Can we please add a section just for all the Covid topics

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More than a few topics in the Random section are related to Covid & I know some people do not want to see Covid posts whenever they go into that section. Lots of us go to the Random section for lighthearted discussion & seeing the Covid topics when some go in there can get depressing, I find it depressing sometimes myself. I think it would be better to consulate all the Covid topics to their own section instead of them cluttering up the Random one & taking away valuable 1st page space from the more lighthearted & fun topics.

Hi, @nick007.

Though I don't speak for the site in any way, I suspect the answer will be 'No.'
I would be happy to be wrong about this.

In my experience, the decision to add or modify sections of this website is made by Alex(owner) alone. Over the many years, I have seen numerous well articulated requests for the addition/deletion/modification of sections/categories, etc... made to Alex and in every case the request was either denied or in some cases no response was forthcoming. I have no explanation for this. I wish it were not so.

I believe that a number of site members have a thorough knowledge of the deficiencies/bugs on this site and have good ideas of how the site could be improved, but the direction this site follows is up to Alex(owner) to determine.

I refer you to the last few recent entries on this thread.... https://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=270997&p=8985822#p8985822

Be well.

There's no point in making enquiries about anything here, as the owner of the site has long gone and there's nothing the mods can really do.

I'd say take away the PPR section and use that just for covid related discussions, as the PPR is an awful part of the forum dominated by know-it-alls and it is easy to get caught up in a political argument but then it drives some of our favourite members away. Often when I see a thread saying "I'm leaving this site" or something, 9 times out of 10 their previous posts were in the PPR section, caught up in a political flame war.

But being so covid is getting pushed to the side now and will probably be forgotten about this time next year as the government is so eager to move on and scare us all with all the business with Russia and Ukraine, there'll be no point in having a covid section anyway.

Yes, I do agree that the random discussion section should be about lighthearted topics. If people want to discuss covid they should use the haven or the health section, although I admit that the health section is pretty dead.

Unfortunately you guys are right that Alex seems to has all but abandoned this forum for quite a while now & I'm wondering why he will not transfer site ownership over to an active long-term trustworthy member with tech & coding skills like one of our mods or another developer/admin who's worked on this site. I can understand Alex no longer having any time, energy, or focus for WP & wanting to avoid it but it sure seems like Alex wants this forum to die a long slow death instead of taking it down or choosing to let a new owner save it & I'd really like to understand Alex's reasoning.

I understand how you feel about the PPR section Joe. There's an old saying that mentions that there are 3 things you should not discuss & politics & religion are two of em & I forget what the 3rd one is. It's hard for lots of people not to get caught up in debating with others who disagree with them. I've fallen into that trap myself more than a few times which is why I stay out of PPR. I feel strongly about some things & I know from experience that majorly pushing someone who feels strongly to change their mind will be met with disaster. It's very easy to take things personally & feel attacked when something we feel strongly about is criticized. I wonder why those posters would chose to leave the site instead of just staying out of PPR but it seems lots of people are unable to separate politics from every aspect of their lives & they want to be around people who feel the exact same way they do about everything. Lots of us on this forum can understand wanting to be around others like ourselves, that's the whole reason this forum was invented. But no two Aspies are exactly the same. We want others to treat us as individuals deserving of respect & it's only fair if we try to treat others the same. Sometimes it's best to agree to disagree & move on.

It is sad that there are long-term WP members that have the commitment, maturity, and skill to improve this site, but are not permitted to do so, by the aforementioned individual. I suspect that some of us are actually grateful to him for creating this site in the first place, and want to see the site THRIVE, not languish as it seems to be doing. I know that some have approached him privately, over the years, with good ideas and the offer to help, but to no avail.

WRT seeing/using PPR or any other forum - with a more creative use of the default groups members are invisibly assigned (for example, members/moderators/administrators) it would be possible to completely hide or expose a forum on request.

But using as it does a fairly boilerplate assignment of groups, I suspect chosen for ease of functionality over anything more enhancing, that's currently not possible.

Ty.

As said a separate section for COVID is not going to happen. If the busy moderators have time time they could move all the COVID posts not in news or PPR to those section(Except for Autism related posts in the Autism sections). Then it would be up to users to request COVID threads be moved but I would think after a period of time people will not do it.

While I agree most COVID posts are a better fit the in news and PPR sections do COVID posts in the random section bother enough members to go through the effort to segregate them?

Why not move non-political COVID threads to the health section (and political ones to PPR, of course)?

For any new ones, that should be fine. We can't possibly see all new threads so members can report when they think something should be moved then we can decide where it fits better.

I doubt the topic of Covid will really lead to the creation of many new threads at this time...

Seems great in theory this but the mods do NOT want to move posts unless they have to like a post was made about sex that was not posted in the Adult section or the OP requests their post to be moved.

More than a few times when I've reported posts lately for being in the wrong section, I got told by a mod that Alex discourages mods from moving threads on their own & that the OP should be able to know what section is best or something similar. For example there's been a bit of threads in the Adult section that have nothing to do with sex, drugs, alcohol or similar type stuff & it seems to me that the threads would be better suited in GAD, Haven, or Older Adults sections & I've reported threads in other sections that did not belong where they were either but reporting them seems to be a waist of my time & the mods time so I no longer bother. I only report threads now if they belong in the Adult section when they aren't cuz they're about sex or such.

Yes it's true that Alex doesn't encourage threads to be moved around needlessly but we can use our discretion, especially as regards adult themed threads. Also, better to move a thread that's newly started than one that's had lots of replies because members might have trouble finding it then.

I think it's only because Alex didn't want threads constantly moved around like chess pieces (past tense as he's almost never here anymore).

Bull! Mods used to move my threads under a bunch of silly pretexts, just to retaliate against me for alleged slights.

Ten years ago, mods moved my threads in retaliation for perceived in-thread slights. Alex just snickered at me while it happened. After all, the mods moved my threads under the pretext of "complying with WP policies! ", and I was SOL (**** [poop] out of luck) when it came to appealing the moves. The mod involved just told me I was SOL.

Since it was long time ago, under Obama's presidency, it definitely couldn't have been over the Biden Virus politics, since I was a liberal back then. It was over anything and everything besides the Democrat/Republican differences. Well, today, I'm a hard-right Republican, and I can spot a conspiracy against me from ten miles away!