This idea came to mean when reading Rarit E's latest thread in here, specifically when reading SunBurn's posts about working to help each other through their problems and he mentioned depression threads and the section "Pinkie's Friends In Need." So my idea is this: make Pinkie's Friends public instead of open only to CP and admins, and moderate it like the Serious Discussion section, which is to ban rude people (the point is to support people after all) and trolls from that specific section of the forum, but not the others. Those who still wish their matters be private to the CP and admins would be able to post their topic in a private subsection of Pinkie's Friends that works much like the current Pinkie's Friends. My reasoning for this is the idea of getting the community to help each other more openly again. Instead of kind of hiding people's problems away and dealing with it in private, we could limit those threads to one section, where people know what to expect before going there. Doing it this way, people would be able to receive input from many more people than just the 6 or so who can see the current Pinkie's Friends. This equates to many more life experiences, mindsets, viewpoints, etc. being available for the people who need help. We CP certainly aren't the end-all, and were made CP because of our friendly manner, but that's not to say others can't be equally or even more friendly, and they most certainly have valid things to say when it comes to assisting those in need of consoling or advice. Doing this, aside from the obvious benefits of an increase in the amount of viewpoints, will help the site itself feel more nurturing and could help improve the mood of people around here!
prehaps 2 different section. Public and Private. Some people may be a little to nervous to just post somethings in the open.
I didn't read it all, but is saw what you were getting at. That's why I brought it up. if it can be separate, I support it.
Sounds like a place I should stay away from since I wouldn't have anything helpful/nice to say. I don't support or oppose this. Maybe it will help members deal with their problems, or maybe it will just be another failure.
I support this. ^^ I say that before posting, members should be able to select if the thread is going to be public or private instead of setting up a whole new board. Might make it easier for the community helpers to see everything in one place yet at the same time allowing members to keep their threads from the public.
Actually, that's not such a bad idea. Hell, it might even be helpful in establishing a better atmosphere around here.
well to behonest I always thought Pinkie's Friend in need forum was for personal privatey stuff If someone wanted to ask for help publically with a problem they can use a blog or post something in General Discussion like RoyalSheild does
Well now that the main concerns I had for making this public are gone, I agree wholeheartedly with this.
I think this also would be a good idea; it may be also a place for leniency on the "I'm sad" rule. Instead of just getting rid of those threads, we could use this area to work with them to try to make the OP look at figuring out the "why" of them being sad. It may not be perfect, but it's another positive step in the right direction. Separate private/public areas would be a must and is there any way to make it possible to have to approve posts like we can do on the blog area? This would help prevent rude/inappropriate comments from being visible. Know that this would require constant moderation however. It would be worth the effort.
I fully support this. The majority of us on here can be helpful/friendly when we want to be. So a heavily moderated section (much like the debate section) would probably work. Hopefully after this gets established, we'll be forced to be nice to each other, and we'll all be friends.
+1 support. However, instead of making it entirely public, maybe it's better to just allow people full access to the section if they're interested in helping others. There are people who want to help others, but there are also people who wouldn't be able to handle seeing other people's problems or simply don't want to know about it. Depression and other personal problems are serious bussiness, and the chances are more than likely that not everyone wants to see a section full of those threads. But I agree. More people should be allowed to help.
