Anyone on here remember the old Catholic Answers forum?

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I remember pm’ing one moderator and being told that to address it to another.

I know for example Michael Francis, Robert Bay, and Thomas Casey were three different people.

Also, the moderators could be visible in blue on the bottom of the page. Sometimes multiple mods were on.
 
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What I miss most was the total number of posts in the upper right-hand corner of your profile; it made me feel like I was accomplishing something by posting. I also liked and appreciated that there were standards for what news stories could be posted - now it’s just ‘anything goes.’

Honestly it doesn’t seem like too long ago (to me) that the format switched.
 
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F_Marturana said:
Also moderators would jump in and give direction like, “please remember to be charitable”
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I still laugh when I remember some of the responses the moderators gave me.
“No, it doesn’t violate the rules. Stop doing it anyway.”
 
I’m generally not in favor of “new and improved,” and that applies to CAF as well as technology and a lot of other things: for example, music, film, television, and, in my own field, education. Also, the new format of YouTube is pretty horrendous, in my view. I guess that’s the price we must pay for so-called progress.
 
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I was around for 10 years on the old forum, but I honestly don’t miss it that much. Every once in a while, there will be some aspect of it that I miss, but nothing major.

It does seem like the flagging system is used differently that the reporting system was in the old forum, but I’m honestly puzzled as to why that is. I treat the “flag” in the exact same way I treated the “report post” icon" that was also available in the corner of every single post in the old system. I only use it when I feel like the situation warrants it, which isn’t that often. The only difference is that, with the Discourse platform, a certain number of flags will temporarily hide posts or shut down threads. It still requires moderator action to delete posts and lock threads, though.

I think the changes that were made were most likely out of necessity with a view to the continued sustainability of the forum. Forums in general have dramatically declined in popularity in favor of other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc. I know of a lot of forums that have simply closed up and/or become ghost towns because that’s not where most people are carrying on with their online conversations nowadays.

So while I probably most miss the presence of moderators who would generally be able to step in and right the ship before threads got too bad, I have pretty much come to terms with the fact that the forum simply couldn’t continue under that model any longer without a huge influx of donations that simply aren’t there.
 
I really miss the “Ask the Apologists”; I learned so much from that!
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
The old system had moderators with names so you knew exactly who to contact per sub forum.
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I remember notices from some of the mods wishing members a Merry Christmas, for example. That personal interaction was nice with some of them (not all of them were that warm).
 
anon98328916 said:
I think it was definitely better the old version. Forums etc where different on here too, so many left when the new version came in.
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The ability of the community to flag posts has resulted in many long time postrrs being banned. Once this happens, there is no recourse to a human being to review the situation. I still miss some of them and their contributions to the discussion.
 
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Yes, I was warned more than once about specific criticisms of RCIA programs that were rather benign. I guessed the moderators in question was a convert or worked an RCIA program and was easily offended.
 
I think I remember more rules – and more specificity in them – in the old format. I remember, for example, one rule that banned the use of variations of words (like Republican, Democrat, traditionalist) that were derogatory.

And then because the mods were always on, they would see trends popping up and address them quickly in stickies or new rules or temporary rules. I remember at one point that we were only allowed 5 posts per day in political threads during the 2016 US election cycle.
 
gracepoole said:
. I remember at one point that we were only allowed 5 posts per day in political threads during the 2016 US election cycle.
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Oh my! That must have driven some posters to the brink! The old…but, but, but…someone on the internet is WRONG! 😱
 
It got CRAZY. There are huge “Trump threads” that can be found in the archives and there are others for HRC and other candidates. The mod for WN, Robert Bay, had to implement some interesting approaches as it was almost impossible to keep up with the activity there. We were also warned that if we only posted in political threads, this would be viewed negatively by mods. That was annoying but also probably healthy for many.
 
I can proudly say, I ignored all if those 2016 election threads. I still rarely frequent the world news category. I will occasionally be involved in a discussion that turns political in the social doctrine forum, but I tend to focus on Church teaching even there (as I understand it)

I find many of the political discussions quite untasteful.
 
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