I Think This Forum Needs Re-vamp!

[Suki]

Miranda, I AM TIRED. I have a full life. I have a job that I love. I am embarking on many new projects that I enjoy doing in real life. I have a son to raise and to love and to discipline. I have many things I need to do. Puerto Rico.com needs more moderators. There are a lot of people who love to criticize but do they apply for the job of moderator? No.

Do I enjoy reading messages from people with hate, and resentments in their hearts and their lives about their own people? No, I don't. Do I enjoy reading a lot of trash messages and commercial ploys? No.

No one pays me a dime for writing on here. Right now, I can be paid to write articles on many subjects. I worry about a forum for boricuas that doesn't have the constant flaming and stupidities that riddle all the fora with controversy. If that is what people want. Locos and flamers and namecallers and harassers and peoples stuck 'como un disco rayao' talking obsessively about the same topic over and over again----and they prefer that over real intelligence and depth with information and exchanges---then I am not going to waste my time trying to keep this fora going. Nacionalista comes in here maybe every eight months or so. If I leave it will be eventually dead....or a free for all with no regulation if someone doesn't start regulating things.

If that is what people want to happen to Puerto Rico. com that is what will happen. My mother wrote some interesting pieces on this site. She is gone now. I am making a scrapbook of her things. Including her more informative and amusing posts. I can print those out and keep them. I will always have fond memories of this site. But, if people want some type of Jerry Springer idiocy to be the way it should be around here----I am out of here and I aint gonna be looking back.

Guaranteed. This is not the only place in the world to express yourself. I do enjoy TipoConSuerte, JaneMas, and Miranda, and many many others. But, keeping something going takes a GROUP effort. And I am not doing this by myself anymore. People had better step up and respond to keep this site going. It is unfair to place all the responsibilities on one person and when some LOCO breaks the rules and he or she gets disciplined turn it into some 'she is a leftist and he is not and that is why she banned him crap whine." No it is not the reason. But if they can do better and not be some biased right wing favoristist then JOIN and become a moderator.

I said my piece. I respect good writers. I respect people who love to read interesting things. If people want sensationalism and obsessive and complusive stuff, disco rayao, and people who never read others and who don't read thoroughly what others write in its entirety because they are too lazy to do it---and then act outraged when someone who did read others in their entirety and made a decision to act to clean up the problem----then come back in with no information and want to start up some cheap non-existent controversy----then hey, those people (the ones who read rarely the whole thing but want to opine) need to become moderators themselves and do the dirty work of reading many, many boring and useless posts and people who want to spam and sell things and etc. walk the walk...then talk the talk!

SUKI

[L_F_Miranda]

OOPs, I guess Suki is venting out, and rightfully so. LOL

I think no one here has any doubts about the constant work Suki has monitoring and the constant survellance needed to keep a political forum civil. My hat goes off to you Suki, you do a fantastic job. Nonetheless, despite your gripes, I have a feeling you DO enjoy all of this.......LOL

You once offered me the job but I declined stating that I'm not available all the time. I go away for periods of time and the forum would have been left without a moderator until who knows when.

The reason I started this thread was NOT to criticize YOU! If anyone reads carefully it was because of a lack of participants. However I also know that as the population rises more moderation might be needed, or will it?

I belong to several other forums, not all about Puerto Rican politics. "Global Affairs" on MSN has thousands of members , with some threads going on to 2000 hits. Another group in particular has a few contributers and is quiet for long periods of time. Its problem being that it has only 230 members, most of which only lurk, if so. Two extremes if there ever were one!

On both groups posting is left open, with very little moderation, that is, until someone writes something way out of line. Out of line? Meaning insulting, flaming or being just plain obnoxious.

Strangely, you were very tolerant with Faraon. I've never encountered any Faraon types on the Gringo forums, but I'm sure there are many. Faraon types basically concentrate on PR Culture and Society, which has thousands of hits a day. However their messages are lost among tens of thousands of postings, and they eventually give up. With P.R.Com Faraon found fertile ground because he basically had the forum to himself.

A Faraon type individual once entered a non-moderated P.R. AOL forum years ago. This guy practically destroyed the forum. Everybody fled because he was relentless. Even the Cubans fled. They had practically taken over the AOL P.R. forum. Well....... that isn't news , is it?....LOL .

On the other hand I think that too little control is also a damper. For example I've metioned Cafe Boricua before. It seems to be "viento en Popa".

What is the difference? Folks here don't have to write extensively, therefore very little moderation. Postings are basically one liners. They tend to rely a lot on YOU TUBE VIDEOS in order not to write. The format is not geared for deep thought, YOU TUBE VIDEOS does it for them.

No, I don't expect we should follow other groups to a T, but we have to understand that there are a lot of folks out there who only want one liners, not drawn out discussions! In fact, most of PR.com already has one liner sections. Can we come to a middle ground on this?

Finally, like it or not, we'll have to tolerate folks who are Piti-Yankis "reventaos", after all the PIP board does. We'll have to tolerate Puerto Ricans who think they are Tainos or closer to African Americans than to the mixed breed we are. We'll have to tolerate Puerto Ricans who have bought into the Gringo racial system and who consider other Puerto Ricans racists. We'll have to tolerate those who live in a Disney land world of 500% America, and only watch FOX news and listen to Rush Limbaugh. We'll have to tolerate Statehoders who don't speak or write English, despite this being a gross contradiction.

Do I like this? No, but hey this is 2008 America and Puerto Rico. We don't live on another planet in a far off galaxy.

[RPR]

I think that best line from the post above is this:

"On both groups posting is left open, with very little moderation, that is, until someone writes something way out of line. Out of line? Meaning insulting, flaming or being just plain obnoxious".

Just let the posts flow freely and you will see the forum grown....perhaps. I think that I have said this before but when members perceived that their thoughts will be censored they simply migrate to another forum. That is the beauty of the internet. Absolute power corrupts. What fun is to come to a forum where eveybody agrees with you? I don't think I am right 100% of the time (contrary to what some friends may say lol). I also have to agree with what another post said about "what sense is it to come to a forum when it seems that only one person has visited your topic". That's why I take the time to make a post. I love an audience to "speak" out to!Who here does not?

[Suki]

I don't want people who agree with me. I want people who know how to respond. Instead what do we get? A lack of participation. Do people want lack of variety? Of course not.

To tell you all the truth----one liners and flaming and insults BORE me to tears. I have always been a person who likes depth. I like content and I like substance. And I am seriously considering leaving this format. I really don't have time for fluff and for flaming and for really shallow communication. I really don't have time for that. Maybe it is time for me to move on and the forum will be unregulated and might feel 'freer' to do what it wants. Which is allow every 'shallow' thing to happen in politics and religion. I highly dislike shallowness, vanity and staying on the surface only of a topic.

I got too much to do and too little time. Email me if something really freaky is going on. I need to dedicate myself to something in which I am not forced to read stupidities and banalities, insults and flaming and thoughtlessness forevermore. I am not going to spend my time in that.

I think writing and thinking deeply on a subject is dying off. Everything in today's 'internet' world is becoming a solitary and lonely activity in which self absorbed people want to say whatever they want without consequences. But, the truth is that all your thoughts, all your writings and all your efforts in this or any other medium in which human communication is involved has CONSEQUENCES. You can waste your time or you can develop meaningful moments in time and in relationships of worth. It is really up to you. What you choose to do. And I am not choosing to waste time in a forum in which banality and lack of forethought is the order of the day and people don't want the responsibilities of regulating a site but want variety and stimulation but without putting in any effort on their part to making it happen. This is a community after all---and if the community is not participating actively because they lurk, never write, are afraid of someone's point of view (because they can't write to save their life and are unwilling to work and sweat and improve over time like all writing endeavors require of the writer involved in the process of writing) then there is no point in it.

I have always loved writing. Since I was a little little girl. I do it like an athlete does his exercise and warmups---with consistency and for the long term and to reach their goals. I will do it here at pr.com or in some other way. I do it for the service of others and to be useful to many----I do it for me and I do it for all. But, I want depth. I want analysis and I want intelligence. I don't like being a cop. Lol. I never did. I am actually here to make sure Puerto Ricans have a forum they can trust. Lol. But, if what they want is some trash version of reality TV but in some website---they can get some other 'cop' to regulate it. I never was meant for that.

Thanks for listening to my vents Miranda.

I want to end on a positive note for tonight. I had a great weekend. Fun and fulfilling and I have so much to be grateful for. Thankful for. I have a beautiful husband with all the qualities that I most find absolutely great about men. I have a son that has become loving and open when he was closed and angry before. I have a small and lovely little house that I can call home. I have a paid off old car that works. Still. Lol. I have a fine career that right now is in absolute sync with everything that I want to do in my life for the future----and I had the best life experiences so far. I even like how I am aging. Lol. So, it is good to be completely honest with myself. I am not cut out for reading crap from strangers on the internet forever. Not by myself. The workload has to be shared, or this is not going to work. I think new ideas, and new blood, (as in new moderators), or leaders of topics are going to have to emerge. I have too many interesting things in REAL life.....to worry much about trying to keep things going, when many would rather be going to MySpace, or Facebook, or Second Life, or whatever the newest fad in the internet is. And to the lurkers and passersby who never get the nerve up to write and express yourself out there-----WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE? The only thing you have to fear is fear itself. Get over the fear and write. Just please, pretty please, try to be intelligent and care about what you throw out in the written world. Have standards. Please try to have standards. Cuz if I have to read another disco rayao, another racist hater, another gay basher or another dumbell with no analysis at all----I am throwing in the towel. LOL!!

People forget you only get one life in real life. Live it to the fullest. Choose how you spend your time wisely. Good night.



Suki.

[L_F_Miranda]

There is some clarification surfacing here. From what I gather SUKI, you want a forum that deals with topics in depth, no fluff, no Paris Hilton, no American idol. LOL

This is a double edged sword because not everyone is willing to go that mile. I have noticed, and please correct me who ever is reading, that those who deal with topics in depth are basically Puerto Ricans with 4 years + of college, the folks who were either schooled on the island or spent a time on the island. Most Nuyoricans tend to keep away or prefer fluff, like discussing salsa, tips on visiting Puerto Rico like finding out the best place to dance or eat alcapurrias when in San Juan.

Then there is the problem of language. If schooled on the island the language most likely used is Spanish, a turn off for those schooled in the states and vice versa.

I prefer to write in English because I have an English spell check and not a Spanish one. Placing accents individually is a chore.

Other Forums as a comparison:

The PIP forum is populated by some very consistent and shrewd fellows from the left and right. Their messages are brief but most have spice, some , but not all within the Dime y Direte style, all in Spanish. This forum is a closed club, one has to wiggle oneself in.

Cafe Boricua is mostly in Spanish with one specific section for English speakers. If one writes in English in a Spanish section hell breaks loose. And to think of it, most are Statehooders, go figure. LOL

Puerto Rico Society and culture, or vice versa, on Google is a free for all in any language. Sex mingles with Politics, Spam and flaming. Anything goes! Most of the posters have escaped from an insane asylum. Suki you have it easy here! LOL

Global Affairs on MSN is more what Suki would like here but we lack the numbers. GA is hit by constant messages, some from the right wing, others from the left. Many of the messages are LONG, some make sense, others don't.

Its moderator, a woman, is kinda liberal , in a way. I left when she told me that she doesn't understand why Puerto Ricans complain and bi*ch so much if they have their cake and are eating it too. Slap should be on this forum as soon as he is done with his Berlitz English language course. LOL

I think what we need here is a combination of depth and briefness + bringing in more folks.

[RPR]

Originally Posted by L_F_Miranda

This is a double edged sword because not everyone is willing to go that mile. I have noticed, and please correct me who ever is reading, that those who deal with topics in depth are basically Puerto Ricans with 4 years + of college, the folks who were either schooled on the island or spent a time on the island. Most Nuyoricans tend to keep away or prefer fluff, like discussing salsa, tips on visiting Puerto Rico like finding out the best place to dance or eat alcapurrias when in San Juan.

Classic Stereotype from Miranda about Nuyoricans. Chico, dejalos quieto ya lol! If you venture onto websites like Univision.com you will find that the Boricua forum is full of fluff and one liners and that is a forum with mostly people living on the island. Also,its a forum that 99% of the time is written in Spanish.There was a study done a few years ago where they looked into who was better educated stateside raised Puerto Ricans or Island raised. Suprisingly enough,it was stateside raised Boricuas that were often better educated. Even though the perception is otherwise. .

[L_F_Miranda]

RPR wrote:

"Classic Stereotype from Miranda about Nuyoricans."

Which stereotype?

1- That most Nuyoricans are uneducated except for a handful? I bet you would say this isn't so! But check out the statistics. As a group, we are the poorest and least educated Hispanics in the U.S. I didn't invent this. By covering it up we only perpetuate the problem. We should tackle this probem even though it's painful.

2- That a great portion of Nuyoricans have adopted the Black American discourse? There have been heated discussions here about this, I simply repeat it.

3- That It's been 4 generations and we don't have much to show for it here in the US. See statistics on Hispanics and then we'll talk. There is also an explanation to this.

4- That in Puerto Rico Nuyoricans have become the vanguard of assimilation? That has been the theory of Eduardo Seda and a lot of PIP intellectualks, not so Juan Ma. He thinks we have invaded Gringo land and will eventually change it.

RPR it's folks like you who feel their isn't a problem, or if there is, it isn't a big deal. We Folkorize our poverty and ignorance like its pure Puerto Rican. We become like some Black intellectuals, those who folkorize ghetto culture.

In a way we perpetuate the problem by refusing to even acknowledge there is one. In fact PR is two two nations, a conservative poverty ridden one in the U.S. and a more educated, but rabidly conservative one in P.R.

Nuyoricans are not the sole one liners on the web. I simply stated that most likely it was the folks who had 4 + years of college the ones most likely to discuss in depth. I even went as far as suggesting that we can have both.......Fluff , one liners and in depth discussions, however Suki will hit the ceiling, LOL .