there were a built in app for opinion forums that did a complete memory wipe of previous posts in any thread but the one currently posted in...?

do you think conversations would flow more smoothly and with less personal baggage and attack?

Nope.

There have been new members , who have been "attacked" after submitting one post , even when the content is in no way offensive to me.

So no. I dont think it will help.

People will be people. Just do you :)

Not really.

I see only a few things that would probably happen.

1. People come back over and over and over again posting what they did before to try and be the one whose post is the current one. Kind of like on other forums and comments sections where it's popular to put something like "first bitchez!" in the very first post.

2. People that post "personal baggage and attack" would be even more vitriolic, why censor yourself if it's going to be deleted anyway.

3. "Conversations" go off the rails as the current post people can see is addressing a previous post they can't. If the current post is quoting the previous, then the current post will eventually be 3 miles long as it quotes all of any previous posts to continue the "conversation."

4. The same point is made over and over and over again, there is no progression or forward momentum to the "conversation" as people think they're contributing something new, it's already been posted by someone else but was wiped.

5. Over time people would feel less inclined to participate in that forum and seek out other forums that don't wipe their posts. If what they type is wiped from existence, there's little point in posting in the first place.
The "conversation" may "flow more smoothly and with less personal baggage and attack" simply because it's the same 4 people answering the same questions with the same answers over and over and over again.
Kind of like the groupthink echo chamber that pof forums became.

Best practice is don't let anyone's opinion make you believe that somehow "your" thread is somehow tainted.

Each post is one opinion and we are all adults here. I haven't seen anyone lock stepped put of Mingleland because their ideas,concepts', morals were different from someone else's.

To each hod own. If something works for you then great. Bring it to the table and let people look it over; debate it bit at the end of the day be true to yourself

The "flow" of what you write is generally independent. Judged on it's own merits

I think you can guess at someone else's motives or baggage but it is just a guess and really just an opinion based on your perceptions and education and experience.

It would not always allow the Original Poster of the thread to reply to each comment if they wished to, or to return later to the thread to read and respond to all the comments left. Others may want to comment on comments in the thread, it would become less of a forum, with less discussion on the topic in my opinion.

Not sure, and is it really needed? I haven't seen much of attacking in here. Maybe only people defending their own opinions passionately.

But I have seen a lot of encouraging and positive respond to posts too. More than negative ones. Somehow nobody tends to mention it. So, this app already works, but keeps deleting positive things.

Its use would need to be monitored 24/7/365. As a ruling as to whether it had been used appropriately would be needed. I can't see that happening.

I was not referring to deleting whats posted inside the thread

I was referring to what had been posted in ANY OTHER THREADS forgotten, so there is ONLY focus on the current thread.

sure it would. Any thread we were in we could freely review and remember whatever posts were INSIDE THAT THREAD,,,,,it would just be like posting to new PARTICIPANTS and a fresh topic each time because there would be no associated or presumed 'pattern' attached to their screen name.

Clearly I have misunderstood your meaning here,


"a complete memory wipe of previous posts in any thread"

I have taken this to mean each post following the original post is wiped and replaced by the next posting in any thread, so each thread would show only the original post and most recent comment, which is not what you mean.

What exactly are you suggesting is wiped from each forum thread, sorry, but I cannot understand what you mean.

Nearly all forums are Opinion Forums. There are Information Topics but those topics are usually locked from replies.


A 'thread' is a series of posts that discuss, debate or enhance a topic. To wipe all previous posts in a topic removes the 'thread' and it becomes just a topic.


In forums, posting in a topic is the act of adding to the thread. If all previous posts are wiped there is nothing posted in that topic. Any thread you try to start would be wiped by the app.

Permit me, if you will, to try to imagine what you are referring to.

An app, that looks at all the topics in the forum and puts related topics together under a single thread of that topic. It then removes duplicate responses so the topic thread stays on topic focus. This would allow a member to read the thread on that topic, consider all the responses and add their contribution.

I've seen this attempted with a little success on some fan forums I attend. The moderating team reads all posts and then moves the posts to the appropriate topic, deleting posts that are duplicate in nature. You want an app that kinda does that automatically.
A censoring consolidation app.

In one of the forums I attend as moderator I llok for references to movies and move those comments to the appropriate movie topic. I do not, however, delete (wipe) anyones posts. If someone posts in general movie chat about King Kong (2005) I move that post to King Kong (2005). I do not change/modify what they wrote or remove it unless it violates site rules.

Let me clarify:

clicking on FORUMS, at the top of the page will bring a list of generalied labels, and sublabels, that describe what the topics within should relate to

Forums have a specific set of jargon associated with them; example: a single conversation is called a "thread", or topic. A discussion forum is hierarchical or tree-like in structure: a forum can contain a number of subforums, each of which may have several topics.

for instance, this is under the COMMUNITY forum and the TOPIC(Thread label) is "What if"




My question was regarding one's own PHYSICAL memories, not any actual data that has been posted

if there was a way, that people engaged in a thread topic only had recall about what is being posted IN THAT current thread,,,,would those thread discussions go more smoothly?



,,,,since people would not be distracted by the personal or biased perceptions they may have made about those who are participating,,,,

you mean no post history? no ability to search and bump old threads?

no

I mean, no THOUGHT connection between who is posting and what they have posted on other topics,,,,

Do you mean so you can see what's been said but not who's said it?

no

I mean each time you participate in a THREAD, you can focus ONLY on the thread you are in and make no mental connection to other previous threads,,,

So I can't pass a doobie from one thread to another?

It would make it less likely that people could be hounded over something they'd said elsewhere.

I think I'm understanding what you are saying. Sort of like mind control? Or like in the movie "50 first dates". Where there is no personal memory, in our brains, of what was posted in other threads. With the result being that each time we post, we are seeing something for the very first time with a fresh perspective, rather than any bias thoughts from reading previous threads.

Am I correct?