Announcing…The Winchester Forum Business
I’ve resisted the idea every since I started The Winchester Family Business. I was never going to do a Forum. You know, like Eric Kripke was never going to allow angels…
Now announcing, the grand opening of The Winchester Forum Business! The name Ardeospina’s idea by the way, so any boos or cheers should be thrown in the general direction of Western Pennsylvania.
You can access the Forum on any page. It’s the last item on the menu bar below the header. If you’re logged into the site, you’re logged into the forum.
The truth be told, I’d been thinking about this for a while, and the recent discussions about bias prompted me to consider the idea again. We are known for in-depth and intelligent discussions on this site, but the conversation is still controlled by the authors and the topics they choose to write about. We’ve never offered the chance for anyone to start a discussion of their own, not without inviting them to write their own article. I know that can be intimidating, and pretty damned time consuming when you just want to open a topic and see the comments fly.
You know what finally pushed me over the edge to do it though? It was Tim The Enchanter. She did this most amazing and wildly entertaining post in a reply to an article that clearly shouldn’t have belonged in that reply. It should have been an article. Or better yet, a fantastic forum post. Check it out here, scroll to the bottom. The old pictures of Jared and Jensen are priceless!
https://www.thewinchesterfamilybusiness.com/article-list/category16/16341-a-special-thank-you.html
I’m still going forward with a few reservations, so the next month is going to be a trial period. You see, I’ve never had luck with Forums. They are impossible to moderate, tempers easily flare and the idea of respect and good manners is often lost. Then I realized that maybe after 3 years of doing this I’ve sent the right message of how we like to have open yet civil discussions on this site. How most of you have always been so wonderful. How I should put my full faith in everyone to behave, but still offer a haven for the truly frustrated and concerned to have their say and feel welcome. Comments for articles must be strictly moderated, but I can easily allow all types of discussions on various forum threads with a set of rules in place.
The forum is still a WIP. There’s going to be some tweaking on my part and I’ll list in announcements any issues that are still lingering. In the meantime, go take a look. You do not have to be registered to read comments or post. Lurkers are highly welcomed! If you are registered at The Winchester Family Business currently you are automatically registered for the forum. So go ahead, explore, test it out, have fun, and hopefully this will turn out to be more than one of my hare brained ideas. Leave feedback in the suggestion box on the forum for anything we’re doing right or wrong or what we can do better. We’ll do our best to adjust, within reason of course.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation!
Alice Jester is the founder, editor-in-chief, head writer, programmer, web designer, site administrator, marketer, and moderator for The Winchester Family Business. She is a 30 year IT applications and database expert with a penchant for creative and freelance writing in her spare (ha!!) time. That’s on top of being a wife, mother of two active kids, and four loving (aka needy) pets.
Just Great!!!