So what is the Fedora Lounge all about?

[Jovan]

Having said that, I would have found it useful to have received a little welcome with a few tips when I joined. Something along the lines of:

Welcome to the Fedora Lounge! We are so glad you have joined us. We would like to point our archives to you, which contain thousands of posts and years of knowledge on the Golden Era. You can first look for the answer to any of your questions here.

We recommend you stay a while and look around for a few weeks before posting. After you have reached 15 posts, you will be considered an active member who is allowed to receive Private Messages (PM).

If you'd like to discuss non-vintage things, we direct you to the Observation Bar, where genteel conversation is courteous and limited to appropriate courteous topics.

Etc, etc.

Just my .02, however clueless I appear to be....

--Vintage Betty

:arated:

 

[pablocham]

Why not start a specialist forum for the stuff you want to talk about? I am sure that there are plenty of people who would be willing to post there, and it might take some pressure off the FL. There is probably room in the internets for more than one vintage clothing forum.

Personally, I would like to see forums completely devoted to vintage western/cowboy clothing and related items or to work and sports clothing prior to 1965.

 

[scotrace]

Amen. I'd love to see some of the same stuff covered here.

 

[Lincsong]

Actually I find the new members posts the most interesting, mainly because I'm a people watcher and like to meet new people. To limit when they can post or start a thread is useless. Let them jump on in and have at it. You have to crawl before you can walk. (Although some blowhards tell me they walked at 9 months old without crawling.:eusa_doh: Yeah right!)

 

[Dr Doran]

Why? I've gathered a great deal of insight from people's personal opinions here... I like to think about things in a different way. Who's to say that your personal opinion doesn't stimulate my knowledge? If this turns into a place where we are only "allowed" to say "That dress has an 11 inch metal back zipper that I would date to approximately 1943 and I appreciate it because it is from the Golden Era as I am allowed to do" instead of "Amazing dress! I think a cut like that is so flattering to a lady who has wide hips." then I'm leaving. Yes, I like the academic discussions, but I'm not going to be told what I'm allowed to say (within the confines of politeness) by anyone other than the owner (or his subordinates). We can only control ourselves. He has the right to regulate his playground. I hate to see great, witty and interesting people cowed and shamed for being great, witty and interesting because they don't do it "correctly".

Perhaps I'm being too emotional about this. Could be. I do think many of these issues don't come up in the Powder Room. Maybe I'm naive!

I don't think that was the point. Only to BALANCE miscellaneous opinions with things that pertain more directly to what this forum is supposed to be about.

 

[KittyT]

I understand Kitty. Part of the problem is that we all get too attached to our words as though every word we speak is the gospel truth or the rightest of the right, and in fact they MAY be, but not in keeping with policy. There really ARE things that should just be left alone.

Well I think my issue here has less to do with feeling insulted about being censored (which I don't feel, by the way) and more to do with the fact that I just plain find the rules of this place to be too square and uptight for my taste.

 

[Dr Doran]

Well I think my issue here has less to do with feeling insulted about being censored (which I don't feel, by the way) and more to do with the fact that I just plain find the rules of this place to be too square and uptight for my taste.

Well, I do know, sort of, what you mean; I really like this place, but occasionally there are things I'd ideally like to discuss with people that I think would be too far out for some people here. I'm not a Christian, for example, but MK is, and MK started this place, and I have gotten so much out of this place that I can respect the Christian thing and refrain from saying the sorts of things that might make Christians uncomfortable. One will note that I bent over backwards to be as polite as humanly possible in my discussion of my own atheism in the "what religion are you" thread. But the Christian thing is an analogy. It's just the way life is, that one must behave around others' sensibilities.

At root, I stay here because I find this place more good than bad. A lot more, actually.

If I start a forum in which the rules are looser and wackier, Kitty, I'll certainly invite you. And you'll be allowed to post right away -- we'll waive the 300 day wait rule just for you.

Perhaps the Cad's forum will suit you better?

 

[Art Fawcett]

I don't want this to sound crass but I don't know how else to put it Kitty. Here in America we aren't required to be where we don't want to be or belong to any organization that we don't want to belong to. Thats just one of the great things about our society. When we DO decide what we want there is always a price to pay. In this case, it's trying to abide by the Boss's guidelines in exchange for the privledges granted by him. I personally have never had a problem with the requests, but that's just me. If anyone decides that it's too big a price, I'm sure they will be wished well in the future and be bid goodbye and good wishes. No harm no foul

 

[Dr Doran]

I don't want this to sound crass but I don't know how else to put it Kitty. Here in America we aren't required to be where we don't want to be or belong to any organization that we don't want to belong to. Thats just one of the great things about our society. When we DO decide what we want there is always a price to pay. In this case, it's trying to abide by the Boss's guidelines in exchange for the privledges granted by him. I personally have never had a problem with the requests, but that's just me. If anyone decides that it's too big a price, I'm sure they will be wished well in the future and be bid goodbye and good wishes. No harm no foul

That was very well-said, and I trust that all will understand that you are not trying to jump on anyone in particular - - because you're not. You are simply stating a general societal rule.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Well I think my issue here has less to do with feeling insulted about being censored (which I don't feel, by the way) and more to do with the fact that I just plain find the rules of this place to be too square and uptight for my taste.

I think the current regime of bartender editing was in place before you joined. Therefore you might not know what it was like before. It was truly abysmal to delve into the mire that was the OB. Politics was allowed. Any left wing view would be immediately pounced upon by a small group of nuts and denounced as communist, hippy or "pinko". (As a socialist that didn't bother me too much, but several members (including US servicemen and ex-servicemen) left because of it.) This was a sure fire way to close a very informative thread, and people - including a bartender, sadly - would use it to close threads that were not fitting into their idea of how things are.

There was also a small core of left-ish posters - though never quite so developed or high in the hierarchy (ain't it always the way?) - who would use this method to denounce "fascists", with the same goal in mind.

Thos of us who were interested in discussing issues rationally were frustrated at every turn. Therefore heavy editing came into play, and politics was banned. As i see it, this was in an effort to retain useful threads without the interference of abusive posters.

There are heavy-handed bartenders and there are lighter-handed ones. They do an overall good job, but i mostly stay out of the OB so i may be unaware of recent developments.

bk

 

[TheKitschGoth]

Just a small point on the whole "new members never search" thing.

This is the only forum I've used where you are encouraged to "resurrect" old threads, most forums that gets you into trouble. With one forum I'm on locking old threads if anyone dares to add to them. So I can understand why most new people will just start new threads, and yes them lurking for longer might solve that, but I think a welcome message would be quite useful.

I don't think I read the FAQ when I joined, it's been a long time since I've joined a forum where the FAQ says anything more than "no being mean" lol

Thank god I was too shy to post for ages, saved me from being one of those irritating new people

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I don't understand at all the trend in this type of forum to shun thread resurrection. When the information is in the old thread, why not keep using it? [huh] Doesn't make any sense to me.

bk

 

[benstephens]

"When the information is in the old thread, why not keep using it? "

Can it not stimulate the re-evaluation of old ideas if people are to re-ask questions? If people are just to look at old threads, then ascertain the answer to their question from that, they may not bring the post to the attention of newer members who have alternative and perhaps updated information on ideas that others felt had been closed?

Kindest Regards

Ben

 

[scotrace]

"When the information is in the old thread, why not keep using it? "

Can it not stimulate the re-evaluation of old ideas if people are to re-ask questions? If people are just to look at old threads, then ascertain the answer to their question from that, they may not bring the post to the attention of newer members who have alternative and perhaps updated information on ideas that others felt had been closed?

Kindest Regards

Ben

Indeed. That's why "bumping" is also encouraged." Find something you think is cool but hasn't seen the light of day in awhile? Others will think it's cool also. Bump away!

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I think the current regime of bartender editing was in place before you joined. Therefore you might not know what it was like before. It was truly abysmal to delve into the mire that was the OB. Politics was allowed. Any left wing view would be immediately pounced upon by a small group of nuts and denounced as communist, hippy or "pinko". (As a socialist that didn't bother me too much, but several members (including US servicemen and ex-servicemen) left because of it.) This was a sure fire way to close a very informative thread, and people - including a bartender, sadly - would use it to close threads that were not fitting into their idea of how things are.

There was also a small core of left-ish posters - though never quite so developed or high in the hierarchy (ain't it always the way?) - who would use this method to denounce "fascists", with the same goal in mind.

Thos of us who were interested in discussing issues rationally were frustrated at every turn. Therefore heavy editing came into play, and politics was banned. As i see it, this was in an effort to retain useful threads without the interference of abusive posters.

There are heavy-handed bartenders and there are lighter-handed ones. They do an overall good job, but i mostly stay out of the OB so i may be unaware of recent developments.

bk

As someone who was around before the politics ban, I saw politics threads as something simply to avoid.

Although, since that's how I see this thread and here I am posting in it, sometimes temptation gets the better of us I suppose.

 

[Moby]

Aaaah! Maybe a light has just gone on in my brain! I have been reluctant to resurrect older threads because in most forums that is frowned upon. Bump away? That's a new one on me and probably most newbies.

This is a perfect illustration of why adding some guide lines about threads, and how to interact with them, to FAQ's might be a good idea.

 

[TheKitschGoth]

I don't understand at all the trend in this type of forum to shun thread resurrection. When the information is in the old thread, why not keep using it? [huh] Doesn't make any sense to me.

bk

I think on other forums it's because long threads are frowned on. So, for example, on most forums I use, threads like "Ladies of the lounge" would long ago have been shut and "Ladies of the lounge 2" opened. Also because members leave, threads are shut to stop people carrying on conversations with long gone members.

I'd never really thought about why before, it's just such common practise. But then I guess most forums spring clean every now and then and delete older threads. [huh]

 

[KittyT]

I don't want this to sound crass but I don't know how else to put it Kitty. Here in America we aren't required to be where we don't want to be or belong to any organization that we don't want to belong to. Thats just one of the great things about our society. When we DO decide what we want there is always a price to pay. In this case, it's trying to abide by the Boss's guidelines in exchange for the privledges granted by him. I personally have never had a problem with the requests, but that's just me. If anyone decides that it's too big a price, I'm sure they will be wished well in the future and be bid goodbye and good wishes. No harm no foul

Oh, I realize that, and as Doran said, the good does outweigh the bad. I just find the enforcement of it to be way too inconsistent. For example, we can have an entire thread about fake breasts, but I cannot refer to them as B**BS or T*TS because in some world that I'm not familiar with, those terms are somehow considered offensive? Please. I'm not talking about censoring stuff that really is offensive or crass, or stuff that's controversial like politics, but stuff that just isn't, at least not in the world of anyone that I've met... except here.

 

[nobodyspecial]

Well I think my issue here has less to do with feeling insulted about being censored (which I don't feel, by the way) and more to do with the fact that I just plain find the rules of this place to be too square and uptight for my taste.

Seems an odd statement to make after a year's membership and nearly 1600 posts. I think Art's statements are spot on.

 

[Dr Doran]

Oh, I realize that, and as Doran said, the good does outweigh the bad. I just find the enforcement of it to be way too inconsistent. For example, we can have an entire thread about fake breasts, but I cannot refer to them as B**BS or T*TS because in some world that I'm not familiar with, those terms are somehow considered offensive? Please. I'm not talking about censoring stuff that really is offensive or crass, or stuff that's controversial like politics, but stuff that just isn't, at least not in the world of anyone that I've met... except here.

I see what you are saying, but in all honesty, I would not use the word "b bs" in front of my professors at Berkeley. Nor in front of my aunts. Not in front of my niece, either. CERTAINLY not in front of my students. If I did, it would be a slip. Never "t#ts" either.