wry catcher wrote:
You know, we've had lots of proposals over the years for additional forums (fora) and they've never panned out, probably for good reason. I'm not in favor of this additional forum either -- but I think renaming our Intro forum as "Introductions and Exit Stories" would probably kill two birds, no?
Yeah, I know, we haven't had the greatest of luck with additional forums over the years, but I think partially that's because they have been niche forums, if you will.
This, on the other hand, is something that everybody here has some kind of an interest in. I like the idea of separating them because I really think they are two different categories. People who are making an intro might or might not be ready to do an exit story. And keeping them discrete makes it easy for people on the board to find them and easier for people interested in exit stories to peruse without having to cruise through all the "Hi, I'm...." threads. Lurkers particularly, who might have a harder time getting into the (sometimes bumpy) threads of conversation amongst people they don't yet know, might find a lot of support just being able to read people's particular exit stories easily found all in one place.
I think having a sort of active "archive" of exit stories of members of the board has worked well elsewhere in the DAMU. Most of the browsing I do on other boards is in those stories. It's always fascinating and moving to me to read them, even though I've read plenty of them and have a similar story of my own.
Anyhow, I didn't mean to go on and on--I do see your point. I just wanted to weigh in with why I think a separate exit stories forum would be a good idea.
ETA: My view of it also is that we wouldn't expect (or need) this forum to necessarily be fully hoppin', kerfuckling, active-all-the-time forum. Again, an "active archive" could be more the expectation we could have of it. There could be commentary and conversation on exit threads certainly, but it wouldn't have to be a constantly active discussion. Just a place for people to tell their stories and have them posted for, I dunno, posterity or whatevs.