posters reaching out here.
I think unfortunately a lot of people are just really depressed whether diagnosed and treated or not. It doesn't help with this being a game forum a lot of it's posters tend to be somewhat "socially awkward" and even more so insular which really makes their personal lives tough. I think one of the best things that happens is those threads are people directly reaching out to people they believe they are close too, in the last one I saw a bunch of people offering to hang out with the person which I think is way more helpful then anything else. Everyone needs a friend.
I think unfortunately a lot of people are just really depressed whether diagnosed and treated or not. It doesn't help with this being a game forum a lot of it's posters tend to be somewhat "socially awkward" and even more so insular which really makes their personal lives tough. I think one of the best things that happens is those threads are people directly reaching out to people they believe they are close too, in the last one I saw a bunch of people offering to hang out with the person which I think is way more helpful then anything else. Everyone needs a friend.
I was going to post something about this. The suicide threads are awful because the responders are so woefully ill-prepared.
So many people giving so much bad advice that it's dangerous.
E.g. "Don't worry, everyone out there loves you" or "Reach out to a friend or family" or "It'll pass" when they have no knowledge of the situation whatsoever.
I will say that the other day I was going to post a "Suicide thread" but didn't want to feel like I was jumping on the train of 2-3 other people who had posted similar threads.
So many people giving so much bad advice that it's dangerous.
E.g. "Don't worry, everyone out there loves you" or "Reach out to a friend or family" or "It'll pass" when they have no knowledge of the situation whatsoever.
I will say that the other day I was going to post a "Suicide thread" but didn't want to feel like I was jumping on the train of 2-3 other people who had posted similar threads.
I don't disagree. Separating news posts from general discussion would help people who want the news to go directly to it.
There is really not a solution to this. If you think you'll gonna get something by splitting forums you're lying to yourself. If you think blaming the disclosure of this forum will change anything you're lying to yourself.
Because the issue is not about what you or me or anyone in here says, is about very diverse people with their own lives and reasons to be in depression and recurring to suicide, reasons so diverse we can't control or contain them, especially from non-professionals on the matter like us.
But we can give them resources to seek help, I saw someone here proposing a pinned messages with resources to seek (telf numbers, sites to look, communities, etc..) and I think it's a more important and direct aid for people that may need it.
Because the issue is not about what you or me or anyone in here says, is about very diverse people with their own lives and reasons to be in depression and recurring to suicide, reasons so diverse we can't control or contain them, especially from non-professionals on the matter like us.
But we can give them resources to seek help, I saw someone here proposing a pinned messages with resources to seek (telf numbers, sites to look, communities, etc..) and I think it's a more important and direct aid for people that may need it.
It would also segregate those people into a subforum that they may not want to be in, and would hide discussion of a lot of important topics people find important, especially minority communities who are often more adversely effected.
Maybe I need to post more to bring more sunshine into everyone's lives? lol
I think because of the makeup of the forum, its openness & inclusiveness toward minority groups, neurodiverse people, and the LGBTQ+ community, we're going to necessarily have a higher proportion of people who are grappling with extreme and complex life issues and the mental health issues that go with it, which will leads to more negative or suicidal types of posts.
At the same time, we are a highly intellectual forum compared to the average, I'd say, and we try to approach things with discussion, analysis, and even problem-solving. So we got people with problems, and we got people who like to analyze and solve problems.
Pretty much, it's what we wanted, so it's what we're getting.
And I think that's fine and we should be prepared to embrace and deal with it as a community.
I understand people's concerns about maybe that we might say the wrong thing and make things worse, make the OP a target in some way, enable a toxic kind of dependence on ERA, trigger other members, or create some kind of liability issue, but while I don't think the community as a whole is equipped to become a crisis center, we do have our part to play when we are met with crisis. I don't think just instant-locking thread as soon as they pop up will be the most helpful solution.
I think despite the wisdom of "not finding out how the sausage is made", people will still demand it when crisis pops up and they are feeling uncomfortable, and then again, not understand why this is more difficult to implement solutions than they believe.
So I want to thank everyone involved for all their efforts in trying to both be supportive and conscientious of all parties involved, whether they are going through a crisis, are staff trying to manage it, are community members trying to offer support, or lurkers and viewers unsure of what to make of things.
Also I think a person in crisis would feel punted from either subforum, like: "this is about politics. don't post here if you're having a har time with the topic" and "this si casual. your stuff is too heavy for casual!" etc. The strength of the ERA's giant OT pool is that we're forced to co-mingle with each other and be exposed to, even if by headline, diverse thought, opinion, and situation.
And the people want their peepee, poopoo, bad hygiene, and bad etiquette threads! Damn the prudes!
As for suggestions for further improvement of how we can handle these crisis threads or posts..
Like thread locks after 50 posts or 5 hour time lapse with a staff message about what has been done after they have been alerted.
e.g.
This will give space for some people to respond and help de-escalate a situation or get the person feeling supported, and gives a predictable "landing pad" for the rest of the community who may be anxious about what is happening or will happen to the OP.
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I also wanted to add, as I was thinking about this last night while reading through the whole thread, there is an uptick with mental health issues (suicide, depression, anxiety) in general in the world, and a lot of it is due to human beings just not being equipped to deal with the information overload (mental labour) and emotional labour that is expected of them 24/7. Both online and offline. But in the online world, infractions are remembered forever.
Sometimes people in this forum expect others to be perfectly informed and to have perfect sympathetic responses, and if you don't happen to have whatever expected response and level of competence, well you better correct it within 5 posts or risk getting reported/flagged/banned. People who give advice here expect the advice to be obeyed, people who talk about emotional issues expect to have appropriate levels of validation and sympathy, people who post information expect to have nuanced engagement and discussion. If you're going to be entertaining, you better be extremely witty!
Despite our supposed tolerance, we're also extremely elitist and judgmental as a community. I actually like that for the most part, even if I find some people obnoxious, but it doesn't exactly foster a sense of ease lol. So I understand if there are many members who feel intimidated, anxious, or frustrated just lurking or making a small contribution to the site.
If there is a shift in culture we as a community need to have to foster something more productive for everyone so things don't feel "so negative", it's probably to try to not get so hepped up with anticipation of someone's public failure/shaming, and not be so dour or despondent over not receiving the response we want/need. I think people can get banned for bad behaviour just fine without someone getting all smarmy, smug, or superior about it.
I think because of the makeup of the forum, its openness & inclusiveness toward minority groups, neurodiverse people, and the LGBTQ+ community, we're going to necessarily have a higher proportion of people who are grappling with extreme and complex life issues and the mental health issues that go with it, which will leads to more negative or suicidal types of posts.
At the same time, we are a highly intellectual forum compared to the average, I'd say, and we try to approach things with discussion, analysis, and even problem-solving. So we got people with problems, and we got people who like to analyze and solve problems.
Pretty much, it's what we wanted, so it's what we're getting.
And I think that's fine and we should be prepared to embrace and deal with it as a community.
I understand people's concerns about maybe that we might say the wrong thing and make things worse, make the OP a target in some way, enable a toxic kind of dependence on ERA, trigger other members, or create some kind of liability issue, but while I don't think the community as a whole is equipped to become a crisis center, we do have our part to play when we are met with crisis. I don't think just instant-locking thread as soon as they pop up will be the most helpful solution.
I think this is a generally appropriate approach. Most people don't know about it, so they are questioning the staff and mods.
I think despite the wisdom of "not finding out how the sausage is made", people will still demand it when crisis pops up and they are feeling uncomfortable, and then again, not understand why this is more difficult to implement solutions than they believe.
So I want to thank everyone involved for all their efforts in trying to both be supportive and conscientious of all parties involved, whether they are going through a crisis, are staff trying to manage it, are community members trying to offer support, or lurkers and viewers unsure of what to make of things.
Do not split the forum more. I WILL RIOT AGAIN!
Also I think a person in crisis would feel punted from either subforum, like: "this is about politics. don't post here if you're having a har time with the topic" and "this si casual. your stuff is too heavy for casual!" etc. The strength of the ERA's giant OT pool is that we're forced to co-mingle with each other and be exposed to, even if by headline, diverse thought, opinion, and situation.
And the people want their peepee, poopoo, bad hygiene, and bad etiquette threads! Damn the prudes!
As for suggestions for further improvement of how we can handle these crisis threads or posts..
I was thinking about this too. Some sort of "soft-lock" might be appropriate.
Like thread locks after 50 posts or 5 hour time lapse with a staff message about what has been done after they have been alerted.
e.g.
This will give space for some people to respond and help de-escalate a situation or get the person feeling supported, and gives a predictable "landing pad" for the rest of the community who may be anxious about what is happening or will happen to the OP.
---
I also wanted to add, as I was thinking about this last night while reading through the whole thread, there is an uptick with mental health issues (suicide, depression, anxiety) in general in the world, and a lot of it is due to human beings just not being equipped to deal with the information overload (mental labour) and emotional labour that is expected of them 24/7. Both online and offline. But in the online world, infractions are remembered forever.
Sometimes people in this forum expect others to be perfectly informed and to have perfect sympathetic responses, and if you don't happen to have whatever expected response and level of competence, well you better correct it within 5 posts or risk getting reported/flagged/banned. People who give advice here expect the advice to be obeyed, people who talk about emotional issues expect to have appropriate levels of validation and sympathy, people who post information expect to have nuanced engagement and discussion. If you're going to be entertaining, you better be extremely witty!
Despite our supposed tolerance, we're also extremely elitist and judgmental as a community. I actually like that for the most part, even if I find some people obnoxious, but it doesn't exactly foster a sense of ease lol. So I understand if there are many members who feel intimidated, anxious, or frustrated just lurking or making a small contribution to the site.
If there is a shift in culture we as a community need to have to foster something more productive for everyone so things don't feel "so negative", it's probably to try to not get so hepped up with anticipation of someone's public failure/shaming, and not be so dour or despondent over not receiving the response we want/need. I think people can get banned for bad behaviour just fine without someone getting all smarmy, smug, or superior about it.
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I've seen a few similar comments and I don't think anyone has explained how having a separate Politics/Current Events forum is "hiding" anything, you simply click on the forum the same way you would Etcetera or Hangouts or Gaming.
I mean, isn't the reason people are advocating for that is to "hide" those topics from their view?
Well it's not hidden, just separate, sure it gives folks the option not to view those topics but it's no more hidden in reality than Games is from Etcetera.
I think that it would be worthwhile to explore another split to Gaming, News & Politics, and EtcEra. I don't think that it would be easier or even remotely popular no matter how it's done, but I think that something needs to change in the culture of Era. Culture changes are massive undertakings that don't happen overnight, but I don't think this dour mood is sustainable or good for anyone's mental health.
They don't have to view them now though is the thing, nobody has to open any thread they don't want to. Unless you think that just seeing a thread title is a bad thing? I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, so oftentimes I just don't open those threads.
Those sound like reasons to not do it more than anything.
As an aside, not just directed at you specifically, but let me ask people who think there is an issue with the culture here this:
Are you making positive threads and being the change you want to see?
To me it seems like that can be addressed without some change that was proven already to be unpopular. The front page right now could be a barrage of "positive" topics.
Also, let's say you did get the change and politics and culture stuff is cordoned off into it's own area, what do you do when topics not in that area drift into politics/culture? Conversation ebbs and flows in many directions. Do you expect the mods to move the threads? That wouldn't be ideal for everyone else in them. Ban people for having discussions outside a designated area? Have to step in every time someone brings something up that veers in those directions?
Let me give an example: that Kingdom Come game. The creator is a shit, it's something that comes up frequently in threads about that game. Would people not be allowed to talk about it because it involves politics or racism discussion? Another example, sports. If someone brings up what trans athletes have to go through, or a team choosing to visit the White House, would that have to be moved out of the thread?To me it seems like that can be addressed without some change that was proven already to be unpopular. The front page right now could be a barrage of "positive" topics.
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I'm not speaking for myself personally, but one of my friends absolutely found it helpful. He had friends and family who cared for him, but ultimately he felt like he was putting on a social mask and wasn't being himself. He posted in the old forum, and it had genuinely helped him feel better. He felt more connection and comfort with strangers online rather than people in his daily life.
Ultimately, he did end up taking his life... and did leave a final note behind in the old forum saying he was sorry to disappoint everyone.. point is, he found posting about it to be useful (before anyone asks, yes he did therapy as advised by the forum). I know it might seem strange for me to post this with the outcome that came with it, but he had told me on a couple occasions that the mental health thread straight up saved his life... his final post was a cry for help even tho he had already made his mind up that he was going through with it.
This forum has always been pretty negative, but I agree OP, it is getting worse.
I would like it to be more balanced, as there are many great things happening in the world, many things worth living (and even dying) for. There are great people out there who deserve our attention and help. But you can't fight the good fight if all you do is drowning in a pool of negativity and despair.
The negativity on this forum is too much. It just feels like it has gotten worse and worse and I at least start recognizing those regular posters who push that mindset and discussion. It feels like a chore reading threads here sometimes and isn't fun like how it was when this forum was first founded or how things were a very long time ago on GAF. Despite what some mods think, fun threads are shut down pretty quick or someone steps in to change the tone. Culture is fostered by the community, but ultimately comes from the "top" down and the mod team has ownership on the culture that's been fostered, altered, etc here.
I do think Politics should have its own sub forum, the way the split up was handled orginally was wrong, people told the admins/mods at the time it was a the wrong approach and I think a clean separation would be better if done correctly.
Some people argue that they can't separate "politics" from entertainment or whatever or the negative aspects of life and that mentality is what drags down discussion. Not everything is about alt-right or whatever if it's a differing opinion from your views or beliefs.
Lastly, strangers on the internet are not properly equipped to help people in mental distress. I don't know the right approach, but it's not our job to fix these people and it can be dangerous, especially if malicious people build a relationship with those that are vulnerable. There have been a lot of these threads recently and overall it is sad to see, but at the same time makes some wonder the mental health of the community.
I do think Politics should have its own sub forum, the way the split up was handled orginally was wrong, people told the admins/mods at the time it was a the wrong approach and I think a clean separation would be better if done correctly.
Some people argue that they can't separate "politics" from entertainment or whatever or the negative aspects of life and that mentality is what drags down discussion. Not everything is about alt-right or whatever if it's a differing opinion from your views or beliefs.
Lastly, strangers on the internet are not properly equipped to help people in mental distress. I don't know the right approach, but it's not our job to fix these people and it can be dangerous, especially if malicious people build a relationship with those that are vulnerable. There have been a lot of these threads recently and overall it is sad to see, but at the same time makes some wonder the mental health of the community.
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I'll expand on this a bit. We are given the tools for self curation of the content we see here. They are useful and powerful. More people should use them to cut out content or people they view as toxic. After I took an active vs passive role in how I viewed content here, my enjoyment raised considerably.
I need someone to draw a line from this forum's negativity to the uptick in suicide threads for me because the growing implication seems to be that this place is making people want to kill themselves.
Maybe a thread tagging system would be better? So people can tag certain threads as "Current Events" or "News" and you can filter the forum based on the tag. At the same time though, I don't think creating a separate forum or marking certain thread topics would help when it comes to improving the mental health of this community.
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Yes, seeing the thread titles are 90% negative is an incredibly bad thing, as most of us have been saying. It's a huge contributor to a really depressing atmosphere.
No, no, and no. These are easily answerable common sense questions and certainly not a reason to keep things the way they are.
100% this. Ignoring threads or users makes this place infinitely more bearable for a lot of people. Add the ability to ignore threads without opening them and we're golden.
I'm so tired of the mod whining, if people don't like it either make a case to them for what you don't like or go somewhere else.
I mean yeah, I made an OT for Harley Quinn and Queer Eye, so that's my small contribution towards making positive threads. I think it's silly to expect the community to drive the change when the community is driving the problem with how we swarm onto negative news.
Just because a change in culture won't be "popular" doesn't mean it isn't the right thing to do. I think our mental health should take priority.
https://www.resetera.com/threads/st...shooting-death-of-fellow-officer.95875/page-2 is a great example of a negative thread that popped up in EtcEra today that could easily go into a News subforum (or just be removed altogether, imo).
The front page could be a barrage of positive topics, but that's a frankly ridiculous expectation with Trump, the Coronavirus, and the stock market tanking, which is why I'm advocating for a separate news forum.
Hugely disagree. People get the community they want.
You need to remember the mental health of people who like to talk and vent about these things as well, especially minority communities to who these issues are really important.
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Personally I always immediately mute suicide threads. It's not good for me to read, there's little chance I'm going to be able to help, and seeing anyone make the problem worse is really upsetting. Just don't need any of that energy in my life.
This seems like an empirical question to me. Does it actually help OPs to keep threads open? Does it degrade the community's health to keep them open? At the very least I think we should have features and culture to encourage members to curate their feed by muting more threads.
This seems like an empirical question to me. Does it actually help OPs to keep threads open? Does it degrade the community's health to keep them open? At the very least I think we should have features and culture to encourage members to curate their feed by muting more threads.
I empathize with them.
PMs are open if you ever feel you need to talk
PMs are open if you ever feel you need to talk
Sadly depression is a negative cycle that is very difficult to break out of. When you are depressed you tend to isolate yourself more which leads to more depression, which causes more isolation etc... Being around people helps for sure but its hard to get to that state.
I think ERA and the internet in general have the bad habit of overemphasizing the negatives, which there are a lot of in the world right now.
But what we can do, i think more giving more attention to Communities, especially the LGTB and Mental Health ones would be good. I think people most of all feel lonely these days and ERA can sometimes be too big for its own good; making the communities more visible may bring places for people to form bonds in to the forefront.
Just general community focus would be good too, just a "How are you doing today?" thread or something like that would be good, instead of ERA off topic being composed of 99% the horrors of the world.
But what we can do, i think more giving more attention to Communities, especially the LGTB and Mental Health ones would be good. I think people most of all feel lonely these days and ERA can sometimes be too big for its own good; making the communities more visible may bring places for people to form bonds in to the forefront.
Just general community focus would be good too, just a "How are you doing today?" thread or something like that would be good, instead of ERA off topic being composed of 99% the horrors of the world.
I meant the answer to this:
Just saying "no" isn't providing a solution haha
I don't think this is a problem with this forum, just the internet in general. It used to be a place to go to escape pressures from the real world, people who judge you etc. Now it's even worse than the real world, to the point the real world is now my escape which is the total opposite of when I was younger.
I live with mental illness and have hit some very low points in life but never posted on the forums. I am no means an expert but I could shed some light on the thought process. Here are a few reasons why you see these threads:
1) People feel comfortable with this forum. Sadly there is nothing you can do, separating forums/topics will do very little.
2) Because people feel comfortable with this forum they also feel comfortable sharing there feelings. I don't see anything wrong with that.
3) I think its detrimental to lock those threads because the person who created that thread may feel isolated or even more lonely
4) People with mental illness tend to isolate themselves so online forums become a good avenue to communicate with other people which leads to point number 1
Perhaps putting the mental health OT pinned to the front page would be a good start and perhaps moving posts into that thread.
1) People feel comfortable with this forum. Sadly there is nothing you can do, separating forums/topics will do very little.
2) Because people feel comfortable with this forum they also feel comfortable sharing there feelings. I don't see anything wrong with that.
3) I think its detrimental to lock those threads because the person who created that thread may feel isolated or even more lonely
4) People with mental illness tend to isolate themselves so online forums become a good avenue to communicate with other people which leads to point number 1
Perhaps putting the mental health OT pinned to the front page would be a good start and perhaps moving posts into that thread.
Check out the Something Awful forums. The answer is "no" for any forum that has more 2 sub divisions. It really isn't much of an issue!
The drearyness of Debate and Discussion at SA is it's own thing, and that's great.
SomethingAwful is an internet hellscape, at least from what I've read about it, I don't think anyone would want to take after them, especially not here. As to how well it's working out for them, they have 4 times the members Era does but somehow less people online and have been around for 20 years. I get that you're saying subforums are the (or an) answer, I think they are a blight that just bifurcates the userbase (especially on smaller forums), but more what I was getting at is if we are trying to purge those discussions to their own area but these are things that will come up in unrelated threads, how would that be policed? I don't know how SA does that, I just see that they have subforums.
If there is a thread about that Kingdom Come game, and the topic steers towards the creator's politics or social beliefs, then what? Obviously you can't ban people for having an opinion and you don't want mods saying "hey everyone don't discuss that in this thread", and you don't want to move the entire thread to a subforum.
I feel like one big issue with the forum that goes largely unaddressed is the way that negative cycles and nihilism make depression worse. You see it here every time there's a topic about climate change (and lately politics) where people like to jump in with their hot takes about how everything is doomed and hopeless and how we're all guilty of making it worse since we live in a flawed society where we as individuals can't do anything without inflecting some harm somewhere.
With climate change specifically, it is not only untrue (every climate scientist I know of says we need to take action soon, but that the worst consequences are still easily avoidable) but also harmful to others. Not just harmful in a "this problem seems unsolvable" way, but in a way that amplifies feelings of depression. The two most common feelings associated with depression are hopelessness and guilt. The two most common responses to any topic about climate change are from people pushing hopelessness and guilt on others.
I also want to note that there is a big difference between being worried, concerned, or pessimistic about a situation (which seems fairly warranted for climate change) and just assuming the worst case is an inevitable outcome.
With climate change specifically, it is not only untrue (every climate scientist I know of says we need to take action soon, but that the worst consequences are still easily avoidable) but also harmful to others. Not just harmful in a "this problem seems unsolvable" way, but in a way that amplifies feelings of depression. The two most common feelings associated with depression are hopelessness and guilt. The two most common responses to any topic about climate change are from people pushing hopelessness and guilt on others.
I also want to note that there is a big difference between being worried, concerned, or pessimistic about a situation (which seems fairly warranted for climate change) and just assuming the worst case is an inevitable outcome.
I think it's disgusting to blame this forum for people wanting to commit suicide.
It really seems like people are using this thread to push an agenda to make the forum not open to social & political discussions.
And the implication that the rest of the internet is or was so much more friendlier is entirely baffling, to me.
Since I can imagine the healthcare professionals using this site make up less than 1% of our posting population, I really, really, really think they should be locked and dealt with as discussed in the staff post. Seems extremely dangerous to be giving unprofessional "advice" and "wisdom" often culled from feelings instead of medical training.
What do I know though? I just work on computers, not people.
What do I know though? I just work on computers, not people.
It's good to see people express care. But without the physical voice or contact, a lot of people could read the posts as lies or fake sincerity.
I've read this thread and I'm not entirely sure how to avoid talking about the wrong things as there's many things that have been discussed. Negativity, moderation (which I have no clue if it borders on whining or not), the response to threads of similar nature, and more.
To respond to OP, then my own experience is that no, these sort of threads have not been common in my forum experience. Granted, this (and the former site) are the first larger international forums I've engaged with, but I do think ERA has some very specific issues I haven't encountered elsewhere. This is mainly the recent (?) increase in negativity, or perhaps "over-exaggerations" is a better word for it. I don't have any examples on top of my head (I could gather some if you want), though some have been shared in here earlier unless I misremember, but thread titles can sometimes border on being obnoxious. This is not to say how it to me feels like a bunch of negative things gets their own thread, from the smallest of tweets, where all I personally just feel "What are we even meant to say? That, gee, this sucks hard?". It's almost come off as a hunger for cynicism or defeatism, if that makes sense? The fact thread titles can be ridiculous as well, like "orange turd" (re: Trump), just helps feed this in my view?
This sorta brings me to the moderation; this nice post which staff Nepenthe wrote. While I agree that this is an issue staff alone cannot fix, I definitely believe they can set proper guidelines and do course correction. This could be things like banning hyperbolic thread titles or considering whether or not threads where "bad thing X happened" have much to be discussed about. But this is a hard, if not impossible, line to walk. It's not as if we can arbitrariliy ban things, after all.
To bring it back to the topic of mental illness threads, I really - and I mean REALLY - think it's better to leave it to professionals. And unless I'm mistaken, is this also not what research suggests? In this regard, I'm not sure if there's not much discussion to be had. Which is also - which again sorta brings me back to staff - why it bothers me that all we have is this vague "we've spoken to people with experience in the field" to go on by an admin. Yet when asked for clarifications, nothing was given. I think we need to steer this discussion back to what mental health professionals suggest rather than what we personally feel about these threads. If we want to help people, we need to do what professionals suggest.
To respond to OP, then my own experience is that no, these sort of threads have not been common in my forum experience. Granted, this (and the former site) are the first larger international forums I've engaged with, but I do think ERA has some very specific issues I haven't encountered elsewhere. This is mainly the recent (?) increase in negativity, or perhaps "over-exaggerations" is a better word for it. I don't have any examples on top of my head (I could gather some if you want), though some have been shared in here earlier unless I misremember, but thread titles can sometimes border on being obnoxious. This is not to say how it to me feels like a bunch of negative things gets their own thread, from the smallest of tweets, where all I personally just feel "What are we even meant to say? That, gee, this sucks hard?". It's almost come off as a hunger for cynicism or defeatism, if that makes sense? The fact thread titles can be ridiculous as well, like "orange turd" (re: Trump), just helps feed this in my view?
This sorta brings me to the moderation; this nice post which staff Nepenthe wrote. While I agree that this is an issue staff alone cannot fix, I definitely believe they can set proper guidelines and do course correction. This could be things like banning hyperbolic thread titles or considering whether or not threads where "bad thing X happened" have much to be discussed about. But this is a hard, if not impossible, line to walk. It's not as if we can arbitrariliy ban things, after all.
To bring it back to the topic of mental illness threads, I really - and I mean REALLY - think it's better to leave it to professionals. And unless I'm mistaken, is this also not what research suggests? In this regard, I'm not sure if there's not much discussion to be had. Which is also - which again sorta brings me back to staff - why it bothers me that all we have is this vague "we've spoken to people with experience in the field" to go on by an admin. Yet when asked for clarifications, nothing was given. I think we need to steer this discussion back to what mental health professionals suggest rather than what we personally feel about these threads. If we want to help people, we need to do what professionals suggest.
I agree with this, and would really appreciate further clarification on who these experts in the field were and what their advice was. Forgive my cynicism, but I have a hard time believing reputable mental health professionals would say this current policy is a good one.
I heavily disagree that the 'tone' of Era is the reason for the threads. People post that here because unlike other places the responses won't be full of "kys", and some will actually try to help. I have my issues with how this forum has dealt with mental health issues for the longest time, but those threads are not a part of it.
Now, if / how they should be treated is a whole different issue, one which I cannot say what is best. Both options are a roll of the dice, for everyone involved, and there are legitimate arguments for keeping them open and for closing them immediately.
One thing that I'm sure is that sticking the Mental Health thread will backfire hard, this forum is constantly under attack from outsiders and the information in those kinds of threads (same for some community threads) ends up being pretty sensitive sometimes. There needs to be more security measures in place because otherwise you will just be exposing people that are already in a bad place to actors that can and will make that even worse if they have the chance.
That's my 2 cents.
Now, if / how they should be treated is a whole different issue, one which I cannot say what is best. Both options are a roll of the dice, for everyone involved, and there are legitimate arguments for keeping them open and for closing them immediately.
One thing that I'm sure is that sticking the Mental Health thread will backfire hard, this forum is constantly under attack from outsiders and the information in those kinds of threads (same for some community threads) ends up being pretty sensitive sometimes. There needs to be more security measures in place because otherwise you will just be exposing people that are already in a bad place to actors that can and will make that even worse if they have the chance.
That's my 2 cents.
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