Daily thread, what do you think?

comping_cat

Thank you Pink, and Queenie.

I would think, that one of the reasons the thread is becoming so long, is the amount of people who are posting, there are lots of new people at the moment, who i think should be more than welcome. Also, like i said before, why is there a problem with people having that 'virtual chat over the garden fence'? Ive just come back from the freebies board, where someone has posted a freebie, that someone did not like, and instead of ignoring it, posted, 'thanks for nothing', and thats now followed by lots of 'stop being rude' posts. I think that just shows why the OS daily thread is so important, people can post without fear of being ridiculed as they could be in so many of the other forums.
Like i said before, i think the ability to chat about our days is a very OS thing to do, and can be moneysaving in a lot of different ways and it would be a shame if it had to stop.

Gingham_Ribbon

Pink Winged is right. And there is a lot that is great about the daily thread so care is definitely being taken to try to do the right thing here.

We have been trying to come up with solutions and are keeping an eye on comments being made by all of you. But it's down to the team as to what should happen and as board guides we can only try to help it run smoothly, not decide on rules etc. And hopefully we can speak to Andrea properly when the mail has gone out.

Please try to be patient until this is sorted out and keep coming up with ideas. And as Pink Winged asked, please keep it friendly.

Thanks everyone.

Penny-Pincher!!

I think this is going to be very difficult to moderate. I agree that the post counts have been very extensive of late and I find it quite difficult to get through and also agree about the thread starting earlier and earlier.

Looking through many of my posts on the daily OS thread....I go off on a tangent many times. Im always moaning about being ill, hospital visits and not sleeping well blah blah blah....would it make it easier if I dont state these and just keep to my daily diary

The daily OS thread inspires me to keep motivated and focused for the day.

Do you think it would work if we just state our list for the day and what we are eating????

I love OS and is my favourite section on the whole of MSE:D

Squeaky....what would you suggest???? I remember you vaguely moving posts to DT....is that correct? If so, what ones did you move and why? Maybe this could help.

PP
xx

Ruby_Pudding

My two-penneth.....

Sometimes the Daily Thread can appear a bit overwhelming, esp if you don't visit the forum all day - come 7pm there may be 70+ replies and that's a lot to work through. But if I have time to look (and post) I often find some wonderfully inspiring and heartful messages that make me feel like all this striving to be OS actually means something. In a funny old way, it 'helps' to know that others are struggling or juggling or failing or succeeding because that's just what I do on a daily basis too. I literally have no-one outside OS that understands what I am trying to achieve without making me feel like a freak or obsessive or just stupid. Reading what others post makes me feel like part of a wonderful community and I have come to understand how others here live an OS life mainly because the minutiae and details of that life are posted on the Daily Thread.

I understand what Queenie is saying - sometimes the Daily Thread feels like it should be on the Discussion Forums but I know that I would never go there to look/post if it was moved because it wouldn't feel like it was 'ours' anymore. I would feel silly posting there to be honest because I'm not sure who on MSE outside OS could care less if I made a HM cake for the first time ever......

I'm not really sure what to suggest to be honest which I know isn't particularly helpful. I'm not finding the Daily Thread particularly competitive, I post there if I have something to say, I read as much of it as I can if I have the time, if I haven't then I don't.

snoozer

After posting on here I went over to today's daily thread whch I hadn't already seen, looking at it with new eyes. However, it just confirmed my feelings on the subject.

I was genuinely pleased to hear about Kazonline's son's results and interested in the continuing story of Joannasmum's car (in fact I remember that when it was stolen one of her first actions was to post on the daily thread because she wanted the support she knew she could count on from it when she was so upset). Penny Pincher everyone wants to know how you are and shares your hope that new treatment might help. Queenies story about her lovely son's MAD day was really appreciated as well - it made me remember the lovely things my children have done for me.

Yes the thread does get long and sometimes goes off topic for a while but I think it does remain true to the spirit of OS.

Queenie

snoozer wrote:

Queenie,

I understand what you are saying. I like the daily thread because I do get the feeling that people are popping in for a chat in between chores. I work full time and since joining in I have been much more motivated to start in on the housework when I get home. I've got and use a slow cooker every week and my house is slowly being decluttered and looking better every day. I don't think I'll ever have the time to become truly OS but I'm trying in my own way and a lot of it is down to the daily thread.

........

Sorry for the waffle but i do think that the daily thread would suffer it was limited to tips, hints and lists of peoples OS activities without giving more of a picture of what the rest of their lives are like.

Sue

Thank you, Sue.

I need to be fair to myself here because actually you're preaching to the converted

Historically, all forums on MSE have encouraged friendliness and support. After all, we're all here for a common purpose - to save money.

I've been a member of MSE for some time now and have experienced times where "chatty" threads, those which go off topic, were positively and actively discouraged.

As some of our longer term Old Stylers will know, I'm one of the chatty bunch and also, I hope, an encouraging and supportive member. The OS daily thread was set up so that we *do* have an area to discuss our daily doings. If it were a general chit chat thread, it would be moved to "The Arms", the designated forum for ... well, chit chat! And on a couple of occasions, some OS threads discussing our meal plans for the day were indeed moved to the The Arms.
Old Stylers had discussion threads on this (I'm too tired at this point to search and locate them to link to, but trust me, it was thoroughly discussed). At one point, prior to the Daily Thread, there was one very, very, very, very loooong ongoing thread called Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe, but, that wasn't really practical.
The daily thread was born as a combination of the Now and Then threads and YOCS so we could have "over the garden fence/kitchen table" chats about how are old style day was going; "old style" being the operative word. It centred around our old style ways, we did talk about how we fitting in the chores, what we cooked, what we made, had a chuckle about it, supported each other, motivated one another. If we didn't, then it would have simply been a chit chat thread and moved to the Arms!

The OS daily thread has become enormously popular and that is a very good thing! It's the friendliest, most supportive and still a very informative thread. Even from the first few days it inspired something similar to begin in the DFW board. It's even had it's own version in the Green and Ethical Board. So yes, I'm proud of it.

But, it does still have to retain a certain amount of OS flavour or ... it just becomes a chit chat thread and would be more suited to The Arms.

I'm hoping I'm coming across right - I'm very tired, but I do want to support myself a bit here!

If the daily thread is a cause of complaint, then surely, if we wish to retain it, then it doesn't hurt to remember why it exists in the first instance and what it's function is? I'd be so disappointed if we lost it simply because it's evolved to a point where no one knows why it was put in place and what for.

It is the Old Style board within the MoneySaving forum.

pounds_and_pensive

I think it's much easier to understand how achievable OS is if it's presented as a part of 'normal' modern life - that kind of thing makes it more relevant to me and my own life, leading me to think 'I can do that'. A simple list of OS achievements alone on the other hand would probably be seen, by me at least, as depicting the activities of some fanatical time-warp cult that has no relevancy to me at all. I don't post on the Daily Thread, but when I read it I usually find lots to inspire.

I understand the problem outlined in the initial post though, but all I can suggest is maybe changing the title format to put more emphasis on what's really expected - perhaps something like '(Date) - What Difference Does OS Make To Your Day?' Or a sticky thread outlining the purpose and limits of the Daily Threads? Or a sub-forum for them, with a sticky of it's own? I don't know, but I'll keep thinking

It's a difficult one. I hope it's resolved without the loss of the Daily Thread and the inspiration, encouragement and perspective it brings.

Pink.

Hi Queenie,

Like you I am very tired, so perhaps I am misunderstanding.

Who has suggested that we might lose the daily thread?



I will try to explain the position again:

I recieved three complaints by pm. As you said yourself, three is a very small minority when you consider how many people post/read/enjoy/gain from the daily thread.

As a board guide I feel obliged to listen to any complaint. So I did. I looked at the thread and considered it, but as far as I can see there isn't a problem. In my opinion, the daily thread motivates it's readers, gives inspiration, and allows them to chat with and ask advice of like minded people as they would if we still lived in close knit communities. Also, from a board guide/MSE point of view, it helps to free up the board from the chattier, non moneysaving threads.

I know, if left to me, what my decision would be. However it is not my decision to make.

Having recieved three complaints and being unable to think of a useful solution that will suit everyone, it is my role to let the team know that there have been complaints, so that they can deal with it.

Whilst I understand that it is worth remembering why it exists in the first instance and what it's function is, I very much doubt that three complaints saying that the thread is too long/chatty versus the number of users who are happy with the daily thread as it is, will cause us to lose the thread.

Pink

Pink.

As this thread is clearly no longer relevant to Monday 18th September, I have changed the title to reflect the content.

Pink

RacyRed

I'm afraid I don't understand this at all.

Isn't the Daily meant to be a place of mutual learning about OS ways? And who decides what is and what isn't OS if not the people who post? Aren’t those decisions reached by discussion among those trying to practice an OS way of life in one way or another?

OS isn't a place one is drawn to for general chat, that is what the arms is for and it serves that purpose admirably. There is warmth and friendliness on the daily and among it a lot of very valuable advice too.

When I first began to join in on OS no-one, including the board guides, believed I was serious, so if anyone was going to be bumped back to the arms from the Daily, it would certainly be me. I remember a few posts being moved to the Daily from other threads, or "tidied up" by squeaky when he cleaned up the older threads but don't remember having any posts moved from the Daily to DT or seeing that happen to anyone else's posts. Threads yes, but not posts on the daily. Are we quite sure that ever happened?

I can't post as often as I would like to now, but I do read what I can and the first thing I read is the daily, because it is there that the things going on in other threads are often mentioned and commented on, it is there that I find out things I didn't know before, it is the Daily which sends me searching through the rest of the board for the threads that have been mentioned. And often because some friendly banter between other posters about this or that has set me thinking.

Personally, I prefer to learn from my peers through that sort of general intelligent conversation rather than attending some sort of lecture.

If only three people have commented among the hundreds who read the thread every day then can I suggest that they skim read through the bits they don't like? That's what I do; doesn't everyone? One man's meat is another man's poison and all that...

Thanks to Pink and Gingham for all your hard work. I know discussions like this don't make life any easier.

Right, it's officially Monday now so I can hit submit reply. Oh and the BM has just beeped, the washing is on the airer, I did a major clean today and can't tell you how much I love knowing I can totally "Anthea" my new flat in less than 48 hours (yes every cupboard is included in that). And I managed a very long (for me) walk in search of a pair of black swans said to be lurking about somewhere in east London.

Need to put the BM on again now for a cheap loaf for the ducks' breakfast or I'll get well quacked at.

Breakfast will be wholemeal cereal, fresh fruit and soya milk
Lunch: Oatcakes, mushroom pate, and a little cheese, probably with some of Learning to Save's fantastic Tomato and Lemon Jam. (Hun, it is fantastic! Thank you )
Supper will be rocket salad with torn chicken and balsamic vinegar and lemon infused olive oil dressing with HM bread (my work-in-progress version of the New Pizza Express Pollo Verdure salad, which is gorgeous).

Love and hugs to you all.

Ooops! we are not the daily any more, please ignore the last bit of mine