I want the old PS, and I want it NOW!!

[Haven]

I don't know if this is crossing a line so Ella, delete it, if it is.

I'm off to point some fingers. This thread is typical of PS these days....

I believe this thread got out of hand on page 3:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/jewelry-pet-peeves.151321/

Steal- I have read page 3 of your link and I don't think it got out of hand at all. Where did it get out of hand do you think? People disagreed, some strongly disagreed but no-one got nasty and the thread continued on it's original topic.

It is typical in that the thread called for opinion and two posters were called out in the name of sexism and possible homophobia for stating their own 'pet peeve'. So much so that one poster decided to apologise for posting her pet jewellery peeve "Well so it's not okay for me to say what I did".

Doesn't that illustrate what is wrong with PS these days?

YES. I agree with you Steal. That exchange illustrates the very thing that most bothers me about this new PS--that people are far more likely to jump on another poster if her words can be construed to mean *anything* offensive at all. Now, I don't think it's snarky, but more hyper-politically correct, and thus it results in the overly diplomatic posting style that we see around here now.

Instead of saying "Your pet peeve sounds completely sexist to me--why does it bother you?" the response is defensive and draws unsupported conclusions about the poster's intentions and personal belief system. That kind of response is the death of any possible discussion, in my opinion.

 

[Mara]

I mentioned this in the 24 hour thread that is forever gone but I'll repeat it again here.

A few people have said recently...'Gee I really wish I could create the kind of friendships or get to know people the way it seems a lot of the older PS'ers do...how does that happen?'

My response... how those relationships that have lasted years were formed were people were up front, honest, frank, fearless. They had no problem giving an opinion and sticking with it or fighting for it or whatever and there was not a lot of worry about offending someone. There was no guilty until proven innocent assumption, there was no... 'you said that obscure random thing and you REALLY MEANT ME...' attitude. There was no shame in being who you are.

Posters put themselves out there and they reaped back finding 'like' minded people to become friends with. That is really where PS used to thrive. Not just the diamond knowledge, that is how the boards were built from just being a diamond forum to, over the years, being as broad as they are today. People didn't just find their diamond and go away--they had made real friends here and they wanted to stick around and play with their friends and help others. The spirit was GIVING.

In the last few years, this place has just gone downhill IMO into this fluffy, carebear, all light and rainbows place where the most inane topics are discussed because no one wants to post anything of substance, and people are so afraid to say anything, that it breeds total apathy and 'I really don't care about this place' vibe.' I used to post all over PS. Now I just post in FHH because that's the only area that seems actually relevant to me. I can't relate to the topics in Hangout. I can't relate to the BWW area. Nor do I have the TIME to spend in all those other forums like I used to.

And I am seeing more and more as people find each other offline--they are forming those SAME real, frank friendships in other venues where you can joke around and no one starts crying or assumes you meant to hurt them. There's real sharing and caring and it's not just 'hugs' whenever someone is down, but discussions on why you are down, what you can do to help yourself, real advice, or sometimes just a loving smack on the hand saying 'Get it together'.

All this to say... (I have always been long winded) that not everyone has to participate in EVERY thread or forum. You can find your niche and still contribute positively. But the real way to have people bonding the way they used to is to lose the FEAR and suspicion that permeates sooo many threads around here.

Not everyone has to get along. Not everyone has to agree. Don't be afraid to speak your mind. But know that when you do, you may not like the outcome every time. Don't be afraid to let water flow off your back like a duck when someone calls you out on something. Because it's happened to EVERY ONE of us who have been here for years. Guess what, you get slapped down, you get up and you keep on trucking. You make PS what you want it to be--and it's never been perfect--there are no rose colored glasses here.

 

[zoebartlett]

Well said Mara!

 

[Steel]

No it doesn't in my opinion. Opinions were expressed - no apologies were demanded as far as I know. It's conversation, disagreement, debate.

I'm sorry that you happened to be one of the posters in the thread I chose and I'm glad you wanted to reply. I don't expect you to agree and I won't argue with you.

There are many similar threads and what is done is history. It would be nice for others to look at this thread purely as an example of what not to do. (deleted)

 

[soocool]

I would like to see the posters build on each others comments. So many times it feels like everybody is just making a comment based on the OP and not the entire thread. In the end, the thread goes nowhere and does not build substance. I also agree with not taking everything so personally. If somebody said, "Sparkly, you are such a dumb blonde" then yes I would be hurt. But, if they said "Sparkly, there is substance to many threads and I think you're just missing it" then I would take a step back and try to pay attention to it more. I like to use a lot of the etc faces because it is so difficult to create a tone of voice in a post.

For that of course, you have to have the "stay on topic" Post Police hush up. I got deadly tired of hearing that. God forbid we have a genuine conversation that meanders like...genuine conversation. And of course the ones that go into your post, ignore the actual content or thrust, and pick A SINGLE word... get highly offended by it, and then use it to bludgeon you with or construct a complete mindset and personality traits for you - while later admitting they've hardly read enough of your posts to even get a sense of who you are. That's fun. Of course in their defense, how COULD they really know where we're coming from - since we're not allowed to post what we think, unless we self-censor to the point of somnolence....zzzz, or unless all our posts are "positive".

Nowadays, I post in the thread for cranky old ladies (or old at least by PS standards), and outside of that I'm mostly puppy farts and rainbows, or links with no commentary. About the only thing that manages to get me "wound up" are topics pertaining to education, other than that....meh. Honestly though, all the endless hurt feelings, "I'm OFFENDED!!!!!!", and individual poster naming and subsequent bashing - just makes me want to post less, as do the "disappeared" threads and people.

OK..back to staying out of the fray and being as blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand as possible.

Hey, who are you calling a lady?

 

[HollyS]

I would like to see the posters build on each others comments. So many times it feels like everybody is just making a comment based on the OP and not the entire thread. In the end, the thread goes nowhere and does not build substance. I also agree with not taking everything so personally. If somebody said, "Sparkly, you are such a dumb blonde" then yes I would be hurt. But, if they said "Sparkly, there is substance to many threads and I think you're just missing it" then I would take a step back and try to pay attention to it more. I like to use a lot of the etc faces because it is so difficult to create a tone of voice in a post.

For that of course, you have to have the "stay on topic" Post Police hush up. I got deadly tired of hearing that. God forbid we have a genuine conversation that meanders like...genuine conversation. And of course the ones that go into your post, ignore the actual content or thrust, and pick A SINGLE word... get highly offended by it, and then use it to bludgeon you with or construct a complete mindset and personality traits for you - while later admitting they've hardly read enough of your posts to even get a sense of who you are. That's fun. Of course in their defense, how COULD they really know where we're coming from - since we're not allowed to post what we think, unless we self-censor to the point of somnolence....zzzz, or unless all our posts are "positive".

Nowadays, I post in the thread for cranky old ladies (or old at least by PS standards), and outside of that I'm mostly puppy farts and rainbows, or links with no commentary. About the only thing that manages to get me "wound up" are topics pertaining to education, other than that....meh. Honestly though, all the endless hurt feelings, "I'm OFFENDED!!!!!!", and individual poster naming and subsequent bashing - just makes me want to post less, as do the "disappeared" threads and people.

OK..back to staying out of the fray and being as blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand as possible.

Really, we MUST stop agreeing. It's, frankly, disconcerting.

 

[klewis]

Haven - I can see your point on this:

"Your pet peeve sounds completely sexist to me--why does it bother you?"
However that is not the way I speak.

Steal- Thank you, although apology is not necessary.

 

[ksinger]

I mentioned this in the 24 hour thread that is forever gone but I'll repeat it again here.

A few people have said recently...'Gee I really wish I could create the kind of friendships or get to know people the way it seems a lot of the older PS'ers do...how does that happen?'

My response... how those relationships that have lasted years were formed were people were up front, honest, frank, fearless. They had no problem giving an opinion and sticking with it or fighting for it or whatever and there was not a lot of worry about offending someone. There was no guilty until proven innocent assumption, there was no... 'you said that obscure random thing and you REALLY MEANT ME...' attitude. There was no shame in being who you are.

Posters put themselves out there and they reaped back finding 'like' minded people to become friends with. That is really where PS used to thrive. Not just the diamond knowledge, that is how the boards were built from just being a diamond forum to, over the years, being as broad as they are today. People didn't just find their diamond and go away--they had made real friends here and they wanted to stick around and play with their friends and help others. The spirit was GIVING.

In the last few years, this place has just gone downhill IMO into this fluffy, carebear, all light and rainbows place where the most inane topics are discussed because no one wants to post anything of substance, and people are so afraid to say anything, that it breeds total apathy and 'I really don't care about this place' vibe.' I used to post all over PS. Now I just post in FHH because that's the only area that seems actually relevant to me. I can't relate to the topics in Hangout. I can't relate to the BWW area. Nor do I have the TIME to spend in all those other forums like I used to.

And I am seeing more and more as people find each other offline--they are forming those SAME real, frank friendships in other venues where you can joke around and no one starts crying or assumes you meant to hurt them. There's real sharing and caring and it's not just 'hugs' whenever someone is down, but discussions on why you are down, what you can do to help yourself, real advice, or sometimes just a loving smack on the hand saying 'Get it together'.

All this to say... (I have always been long winded) that not everyone has to participate in EVERY thread or forum. You can find your niche and still contribute positively. But the real way to have people bonding the way they used to is to lose the FEAR and suspicion that permeates sooo many threads around here.

Not everyone has to get along. Not everyone has to agree. Don't be afraid to speak your mind. But know that when you do, you may not like the outcome every time. Don't be afraid to let water flow off your back like a duck when someone calls you out on something. Because it's happened to EVERY ONE of us who have been here for years. Guess what, you get slapped down, you get up and you keep on trucking. You make PS what you want it to be--and it's never been perfect--there are no rose colored glasses here.

Yes to all this. This and the things that people on here get offended by! Good grief. I know I feel like I was refined into solid steel by the ATW days. There were TRULY offensive things said there, and yet you got a truer measure of a person because of the freedom. I count some of the folks I "met" there as genuine friends now, offline. As I've said before, I EARNED those friends, both by sticking my neck out and by HUNTING THEM DOWN!!! And now we have people get all prissy about a choice of a single word. I've apologized a few times for stuff I really shouldn't have had to, and while they were genuine apologies, they are also part of why I'm mostly fed up with this place. The quick attribution of malicious intent to posts is so blinkin' tiresome.

 

[ksinger]

I would like to see the posters build on each others comments. So many times it feels like everybody is just making a comment based on the OP and not the entire thread. In the end, the thread goes nowhere and does not build substance. I also agree with not taking everything so personally. If somebody said, "Sparkly, you are such a dumb blonde" then yes I would be hurt. But, if they said "Sparkly, there is substance to many threads and I think you're just missing it" then I would take a step back and try to pay attention to it more. I like to use a lot of the etc faces because it is so difficult to create a tone of voice in a post.

For that of course, you have to have the "stay on topic" Post Police hush up. I got deadly tired of hearing that. God forbid we have a genuine conversation that meanders like...genuine conversation. And of course the ones that go into your post, ignore the actual content or thrust, and pick A SINGLE word... get highly offended by it, and then use it to bludgeon you with or construct a complete mindset and personality traits for you - while later admitting they've hardly read enough of your posts to even get a sense of who you are. That's fun. Of course in their defense, how COULD they really know where we're coming from - since we're not allowed to post what we think, unless we self-censor to the point of somnolence....zzzz, or unless all our posts are "positive".

Nowadays, I post in the thread for cranky old ladies (or old at least by PS standards), and outside of that I'm mostly puppy farts and rainbows, or links with no commentary. About the only thing that manages to get me "wound up" are topics pertaining to education, other than that....meh. Honestly though, all the endless hurt feelings, "I'm OFFENDED!!!!!!", and individual poster naming and subsequent bashing - just makes me want to post less, as do the "disappeared" threads and people.

OK..back to staying out of the fray and being as blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand as possible.

Really, we MUST stop agreeing. It's, frankly, disconcerting.

Yeah, I'm thinking the magnetic poles may be reversing as I type....

 

[Haven]

Haven - I can see your point on this:

"Your pet peeve sounds completely sexist to me--why does it bother you?"
However that is not the way I speak.

Steal- Thank you, although apology is not necessary.

I understand that completely.

I suppose the issue, in my mind, is between *sounding* dismissive, which limits discussion, and sounding engaging, which promotes it. I imagine most people don't mean to sound dismissive when posting, but perception seems to be most important when it comes to furthering discussions around here.

 

[Steel]

YES. I agree with you Steal. That exchange illustrates the very thing that most bothers me about this new PS--that people are far more likely to jump on another poster if her words can be construed to mean *anything* offensive at all. Now, I don't think it's snarky, but more hyper-politically correct, and thus it results in the overly diplomatic posting style that we see around here now.

Instead of saying "Your pet peeve sounds completely sexist to me--why does it bother you?" the response is defensive and draws unsupported conclusions about the poster's intentions and personal belief system. That kind of response is the death of any possible discussion, in my opinion.

I would prefer a reply going something like this:

"Nah, I love me a bit of man-bling".

or

Post no reply at all. ( ) After all we don't have to challenge every opinion that we don't agree with, certainly not on a thread when giving your choice or opinion is the name of the game. And as for bringing sexism into it, that was a wee bit of a leap.

*****************

klewis: I have a great deal of respect for you for posting here*.

*Edit

 

[klewis]

YES. I agree with you Steal. That exchange illustrates the very thing that most bothers me about this new PS--that people are far more likely to jump on another poster if her words can be construed to mean *anything* offensive at all. Now, I don't think it's snarky, but more hyper-politically correct, and thus it results in the overly diplomatic posting style that we see around here now.

Instead of saying "Your pet peeve sounds completely sexist to me--why does it bother you?" the response is defensive and draws unsupported conclusions about the poster's intentions and personal belief system. That kind of response is the death of any possible discussion, in my opinion.

I would prefer a reply going something like this:

"Nah, I love me a bit of man-bling".

or

Post no reply at all. ( ) After all we don't have to challenge every opinion that we don't agree with, certainly not on a thread when giving your choice or opinion is the name of the game. And as for bringing sexism into it, that was a wee bit of a leap.

*****************

klewis: I have a great deal of respect for you for posting here*.

*Edit

Thanks Steal.

With all due respect, I'm not going to be phrasing my posts to suit the way you want them to sound.

I don't think it was at all a leap. For example, If I said in a post that I didn't like women who drive bigger cars than their men - I don't trust them and won't do any type of business with them - well do you see what I mean?

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I miss the old PS too. I don't understand why people fled when the formatting changed. I mean, really people? So I am led to believe it is slower because so many members have found each off PS. Back in the day this was the only place to catch up with our friends.

 

[Upgradable]

Let me say that I totally agree with you! However, when people do get their feelings hurt, there is no capitilation when one posts "I'm sorry if my choice of words hurt your feelings. I didn't mean to." Then go on to say exactly what you meant. There is no ground to be gained by responding with "Geez.... whine much??" KWIM

 

[Circe]

I miss the old PS too. I don't understand why people fled when the formatting changed. I mean, really people? So I am led to believe it is slower because so many members have found each off PS. Back in the day this was the only place to catch up with our friends.

I think this gets closer to the core of the problem than anything else in the thread, frankly.

It's lovely that so many people want the "old" PS back. I do, too. But I think the notion that the regular posters can change the feel of the place all by ourselves is incomplete. We are not the problem: the problem is that we're suddenly re-enacting a Sartre play because it's the same 100 or so people banging into one another without the insulation provided by lurkers and newbies and drive-by posters. And it's not like people fell away because of a problem with the content, or sidled off into the night because their feelings were hurt by bluntness or debate, at least no en masse: our population dropped drastically because of the changeover.

Why? Hard to say. It could be that the model of the forum is just less appealing now - visually, or usefully (the dysfunctional search engine removes a lot of the appeal, even for me). It could be that there was a concentrated core of lurkers who were discouraged by the technical glitches, and just stopped checking in - maybe some of them will come back, maybe they won't. It could be that the reputation of the place has given a few people pause - I know other forums I've checked into think of it as being ridiculously restrictive, and prefer to spend their time elsewhere, in a way I just can't - our posters, thank god, are literate and articulate and a pleasure to converse with, and I refuse to go to some other Shiny Happy Place of Shiny Talk where half the people speak entirely in all-caps and text-speak and appear to believe that proper grammar and punctuation are an infringement on their civil liberties.

I do, however, sincerely believe that the banning of so many useful contributors over minutia is a big mistake. Diamond obsessives are not an endless resource. There are a finite number of big spenders who also love to share on the internet, and discouraging huge swathes of them is a mistake.

So, my suggestions for a Better, Revisionist PriceScope?

1) For the love of Mike, get the search engine running, and please lose the hyper-texting and the contrariness that makes newbies wonder if we're, a) competent, and b) shills.

2) Declare an amnesty. Maybe it'll bring some of the old joie de vivre back as old friends trickle back, or maybe they'll spit in our eye: but once that's done, start using time-outs like we talked about in the RT thread for vendors instead of banishing people for life. It's counter-productive, especially for a forum that's suffering pangs.

3) LOVE Haven's idea in Cehra's "Honesty" thread for little tokens of some sort for big-number posters, pins like the ones BGD is using in their giveaway or somesuch (I would have worn one of the old web sigils to pieces, and envied anybody who'd won one madly). Make people feel appreciated, y'know? And not just on a selective basis: it really is a recipe for disaster.

4) I know there's a fear PMs are a liability hazard - but, seriously? Be practical. Everybody is just finding one another on other social media, and, as a result, spending more time there, and losing y'all page-views and ad revenue in the process. Making PMs available and just popping a disclaimer into the initial agreement makes a lot more sense than forcing everybody into this behind-the-scenes stuff.

Just a few thoughts - will advance more as and when they occur (if I'm not flamed like a smart woman in 17th c. France, that is). Love y'all!

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

[quote="PilsnPinkysMom| It's difficult to make a change for the better when I did not experience the 'better time' first-hand.

You don't have to have experience with the old. It's been clearly stated that (1) direct, respectful communication was a hallmark that some feel is not regularly exercised and that some PS posters feel (2) that we have become so worried about offending someone that it constricts conversations.

Here is simplified example that reflects what I find distasteful about the "new" Pricescope. Pretend conversation between Poster * and Poster -- and Poster +

*I like chocolate.
--I don't. I like vanilla.
*Why did you have to say you don't like chocolate. Couldn't you just say you like vanilla or maybe just keep silent?
--I have a right to my opinion and I'll state it as I choose. Why are you discriminating against vanilla?
*I'm not discriminating against vanilla, I just said I like chocolate. I have a right to express my opinion also.
+ Pie anyone?
*I'm sorry if I offended anyone by saying I like chocolate, it was not my intent.

Which then has lead to conversations that start out like this:

*I like chocolate. I hope I haven't hurt anyone's feelings by saying that. Please don't think that I don't like vanilla and strawberry too but chocolate is my favorite.

In the old days the conversation would have been something like this:

*I like chocolate.
--Dark or milk?
*Milk.
+Milk chocolate is not really chocolate, dark chocolate is da bomb.
*LOL, yep, I know, but dark chocolate puts hair on your chest.
*, --, + all go LOL[/quote]

Nice examples Not that it addresses what can be done to return to more open dialogue, but I'm curious to know when people think this change in PS started happening or WHY? I've seen mention of the actual change to PS 2.0, but that was pretty recent & overly PC threads/uber-sensitivity existed before the 2.0 changeover. Is this just a result of a wave of new members, assuming old members haven't changed?

And as far as format goes, I vaguely remember liking 1.0 more, but if PS switched back at this point I'd probably be completely confused & forget how to use the site. It's like getting a new cell phone: I have NO idea how it works, but after 6 months I've more or less figured it out. If you then took away my new phone and handed me my old, original model, I'd be back at square one.

 

[Maisie]

I love the idea of an amnesty.

 

[Tuckins1]

What exactly is everybody agreeing to? I see many agreeing posts (yet again) but no substance apart from (yet again) the usual contributors.

And for Uppy: What exactly do you want to happen?

Didn't feel the need to explain myself further. "Agreed" was enough.

 

[Steel]

Did any of you ever have that 'big talk' with a SO where you discuss what is wrong in the relationship and what needs to change and when you said x which upset him or he said y which upset you, then you formulate a plan and hug, all the while you know it is over?

These type of long winded conversations feel a lot like that to me. A whole lot of talk, going nowhere.

I can say for a fact, if it wasn't for the wonderful folks over in FHH, I would have gone a while ago.

 

[Steel]

What exactly is everybody agreeing to? I see many agreeing posts (yet again) but no substance apart from (yet again) the usual contributors.

And for Uppy: What exactly do you want to happen?

Didn't feel the need to explain myself further. "Agreed" was enough.

I posted that a good while ago. But thanks for getting back to me.

 

[Upgradable]

Did any of you ever have that 'big talk' with a SO where you discuss what is wrong in the relationship and what needs to change and when you said x which upset him or he said y which upset you, then you formulate a plan and hug, all the while you know it is over?

These type of long winded conversations feel a lot like that to me. A whole lot of talk, going nowhere.

I can say for a fact, if it wasn't for the wonderful folks over in FHH, I would have gone a while ago.

Well then, .

Goodbye to you
My trusted friend

We've known each other since we were nine or te
Together we've climbed hills and trees

Learned of love and A-B-C's

Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees.
Goodbye
My friend
It's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky;
Now that the spring is in the air

Pretty girls are ev'rywhere
Think of me and I'll be there.

We had joy
We had fun

We had seasons in the sun;
But the hills that we climbed
Were just seasons out of time.

Goodbye
Papa
Please pray for me
I was the black sheep of the family;
You tried to teach me right from wrong

Too much wine and too much song

Wonder how I got along.
Goodbye
Papa
It's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky;
Now that the spring is in the air

Little children ev'rywhere
When you'll see them
I'll be there.

We had joy
We had fun

We had seasons in the sun;
But the wine and the song
Like the seasons have all gone.

Goodbye
Michelle
My little one

You gave me love and helped me find the sun;
And ev'ry time that I was down
You would always come around
And get my feet back on the ground.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I have been around for awhile but maybe my memory is different than most. I remember snark, hurt feelings, short fuses in the old PS too. I also remember the happy, shiny people pleasers. The difference I DO notice (like I mentioned before) is the traffic and I do think there have been more egocentric threads lately. There was a certain etiquette in the old days. For example people bumped their old threads instead of starting a dozen new threads with photos of the same piece of jewelry in a 30 day period. People asked questions in appropriate subforums (or better yet) threads instead of starting their own.

 

[Steel]

Did any of you ever have that 'big talk' with a SO where you discuss what is wrong in the relationship and what needs to change and when you said x which upset him or he said y which upset you, then you formulate a plan and hug, all the while you know it is over?

These type of long winded conversations feel a lot like that to me. A whole lot of talk, going nowhere.

I can say for a fact, if it wasn't for the wonderful folks over in FHH, I would have gone a while ago.

Well then, .

Goodbye to you
My trusted friend

We've known each other since we were nine or te
Together we've climbed hills and trees

Learned of love and A-B-C's

Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees.
Goodbye
My friend
It's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky;
Now that the spring is in the air

Pretty girls are ev'rywhere
Think of me and I'll be there.

We had joy
We had fun

We had seasons in the sun;
But the hills that we climbed
Were just seasons out of time.

Goodbye
Papa
Please pray for me
I was the black sheep of the family;
You tried to teach me right from wrong

Too much wine and too much song

Wonder how I got along.
Goodbye
Papa
It's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky;
Now that the spring is in the air

Little children ev'rywhere
When you'll see them
I'll be there.

We had joy
We had fun

We had seasons in the sun;
But the wine and the song
Like the seasons have all gone.

Goodbye
Michelle
My little one

You gave me love and helped me find the sun;
And ev'ry time that I was down
You would always come around
And get my feet back on the ground.

I thought the point to this thread was to hash it out. But I'll follow your lead uppy:

 

[galeteia]

1) For the love of Mike, get the search engine running, and please lose the hyper-texting and the contrariness that makes newbies wonder if we're, a) competent, and b) shills.

This is what I am hearing from people who I recommend the forum to. They perceive it as a poorly-masked shill site for the 'sponsored' vendors instead of an honest consumer forum. As such, I am more selective on who I recommend it to nowadays.

I am having a real problem here. Everyone is applauding the idea of fixing Pricescope-including Andrey and Ella. Gypsy here spells out numerous ways in which people can be expected to contribute to Pricescope that do not involve posting about the angles of diamonds on Rocky Talky.

Some of us feel that we do contribute to Pricescope when we constantly answer questions about gold in Jewelry Pieces or about colored stones in its forum or when we constantly lend emotional support to others in Hangout and certain threads about health and family.

Gypsy is now exhorting members to do more of this kind of contribution to help, "fix" Pricescope. Yet in the thread about gifts for posters who hit 10,000 postings, we were told that only posters who contribute a lot will get gifts. And the clear implication was that those people had to be contributing in Rocky Talky, like stone_cold! Is listening to new posters and answering their questions about bridal gowns and relationships patiently helpful to Pricescope or not? I know the answer, but I think some other people undervalue the contributions that are made in a less blatant way.

Deb/AGBF

This is something that REALLY gets my goat, but from the other side- people posting quantity over quality and spamming the forum with contentless posts in a stream of drivel that is clearly a blatant grab for the 10k post gift. I feel that since this is a diamond consumer forum, people who contribute primarily diamond-consumer posts should be rewarded over people who post individual replies to everyone that consist of nothing more than " 'quoted poster name' LOL!" and "Thanks, 'quoted poster name'" and "TEE HEE so true 'quoted poster name'!" so they can have separate posts for each reply and thus pad out their post count.

I don't agree that those people should get the 10k gift. I'm not saying that every one of the 10k posts has to be diamond centric, but at least it should not be 3k of content and 7k of drivel that is just filler. I want to see people rewarded for solid contribution, whether it is about diamonds or Cafe-topic posts, instead of just sheer posting spam to rack up numbers.

 

[gemgirl]

I have to agree with Circe that PMs should be or should have been available to us all along. I believe that if we had a way to contact each other through Pricescope, less of us would have searched long and hard to find our gem buddies elsewhere and the number of daily postings would have remained consistantly higher through and beyond the transition to 2.0. Logically speaking, if you spend time in an on line community for years and you build friendships/relationships, you'll want to reach out and try to help someone when they need it and there's been no way to do that within the confines of this little piece of real estate in cyber space.

 

[Miss Sparkly]

I would like to see the posters build on each others comments. So many times it feels like everybody is just making a comment based on the OP and not the entire thread. In the end, the thread goes nowhere and does not build substance. I also agree with not taking everything so personally. If somebody said, "Sparkly, you are such a dumb blonde" then yes I would be hurt. But, if they said "Sparkly, there is substance to many threads and I think you're just missing it" then I would take a step back and try to pay attention to it more. I like to use a lot of the etc faces because it is so difficult to create a tone of voice in a post.

For that of course, you have to have the "stay on topic" Post Police hush up. I got deadly tired of hearing that. God forbid we have a genuine conversation that meanders like...genuine conversation. And of course the ones that go into your post, ignore the actual content or thrust, and pick A SINGLE word... get highly offended by it, and then use it to bludgeon you with or construct a complete mindset and personality traits for you - while later admitting they've hardly read enough of your posts to even get a sense of who you are. That's fun. Of course in their defense, how COULD they really know where we're coming from - since we're not allowed to post what we think, unless we self-censor to the point of somnolence....zzzz, or unless all our posts are "positive".

Nowadays, I post in the thread for cranky old ladies (or old at least by PS standards), and outside of that I'm mostly puppy farts and rainbows, or links with no commentary. About the only thing that manages to get me "wound up" are topics pertaining to education, other than that....meh. Honestly though, all the endless hurt feelings, "I'm OFFENDED!!!!!!", and individual poster naming and subsequent bashing - just makes me want to post less, as do the "disappeared" threads and people.

OK..back to staying out of the fray and being as blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand as possible.

I agree. I almost left PS after the change. I came home for my lunch break and noticed that the font size changed. I thought I hit something on my keyboard, wasn't sure, and posted a quick topic before grabbing lunch from the fridge and running back to work. I can't believe how many people attacked me over it It really hurt my feelings. It was a question, that's it.

ooh, what's the thread for cranky old ladies? Sometimes I really am blonde

 

[perry]

I see the problem, and admit that my participation has changed over the years; but I do not see any quick solution.

PS was a much more vibrant community 3 years ago (and we did not have PMs then - and I remember when we did and why they were ended).

A couple of big changes: With the change in ownership there was a change in rules (or at least in how they were enforced). Some of the changes I liked - some I didn't. But a key one was the fact that post that allowed people to be attacked were allowed- as such certain subjects became nasty fights and were banned. Once I got past my need to be looking for diamonds I used to post a fair amount on "Around he world" - which is where most of the more political subjects were discussed. Now I rarely look as the changes killed much of the discussions in that forum.

I have also noticed that Hangout seems to have changed in its focus as well (which does not appeal to me). That is due to a change in the people - and presumably the various topics appeal to most of the people currently participating (which is the way it should be).

Another major change I feel is due to the economy. A lot of people are hurting financially (at least 25% of the population); and jewelry is not on their list. So PS has lost people - and not gained new people. Another aspect of the economy is that many of us are being asked to work more hours (and/or more stressful jobs) - which also reduces participation.

PS2 is a change as well. Overall I see it as neutral as newer people will not have much of a problem learning the format. However, for us old-timers who knew PS1 well - its disconcerting.

In the end I view it as yes I would like to have the kind of PS we had 3-5 years ago. I'd love it. But the world has changed - and the people have changed since then. The result is that PS has also changed. On a personal level - my interest have changed and PS has changed. The combination is that I don't spend as much time here as I used to - and I read a lot of threads without ever posting a reply.

How to fix it? How much does it need fixing?

There are a lot of people here who are a lot younger than I am - and their chosen topics seem to dominate. Would I like to participate more - sure; for the right topics. But, in many cases I have gotten the feeling that most people here are not interested in the things I am interested in - so I don't post those things.

While I understand why the rules have changed in that financial rewards are for people who contribute more in certain ways... I also feel that some kind of recognition should exist for people who reach 10,000 post. Years ago there was a Price-Scope pin... (it wasn't for hitting 10,000 if my memory is correct; but something like that could be done).

I do care about Price-Scope, and wish everyone the best.

Perry

 

[Aoife]

Interesting topic, especially the comments from long-time members.

The comments about having PM's available caught my eye, and I think they can very much be a double-edged sword. There's no doubt that they can be nice for individual members, but they are not always good for the overall health of a forum. I've been a regular visitor/contributor to several non-PS forums that instituted PM's, and what happened almost immediately was that the truly interesting conversations started to take place off-board. Newcomers felt excluded, as if the "good stuff" was happening behind their backs, and that there wasn't much point in them hanging around. PM's make it very easy for cliques to form, so if what we are talking about is the vibrancy of different Pricescope forums, the availability of a PM feature might not do much to add to that. Some of the forums ended up deleting the PM feature, but it took a while for traffic to pick up. The bottom line, for me, is who exactly does the PM feature benefit?

 

[Hera]

Speaking about building on each others comments, I just have to say something. I find that when there is a conversation that erupts into silliness between three or four people to be a thread killer. It's true that the thread may go on for a few pages very quickly, but I honestly think that it kills the thread because no substance happens after the fact. The serious answers are no longer commented upon and I think people start to feel alienated.

 

[Haven]

Speaking about building on each others comments, I just have to say something. I find that when there is a conversation that erupts into silliness between three or four people to be a thread killer. It's true that the thread may go on for a few pages very quickly, but I honestly think that it kills the thread because no substance happens after the fact.

You're right, and I'm guilty of instigating this exact thing tonight.
Had the OP not chosen to join in on the silliness, I wouldn't have continued. But once the OP joined in, I went with it.