Parenting forum?
 

Would there be any interest in a Parenting forum among the users of the Cellar?

The reason I ask is, I personally find myself hesitant to post threads about kids and such in Home Base, as people without kids wouldn't be the least bit interested in it. On the other hand, if no one here is interested that subject, then perhaps the forum would just end up seeing no activity? I'd feel silly if I was the only one there.

I realize that we run the risk of going forum-happy with this. I ask because I was frequenting a parenting board (mommietalk.com - Yeah, yeah, save the jokes, smartass!), but the moderators are very strict and don't tolerate any disagreement of opinion between the users whatsoever. One person can say, "Oh, that offends me!", and the entire thread will closed. :(

you may be wrong there. Those of us with no children always seem to know best how others should raise them.

That's just my observation.

That said, I tend to dislike children, although I'm full of advice on what you should be doing with them.

Brian

I like your idea, juju. I would contribute to this forum, as I am a parent and find the topic interesting.

Re: Parenting forum?
 

Welcome to the world of parenting... we had my son's birthday party this past Saturday at a local indoor kiddie jungle gym kind of place, and when we showed up there was a sepcial nametag for him, and another special nametag pre-made that said "__[kid's name]___'s Mom." Of course there was no nametag for the dad!

lol. Yeah, just like in a lot of places, there are changing tables in the women's bathrooms, but not the men's! What a bunch of crap! So much for sharing responsibility. Ah well.

I'd read it. Jinx would too. She administers a yahoo mommy forum like the one you mentioned, but she let's people fight things out. I'm sure she'd have lots to add to it.

Or maybe you could just add to it for me?

Can this forum be blocked from the "Search for New Topics"? Removed from a user's list entirely?

guh.....soooorrrryy! didn;t mean to liose my head.

That would be a neat feature. I don't think the default vBulletin supports it, otherwise we'd already have that ability. Maybe there is an add-on module somewhere for it?

It's possible to block any given forum from "view new messages"... but if blocked, it's blocked for everybody.

I didn't see a quick way to get past this problem.

They are coming out with a vbulletin 3, which has more features but it seems to have been in beta for years now.

There are certain forums I never read, such as Cities, Sports, and Food and Drink. I still use the "View new messages" feature exclusively. I just look to see what forum the thread was posted in before I click on it.

Rho, being the childfree militant, thinks that a childfree forum should be created, but we already have that (more or less) in the Manifestos.

If enough people are interested in a parenting forum, then have at it...more people for me to poke fun at. :)

The problem is that the main area should be full of general topics that can appeal to anyone (IMO).

The topics in the main area are important, because people decide whether it's something interesting based on what forums they see. This is how they try to figure out who we are and whether we appeal to them as a group.

So our user base would swing towards fresh parents from here on out, and I think some of us would be uncomfortable with that.

I dunno about that, UT. There are plenty of places out there that try to court parents. We're just a drop in the ocean.

Of course, Juju could always use his old place as the starting point for such a forum, since he's not using it at this point...

And post partum mothers are easy marks.:)

Perhaps it could be a more general forum than "parents". I mean, I'd love a chance to gripe about all the silly people I see with children. But I'm not sure a whole forum is necessary.

Perhaps it could be called, "Pediatrics and Pets". There're a lot of dog lovers here, right?

Good idea really, just bury it under juju. He could mention it in his subheading. To me, its like the gaming stuff under entertainment, a few folks are gonna be passionate about it but the cellar hasn't become a gaming forum. We want to maintain our broad appeal so we keep getting interesting folks who want to participate widely.

I'll set up a new thread in the Manifestos for such gripes.

In my opinion, the organization of threads into different topics and forums has always been highly informal. Topic drift and thread hijacking have always been facts of life in The Cellar. The lack of a parenting forum will not prevent those who are parents from raising any issues they have that they feel will benefit from airing here. The presence of a parenting forum would not attract new folks in large numbers, and anyone it did attract would probably be somebody who fit in with the rest of the place.

(Although I do wonder if the very fact that this is coming up means we have an older membership than we did back in the early 90s? I mean, obviously, those of us who were around then are now older. But is the Cellar population as a whole older?)

I've only been around for 3 months actively, and my perception is that people are generally 25+ yrs old...the younguns seem to either lose interest, or get flamed out. the things we discuss are generally more mature topics, and when someone posts a bubblegum thread, it gets met with large doses of sarcasm and april references.

a parenting forum might bring more people that are initially interested in child rearing tips and topics, but they would also share many similar life experiences as the like aged child free members. I say it can't hurt, so why not?

it's not NEEDED, but if more members are a desired result, it could only be a positive. IMO. I mean, who'd leave the cellar just because it included a forum that didn't interest them?

Does someone want to put it up for a vote?

Voting shall now commence.

Why? Could you further explain this reasoning? Just under one month ago, you said: The implication seems to be that new parents would not have anything in common with Cellarites, which is completely ridiculous.

I don't want to carry a forum all by myself. That's too much work. So if there is no interest in it, then so be it.

I do think it makes sense as a social approach in one's life. Be social 24x7 on your own terms; put a conversation on hold for a half day if you like; alt-tab to your workplace, or get up for nappy-change, nobody gets pissed at you for ignoring them.

I just don't think we should filter for any particular category of people.

WTF. Throw it up and it will sink or swim. Nobody is forced to participate in it.:)

for me, it's teenage girls. i hate teenage girls.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


:D :D :D :D :D

I wouldn't say "militant" but just for the sake of equality, because not everyone here has kids, likes kids, wants kids, etc.

Sure, we don't have to read that forum, but that's just my two cents.