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The Loft

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TacticalEvilDan

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I know The Loft is the latest thing around here, but for those of us too broke to buy our way into the cool kids' club, I have a couple of requests:
  • Give us the option of excluding it from our "New Posts" search, the same way we have the option of excluding The Basement.
  • Remove the "Reply" button for those of us who don't have posting privileges. There's nothing more irritating than getting interested in a discussion, clicking the appropriate button to start a reply, only to be told that while you're cool enough to see the thread you're not cool enough to reply to it.
I can appreciate that the ability to get a sneak peek at The Loft is designed to be an encouragement to those of us who don't donate, I just think it'd be nifty if I could turn it off or make it a little more obvious that we can't participate and as such should go looking for another thread.
 
What I would like to know is how does one sign up to be able to Beta Test things like this and get the perks for doing it?

I feel there should be some kind of sign up thing and a list they go down from top to bottom from the peeps who sign up to make it fair.

It is unfair to let people beta test if the entire forum was not aware there was betatesting and given a chance to sign up for it.

Or maybe it is just mods get to do beta test?
 
What I would like to know is how does one sign up to be able to Beta Test things like this and get the perks for doing it?

I feel there should be some kind of sign up thing and a list they go down from top to bottom from the peeps who sign up to make it fair.

It is unfair to let people beta test if the entire forum was not aware there was betatesting and given a chance to sign up for it.

Or maybe it is just mods get to do beta test?

They just chose the beta testers, no-one signed up, it was the mods deciding who got to be a beta.
 
They just chose the beta testers, no-one signed up, it was the mods deciding who got to be a beta.

How did they pick them?

Also am I reading it right-if you are in The Loft the normal rules do not apply? You only get threadbanned? That does not seem fair to the people who post in basement where if any place here at DP the normal rules should not apply.
 
How did they pick them?

Also am I reading it right-if you are in The Loft the normal rules do not apply? You only get threadbanned? That does not seem fair to the people who post in basement where if any place here at DP the normal rules should not apply.

I dunno how they picked 'em.

The normal forum rules apply in the Loft, but I believe they also enforce civility.
 
I dunno how they picked 'em.

The normal forum rules apply in the Loft, but I believe they also enforce civility.

It could kinda makes those not picked to betatest feel left out. I really would like to know how they picked.

Also based on my reading? You do not get points there.
 
It could kinda makes those not picked to betatest feel left out. I really would like to know how they picked.

Also based on my reading? You do not get points there.

You'd have to ask Zyphlin, the Loft was his brainchild.

And if you read http://www.debatepolitics.com/loft/84876-loft-guidelines.html, it says.

To facilitate the atmosphere of cooperative discussion and friendly dialog the following guidelines were created to work in tandem with the standard Debate Politics rules.
Violations of these guidelines will not result in points, but instead warnings or thread bans. Additionally any violation of a normal forum rule will also result in thread ban if points are assessed.

So you get threadbanned for violating Loft specific rules, but also points and a threadban for violating the general DP rules.
 
Ahh.. OK. I was zoomed into the points thing but see that this part "Violations of these guidelines will not result in points, but instead warnings or thread bans. Additionally any violation of a normal forum rule will also result in thread ban if points are assessed." means that rules still apply.
 
It could kinda makes those not picked to betatest feel left out. I really would like to know how they picked.

Also based on my reading? You do not get points there.

I'm assuming all the beta testers were picked so that it was a group that had a wide set of views, and have a reputation around the forum of being civil. But you'll have to ask Zyphlin for the reason why we were picked, if he'll tell you.
 
I'm assuming all the beta testers were picked so that it was a group that had a wide set of views, and have a reputation around the forum of being civil. But you'll have to ask Zyphlin for the reason why we were picked, if he'll tell you.

Congrats on being picked:)

I am not trying to be all bitch but just wondering how that worked and yeah wish I coulda been picked:2razz:
 
I'm assuming all the beta testers were picked so that it was a group that had a wide set of views, and have a reputation around the forum of being civil. But you'll have to ask Zyphlin for the reason why we were picked, if he'll tell you.

This is almost exactly correct. I would also point out that not every one we felt would be a good beta tester was chosen, as we did kinda want ot keep a certain balance, so if you where not chosen, it has nothing to do with us thinking you could not be civil or anything, only that we had a limited number of people we wanted, and a broad spectrum of the board.
 
This is almost exactly correct. I would also point out that not every one we felt would be a good beta tester was chosen, as we did kinda want ot keep a certain balance, so if you where not chosen, it has nothing to do with us thinking you could not be civil or anything, only that we had a limited number of people we wanted, and a broad spectrum of the board.

I am not gonna stomp my feet and act childish but say that this is not fair.

Number of people you wanted? Guess those of us not golden enough to be "wanted" just did not add up. No biggie and whatever.

But I feel to make it really fair? Next time a beta testing goes down? That the owner of this site has a sign up and picks from that as sounds like people were hand picked.

Just a suggestion as this is not my forum and the owner and mods can do whatever they want.

Also this kind of thing leaves hurt feelings as there are plenty of folks that are civil that were not picked and it sounds kinda smug for someone that was picked to say that the reason they were picked is because they can be civil when there are tons of others on this site that can and do the same. Just saying
 
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I know The Loft is the latest thing around here, but for those of us too broke to buy our way into the cool kids' club, I have a couple of requests:
  • Give us the option of excluding it from our "New Posts" search, the same way we have the option of excluding The Basement.
  • Remove the "Reply" button for those of us who don't have posting privileges. There's nothing more irritating than getting interested in a discussion, clicking the appropriate button to start a reply, only to be told that while you're cool enough to see the thread you're not cool enough to reply to it.
I can appreciate that the ability to get a sneak peek at The Loft is designed to be an encouragement to those of us who don't donate, I just think it'd be nifty if I could turn it off or make it a little more obvious that we can't participate and as such should go looking for another thread.

I already raised this issue, and I got my head bitten off. The Loft is here to stay.

My suggestion is that if a topic is interesting to you, re-create it outside of the Loft so that everyone can participate. Even quote someone from a Loft discussion (since we can read it but can't post there) and then continue the chain outside the Loft. The mods can't merge threads if one of the topics is taking place in the loft. That wouldn't be fair to those who don't/can't donate.
 
It could kinda makes those not picked to betatest feel left out. I really would like to know how they picked.

I'm assuming all the beta testers were picked so that it was a group that had a wide set of views, and have a reputation around the forum of being civil. But you'll have to ask Zyphlin for the reason why we were picked, if he'll tell you.

They really just only wanted the cool people up there.
 
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I already raised this issue, and I got my head bitten off. The Loft is here to stay.

My suggestion is that if a topic is interesting to you, re-create it outside of the Loft so that everyone can participate. Even quote someone from a Loft discussion (since we can read it but can't post there) and then continue the chain outside the Loft. The mods can't merge threads if one of the topics is taking place in the loft. That wouldn't be fair to those who don't/can't donate.

I am sure that there is a new rule where you cannot direct quote someone from Loft threads in other forums or threads. Kinda like what stays downstairs stays..

But you could start topics that are brought up in the Loft. I mean most of the stuff seems to be things we are all already talking about anyways:)
 
I am sure that there is a new rule where you cannot direct quote someone from Loft threads in other forums or threads. Kinda like what stays downstairs stays..

The Loft is not a subscription-only venue like the basement is. You can make the basement disappear from your forum selection if you want by unsubscribing from the area. No such ability exists with the Loft. The mods want it visible because it provides an incentive for people to donate. In other words, I have no choice but to see it. Since that's the case, the mods are basically consenting for me to have visible access to the area (even though I can't post), and to see posts in it under "new posts". Because of this, there is no reason why I can't quote someone from the Loft and make my own thread on the topic outside of it.

But you could start topics that are brought up in the Loft. I mean most of the stuff seems to be things we are all already talking about anyways:)

The Loft is a good idea, but the mods can't have their cake and eat it too. They can't force me to see it but not let me post to it, and then say I can't quote from it. :shrug:
 
The Loft is a good idea, but the mods can't have their cake and eat it too. They can't force me to see it but not let me post to it, and then say I can't quote from it. :shrug:

Mate, no-ones gonna stop you from making your own threads, or quoting the Loft, if that's what you want to do, go for your life.
 
Mate, no-ones gonna stop you from making your own threads, or quoting the Loft, if that's what you want to do, go for your life.

Yes I know. I was just responding to Kali's idea.
 
I'm assuming all the beta testers were picked so that it was a group that had a wide set of views, and have a reputation around the forum of being civil. But you'll have to ask Zyphlin for the reason why we were picked, if he'll tell you.

This almost completely on target. Very active members were also one of the criteria.
 
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