Make Shiachat Shiachat again

[The Green Knight 7,362]

Fellow SC'ers, I bring to you my proposal to make this place what it was originally.

Do you dislike the new, complicated check mark style navigation method?

Do you think the website navigational changes are confusing, time wasting and unnecessary?

And above all, do you think there should be new elections for new admin and mod team?

To make ShiaChat, SHIACHAT again.

THEN THIS IS THE THREAD YOU SHOULD VOICE YOUR CONCERN.

Now is the time.

JUST SAY NO TO HIM.

[Bakir 3,085]

The check mark model reminds of email managers. It would work well, if it wasn't because there are tons of sections.

There are many categories that make thread creation harder and navigation futile. Thus, people will just go to their activity streams instead of using categories.

7-12 main categories is actually a reasonable margin.

Mod elections are fun. Though SC moderation is already ok, tbh better than ever...

I would also like to add, sad and confused reactions may not be the most fitting in this forum. If you are confused about a post, reply and interact verbally, don't react with an emoji... As for sad, "my prayers" seem to work perfectly fine instead.

I would try to keep things more simple all in all...

Edited October 29, 2018 by Bakir

[The Green Knight 7,362]

26 minutes ago, Bakir said:

The check mark model reminds of email managers. It would work well, if it wasn't because there are tons of sections.

There are many categories that make thread creation harder and navigation futile. Thus, people will just go to their activity streams instead of using categories.

7-12 main categories is actually a reasonable margin.

Mod elections are fun. Though SC moderation is already ok, tbh better than ever...

Indeed it strikes me of gmail's inbox. With so many checkboxes. You click "offtopic" for instance and then you click "general" and they are both selected, displaying threads from both, even though the two have different rules. Thats why when you click to start a new thread it will present you with a long list of subforums to again click and choose where you want to make your post. With the attention spans people have today by that time you are already starting to forget some of the content you wanted to post. Which made me think, why not make it like it was?

[Aflower 426]

I like the mods @notme and @Hameedeh. No offence but I’m not too keen on @Khaadim az-Zahra as a mod.

I miss the old SC too. I was a member about 10-12 years ago but I’ve forgotten my old user name. There were many more knowledgable members then both in terms of religion and life experience too. It had more of a community feel then. I remember the debates on the threads would go on for many weeks and most members presented their point of view in a restrained and polite manner. I wonder what happened to all those members. 

[AbdusSibtayn 715]

On the other hand, the mailbox format keeps the users informed about the newest threads in each section.

Never had any problems with the administration panel, honestly. In fact they have been very helpful and very accessible, especially sister @Hameedeh and brother @Qa'im.

[The Green Knight 7,362]

3 minutes ago, AbdusSibtayn said:

On the other hand, the mailbox format keeps the users informed about the newest threads in each section.

Never had any problems with the administration panel, honestly. In fact they have been very helpful and very accessible, especially sister @Hameedeh and brother @Qa'im.

Of course they are helpful and fine. Therefore it is our duty, as a nation, to respond by asking to change them. Just for fun and tradition's sake.

[2Timeless 1,841]

I think admins and mods do need to change, maybe not all, but definitely a handful at least. I've come across my fair share of abusers of "power" on this site. Also, I don't really like the hierarchical system, changing it up would get rid of that, and make it more of a communal site.

[Khadim uz Zahra 3,217]

1 hour ago, Aflower said:

I like the mods @notme and @Hameedeh. No offence but I’m not too keen on @Khaadim az-Zahra as a mod.

I miss the old SC too. I was a member about 10-12 years ago but I’ve forgotten my old user name. There were many more knowledgable members then both in terms of religion and life experience too. It had more of a community feel then. I remember the debates on the threads would go on for many weeks and most members presented their point of view in a restrained and polite manner. I wonder what happened to all those members. 

Ouch. LOL What'd I do? 

[Dreamcatcher 27]

If they decide to reverse the changes made, which were mostly Platform upgrades by Invision, the site will get hacked in a few hours and everything will be gone. I don't think they support the older versions for security and vulnerabilities. 

As for old members, can't bring them, they are over that phase of their life.

Edited October 29, 2018 by Dreamcatcher

[Islandsandmirrors 3,240]

A mod or two needs to change. A couple of them aren’t really fair and do a poor job at remaining neutral. They need to stop abusing their power, like @2Timeless said.

[Akbar673 2,129]

2 hours ago, Darth Vader said:

Do you dislike the new, complicated check mark style navigation method?

Hated it at first but I've gotten used to it now. Opinion on it = Meh, it is what it is.

2 hours ago, Darth Vader said:

Do you think the website navigational changes are confusing, time wasting and unnecessary?

See above.

2 hours ago, Darth Vader said:

do you think there should be new elections for new admin and mod team?

Admin team should be someone with an IT background. 

As far as the Mod team goes...new Mods should be selected by a qualified committee of Admins, Mods, etc...basically the people that are running the forum already so they know who is qualified to become one. 

It should not be by election. You'll end up with people that aren't the right fit for the job. ShiaChat should be an Oligarchy and not a Democracy when it comes to things of this nature.

Edited October 29, 2018 by Akbar673

[2Timeless 1,841]

49 minutes ago, Akbar673 said:

It should not be by election. You'll end up with people that aren't the right fit for the job

lol there are some existing mods and admins who aren't fit for the job already, having them choose new mods and admins is counterproductive.I think there should be new elections to decide on a few admins and mods who are liked by the majority of users, and they could then choose new mods/admins,

Edited October 29, 2018 by 2Timeless

[The Green Knight 7,362]

This thread has become....beautiful.

[Gaius I. Caesar 7,842]

37 minutes ago, Akbar673 said:

As far as the Mod team goes...new Mods should be selected by a qualified committee of Admins, Mods, etc...basically the people that are running the forum already so they know who is qualified to become one. 

It should not be by election. You'll end up with people that aren't the right fit for the job. ShiaChat should be an Oligarchy and not a Democracy when it comes to things of this nature.

You speak the truth, we want quality, not quanity. The last election ruined SC in my humble opinion^

[Laayla 4,571]

Bismehe Ta3ala,

Assalam Alikum.

Alhamd'Allah I've been here for over a decade.  I love ShiaChat, I can be anywhere in the world and I will return to SC!

I highly dislike the fluid system.  I don't understand why we can't have the old version.  It was perfectly fine.

Some mods are active more than others.  I'm glad there is an array of mods, some I get along great others have beef with me because I voice my opinion strongly.  

Clearly, some can't handle my bluntness, they want to "keep the peace."  

I don't settle for compromising my beliefs, so I take the warnings.  Once they want me out of this forum, well so be it.  Alhamd'Allah I don't regret any of my posts, and I've learned from other members so much.  There are a few I would love to meet in real life.  

M3 Salamah, FE AMIN Allah

 

[Irfani313 1,281]

Salaam- thanks Darth bro for starting this thread. Only a veteran member like yourself could start it, others who are not as equals as you are, would get banned. I’m not being sarcastic here, this is all I would says as my judgement on certain MODs on SC.

In real life, in my workplace, we get rid of managers who fire lots of people or under whom many employees quit in short period of time. We need to have the same mentality here on SC, just go back in the “banned” thread and fire all of the Mods who have banned the most amount of members. We don’t need to be mommie’d by a KG teacher who corners each and everybody on small infringes only to announce a ‘bring your favorite toy day’ to look good to parents. 

2. Number one being above, I think the Dev team went too overboard from the old SC look and feel. Currently things are all over, hard to find, (it took me three clicks to get to this most recent thread of yours). Site owners handed SC to trigger happy mommies (some baseball wielding dads too) and video game developers and this is what we got. 

3. The only reason I now come here time and again is to get ideas on a few things I’m working on, and for a few of you here who I would love to make my friends in real life, given we SC’ers ever meet in the ‘day of Hashr’. Other than that, #2 above mentioned people have made SC a dead Texan wasteland with tumbleweeds all over. 

More later. 

[AbdusSibtayn 715]

Times are a changin'.

[starlight 12,244]

@Darth Vader 

Wow DV!! what prompted you to make your comeback with a thread like this?? Did you just finish watching Donkey King?? 

[notme 18,775]

Times change and shiachat has to change along with or get forgotten.

Except for those of us who just keep coming back. 

Each of the mods and admins has strengths and weaknesses, and a lot goes on behind the scenes that members aren't aware. I think the team that we have right now is outstanding. We balance each other very well. 

[Islandsandmirrors 3,240]

17 minutes ago, notme said:

Each of the mods and admins has strengths and weaknesses, and a lot goes on behind the scenes that members aren't aware. I think the team that we have right now is outstanding. We balance each other very well. 

I agree that each mod has their own strengths and weaknesses, but I also think mods are meant to stay neutral where there is chaos on some threads. Not going to name any, but I have noticed that a couple can get very nasty and personal in a way that I feel is inappropriate for a mod. 

I understand that everyone has good and bad days, but to take it out on other users and get downright nasty on multiple occasions make me believe that some abuse their power.

I wrote a poem once on this site, and a mod removed it although it violated no guidelines, and it was removed because the mod personally didn’t like it. Other mods saw it and thought it was fine, but another mod removed it, and the other mods said sorry and backed that mod up because they obviously would not tear each other down or question another’s decisions.... to me, this particular act seemed like an abuse of power and inserting personal feelings where there should be none. 

I do like most of the mods, though. 

[realizm 2,293]

Number one rule for a forum is longevity.

Better off with a loyal team than members changing every two months. 

You talk about elections here, I say be grateful to those who dedicate their time. Because they stay on duty while members tend to come and go so quickly. 

Just see how often we see members getting hyperactive for 6 months and then disappearing.

 

[2Timeless 1,841]

Everyone keeps talking about how mods and admins dedicate all their time. Okay, we appreciate that (for the sincere and good ones) but some mods and admins seem to come on here to seek an adrenaline rush by playing with members like they're yoyos, banning and unbanning them in the span of 5 minutes, policing the chatroom like they own it etc.. not all mods are amazing just because they spend alot of time on here. Yes, there are good mods and admins, but that shouldn't undermine the fact that there are some incredibly disrespectful and biased ones. Any argument with one or defence is also used against you, and another justification for unnecessary bans.

Also, there is a huge lack of consistency with the way members are treated by mods and admins, which highlights the biased nature of many members of the team.

Edited October 29, 2018 by 2Timeless

[The Green Knight 7,362]

4 hours ago, Irfani313 said:

Salaam- thanks Darth bro for starting this thread. Only a veteran member like yourself could start it, others who are not as equals as you are, would get banned. I’m not being sarcastic here, this is all I would says as my judgement on certain MODs on SC.

I am very sorry to hear that. I for one still remember you although we may not have had much exchange. But then, its usually been like that. A few have always carried their biases and they come and go. I am not so immune either. Before my absence began I was being maneuvered on my way out. I have 8 warning points in total now. A few of the younglings could never sleep easy feeling "in charge" abusing their power. Its not their fault. What would you do if you had a shrine for Goku and I did not care at all about that? Such individuals will always be there and always have been. So don't worry about it. We need to take life easy.

Btw my purpose with this thread was MOSTLY to say HI , and that I am back. So, hi. I am not whinging. And I really did not intend to be serious about complaining. I do however preferred the old style of the website.

[Maryaam 2,067]

1 hour ago, Irfani313 said:

....... just go back in the “banned” thread and fire all of the Mods who have banned the most amount of members....

What an excellent idea!  

This place was irrevocably changed after the mega banning spree over a few months for anyone who irritated specific mods. I was even threatened with being banned - even mild mannered me..

We lost so many members that contributed to interesting ongoing discussions, debates with their varied and extreme viewpoints.  It was interesting and thought provoking and passionate!   When you checked in there was always some topic that grabbed your attention. There definitely were some characters on here, but I totally disagreed with banning 90% of them.  

[Irfani313 1,281]

2 hours ago, realizm said:

Number one rule for a forum is longevity.

Better off with a loyal team than members changing every two months. 

You talk about elections here, I say be grateful to those who dedicate their time. Because they stay on duty while members tend to come and go so quickly. 

Just see how often we see members getting hyperactive for 6 months and then disappearing.

Mostly because some MODs are hellbent on kicking each and everyone of these to the curb. Go back to the banned thread and see how many were banned soon after they came in or were treated like juvenile criminals -:) once they logged in initially. 

[2Timeless 1,841]

Lol we're really pushing our luck, I sense a banning spree coming up...jk :p.

Edited October 29, 2018 by 2Timeless

[realizm 2,293]

1 minute ago, Irfani313 said:

Mostly because some MODs are hellbent on kicking each and everyone of these to the curb. Go back to the banned thread and see how many were banned soon after they came in or were treated like juvenile criminals -:) once they logged in initially. 

Well, banning is part of Mods' mission...

[Irfani313 1,281]

Darth- don’t you back off now. You started a Tsunami already so stay with us. I bet at least three Mods on here are itching to chew us alive, they are just holding back I guess being mganinmous due to Arba’een. 

I’m off to majlis making dua’ for rehma in some odd Mod’s heart -:) 

[Akbar673 2,129]

6 minutes ago, 2Timeless said:

Lol we're really pushing our luck, I sense a banning spree coming up...jk :p.

 

6 minutes ago, realizm said:

Well, banning is part of Mods' mission...

 

4 minutes ago, Irfani313 said:

Darth- don’t you back off now. You started a Tsunami already so stay with us. I bet at least three Mods on here are itching to chew us alive, they are just holding back I guess being mganinmous due to Arba’een. 

I’m off to majlis making dua’ for rehma in some odd Mod’s heart -:) 

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Akbar673

[The Green Knight 7,362]

23 minutes ago, Irfani313 said:

Darth- don’t you back off now. You started a Tsunami already so stay with us. I bet at least three Mods on here are itching to chew us alive, they are just holding back I guess being mganinmous due to Arba’een. 

I’m off to majlis making dua’ for rehma in some odd Mod’s heart -:) 

THAT bad huh?

I should have been careful to be very honest.

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Darth Vader

[starlight 12,244]

Thank you @realizm for the nice post. At least someone here is acknowledging the efforts of the team. I am by no means complaining about this but all of the team members spend so much time sometimes hours, cleaning up threads, responding to member requests about name change and editing the posts,filtering spam messages. You have no idea what the site would have been if left unattended even for a couple of hours. Someone complained about @Khadim uz Zahra earlier. Kuz is a Uni student with a tough schedule and once he spent more than twelve hours watching the site when there was a porn attack on SC,taking down videos within minutes. He spent the whole night doing that to spare you from the disgusting stuff. Someone threatened to run me and my children over by his car.The site admins work hard to protect it from hackers and this is just the tip of the iceberg....

I would reiterate what @notme said, a lot more goes behind the scenes than the members are aware of. 

One thing I would like to tell people here which I think lots of you won't know is that 95% of moderating 'action' from taking down posts to banning members is discussed by the team first and if need be, we take a poll.Only then we make a definite decision.So when a warning is issued by a team member it doesn't mean that it was his/her decision alone,he/she simply sent the warning message on behalf of the whole team so the suggestion of going through the ban thread doesn't mean anything.  

@Darth Vader Tbh, this whole thread of yours doesn't mean anything  but if you want to have some fun,go ahead.

Shiachat is already Shiachat.

Edited October 29, 2018 by starlight

[The Green Knight 7,362]

31 minutes ago, starlight said:

Shiachat is already Shiachat.

I have to disagree for now. Its just a shadow of itself. I think time will tell.

But why are prominent and eldest of members complaining of too many bannings? I get it, we all always complained about various things on SC. I hope that that is the case.

[Akbar673 2,129]

2 hours ago, starlight said:

Someone threatened to run me and my children over by his car.

Wait...what ?!?!?

[starlight 12,244]

1 hour ago, Akbar673 said:

Wait...what ?!?!?

Yes. Let's not go into the details. 

[The Green Knight 7,362]

loli love you bro

While I have your attentions, please also fix this problem with the site:

It says: error security certificate issuer unknown

And I have tried using a fully updated, authoritarian left wing browser (Tor) which would make any Stalinist proud, but no joy?