WFD meta discussion

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
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It’s two fold actually. Originally when the idea for this thread was brought up to the moderators first, asking for our direct intervention, the idea came up to solicit feed back from the populace of the board. It was discussed that we would take a “poll” and see what the people wanted, which is how this discussion originated.

Then the OP on this thread posted above:
“Regardless, it’s abundantly clear that for the 5 or so people that would prefer the WFD to be primarily home cooking (me included), there are at least that many who feel strongly that it should cover everything.”

“There are at least” kind of caught my attention because by my observational count, there were far MORE not supporting the cause, then the “at least” so I decided to take an official vote of the opinions based, so it wouldn’t be left up to subjective observations as to how popular the idea was. Even switching your vote, if you take into account the subsequent votes it’s at least 2-1 / 3-1 AGAINST the idea. So it’s far more than “at least” as many.

I think the discussion and point have been made sufficiently .

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My Friends,

((this is as a contributor and nothing I’m about to say should reflect upon Hungry Onion or its management))

I personally understand the “intent” of the WFD threads and I personally adhere to the desires of that intent. For this reason keep my contributions to only meals I prepare. I don’t care to see pic’s of peoples take home Chinese, pizza or the value meal from their favorite fast food. When I do see many of the lovely (I truly mean that) pictures of restaurant food that is posted in the WFD thread, it’s not of any particular interest to me, so I just scroll past them. It’s such an easy thing to do and it keeps my interest from waning. It’s a practice I encourage you all to try, you can start on this comment right here if you don’t like where I’m going with it, just keep scrolling peeps. J

What I find a bit more troublesome it’s been well noted in this thread, this conversation rears it’s head every few years. How to control the content (or contributors) of the WFD by parties that I’m not even sure have any basis to be questioning the content. Is the irony lost that the most frequent creator of the WFD threads has remained completely silent on this issue? Has anyone else noticed that?

I find it a bit disingenuous in this latest attempt is the source of the complaint(s) are a very few select contributors. It’s fairly obvious certain people (one of whom already “outted” themselves) seem to be targeted by this covered behind a thin veil of concern over the quality of content of WFD. I find bullying of any type to be repugnant, especially in a forum of this nature and I’m sorry if this reeks of that to me, personally speaking. I could be wrong, wouldn’t be the first time and I promise not the last.

The latest WFD thread has 24 individual contributors with 639 posts (to date) this month. Let’s say there are 2 “violators” of the intention of the thread that’s 92% of the board is in “compliance” yet the .083% of the users necessitated a debate over an “official” position on the content of the thread? Really? To me something doesn’t really add up there. {{shrugs maybe it’s just me}}

Regardless if I personally agree with a situation, which in this case I actually do, I don’t expect MY personal desires to be observed here. Even as a moderator my opinion(s) on the value of the content here is no better or worse than yours, so I respect everyone’s contributions regardless if they are to my preference. It’s a community which means give and take; If I have to give a little more than I take, I’m ok with that. I have far bigger battles to fight than anything that takes place on here.

I don’t like people being bullied or intimidated and I’m sorry but that’s what this seems to boil down to and personally I don’t like it.

Moderator Hat On

Now as a moderator I can say that I do see things that most of you do not. What I can tell you as a moderator is I rarely see any flags coming on the WFD threads claiming that a post is inappropriate for the thread.

As a moderator I haven’t seen many people complain in the WFD threads about the content posted.

As a moderator I can tell you if you truly want it to be ONLY home cooked meals, changing the name of the thread(s) to: “What did we cook for dinner” would help solve the problem especially if you ran a simultaneous thread “Where did you dine for dinner” thread simultaneously. Again, I can count on 1 hand the number of flags over 5+ years I’ve witnessed of someone complaining about restaurant pics/comments in a WFD thread.

As someone quoted above: “This seems to be a solution in search of a problem”.

I do believe the results of the people have spoken for themselves. From here I do welcome you all to proceed as you wish - and as a Moderator I will do everything in my power to make your time here as enjoyable as I can. (especially on my NJ board, come on over for a visit, nothing like spending the summer at the Jersey shore!!).

As always my “door” is always open to all of you to help in whatever manner I can. On this board or any, I will do my best to help resolve any issues anyone has. I want to see HO thrive, (as a moderator and contributor) not just survive and for that we need a happy and content community to help continue bringing new people on site to expand the conversations.

With (all) that said I wish you all happy and healthy meals with family and friends for many, many years going forward. I look forward to seeing all the pics and reading the stories. God bless be well.

Regards,

Notjr / Bob

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Hi @NotJrvedivici! If you can stand one more geeky point, in the world of websites and digital content each person’s viewpoint here might be described as that person’s use case. So all viewpoints are equally valid because we each have our own purpose for visiting (or not visiting!) the thread.

Organizing our “use cases” by what folks here do or don’t find useful is indeed best practice. Bravo to you.

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Don’t have a dog in this fight but I stand by LindaW!

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(( I honestly have no idea what you just said, but I do think a “thank you” is warranted. lol ))

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It was on the welcome thread.

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LOL thank you. I’ve got to admit the youtube video I watched was hypnotizing!!

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Me, too. I think it’s the simplest solution for those who prefer home cooking content. And sometimes even a restaurant meal inspires me.

I raised a very similar question a few years ago to get the temperature of the group. Then, as now, most seem to want to keep the restaurant pictures. So I’m at peace with it. They’re not why I come to WFD, but for others they might be part of it.

Not to be a total relativist, but the comments here by @Sasha @saregama @small_h @gracieggg @tomatotomato @gcaggiano and @Auspicious all especially resonated with me - even coming from opposite sides.

I think the overall harm in losing contributions, good feeling, and conversation from @paryzer and @Barca in particular (as well as others who occasionally share their restaurant meals, such as @gcaggiano) pushes me into the “let it be” camp. No real harm, no foul. We can do it differently than Chowhound (thank god!).

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Amen!!!

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I finally understand what @shrinkwrap meant by the reference to “one of us.”

This has been illuminating. It’s also prompting me to take a spring break and work on my yard. Gotta share the eyeballs.

Best to all of you. Caring about this community is very impressive.

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Happy planting - but come back soon, please!

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@naf @Miss_belle I’ve had some personal correspondence with @RedJim. He kindly explained to me the circumstances under which he left. So I left it at that but expressed my sadness and respect about his decision.

That said, I’m a WFD lurker. I vote for more joy in my life, and WFD provides some of that. And I’m talking about all of WFD, home-cooked/assembled or otherwise. I welcome and read it all.

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Bob / @NotJrvedivici - I was with you right up until you put your moderator hat on. I am and have been a moderator and administrator on a number of fora. I get the perspective. I think what you are missing is that complaints are rarely indicative of problems before it is too late. This discussion, to me, exposes a lot of perspectives. Without counting explicitly (Denise’s @tomatotomato use cases), I think there is a pretty heavy weighting toward home cookery and a small number of passionate advocates for restaurant meals. The underlying tone I perceive however is toward tolerance. Beyond that, I think this meta-discussion has let many of us feel heard which is always good. It lets us blow off steam and functions as a safety valve, much like the safety valves on a pressure cooker.

The scenario I have seen elsewhere is management/mod/admin sitting around wondering why traffic is down saying “but no one complained.” As others have noted, HO is a pleasure activity for almost all of us and if it isn’t fun people are more likely to go elsewhere than complain. In my experience the loudest voices are not always representative of the majority. That’s important to remember.

Also important are the “influencers.” J. Edwards Deming made the point that you need the square root of a total population to buy into the vision of an organization for that population to be healthy. Mr. Deming was almost single handedly responsible for the recovery of the Japanese economy after World War II so he was a smart cookie. The upshot in simple terms is that, with all due respect to egalitarianism, not everyone is equal and if those who contribute the most (5%/10%/20%) drift away from lack of interest the community will whither. HO (or the software) recognizes this with the little badges for 5%, 10%, 20%, admired, respected. I’ve watched two online communities die because a small handful of contributors lost interest–usually because of a small vocal band–and simply stopped posting. Thousands of people lost interest because the people who put great effort into helpful posts disappeared. No complaints, no reports, just gone.

Circling back around, this meta-discussion serves many purposes. It identifies the use cases (Hi Denise!) of the WFD participants which themselves differ. It lets people blow off steam. It allows people feel heard. It exposes WFD readers as well as posters to the perspectives of others. It is a hugely useful exercise.

I’ll offer that essay questions are MUCH better than multiple choice or fill in the blank. More work for the teacher/manager but better in exposing issues, including those of “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” The meta-discussion is one long essay question.

Now put your name on the top of the paper and turn it in. ← There is a joke here - for those who don’t know it I’m happy to fill you in.

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Freaks from the '30s to me, but also

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And to address one of @Sasha’s original concerns, which I actually share, how do we rejuvenate regional boards? NJ, LA, Southeast Asia seem like the only boards with lots of activity, sometimes done single-handedly (I’m looking at you @klyeoh). Seems to me that was the basis of the original post (but please correct me if I’m wrong, which I often am). Not as much that there is irrelevant content on WFD, but that people were posting on WFD in favor of the relevant regional boards. I used to be a relatively active participant on the Greater Boston/New England board but this past year has been a bust for me like so many of us.

So, (rhetorical question) how do we give Regional Boards a shot in the arm? How do we attract new HOs that have the time and commitment to posting?

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And @Rooster also hang out on the 2021 garden thread!

Perhaps there are some veggies in your yard work!

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That was great! Exactly what I needed IRL that has nothing to do with food. I will have to research “use cases”.

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Hey there @digga and @shrinkrap! Along the same lines as you, I agree that other boards need an activity boost. I’m trying to be intentional about posting on non-WFD threads when I can.

My main challenge is that I am home all the dang time during the pandemic. And I am tethered to providing meals and food on schedule(s) that are not my own, which drains my energy.

I can’t wait to have more stuff to post on regional and topical boards as we can all gradually step back into lives that are more normal.

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“Use case” is just a way of talking about the “job” that a person wants a web site, or a web page, or a product to do for them. Or the purpose that the intended user has in mind.

I like that idea of use cases because it takes away judgement. No right, no wrong, just what’s useful to the intended user. Around here, that’s all of us. I think.

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Both tricky questions and both probably worthy of discussion in a separate thread.

But, briefly, it’s all but imposisble to give regional boards a boost at a time when restaurant visiting has been all but suspended for the last year. Folk who used to post may have now disappeared so we may have a long term terminal issue.

And how do we attract new HOs? Possibly even more difficult. The food related forum format has been in decline for some years. I have seen local food forums in the UK die and I have seen a once active (and very knowledgable) eGullet UK board similarly die. Folk use the likes of blogs, Facebook and Twitter to discuss food nowadays. We are, I’m afraid, dinosaurs here, clinging to a format that appeals to those of us who have grown up with it but not to a wider audience.

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