rick

Ladies and Gentleman,

I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the ‘new’ Marijuana.Com. Over the past few weeks you have undoubtedly noticed a complete redesign of all the sites in the Marijuana.Com Network, including Marijuana.Com, CheapTalk, The Lounge, The Garden’s cure & the GrowFAQ. These changes have made a vast improvement to our websites’ both in terms of form & function. Our sites have been streamlined to provide the best possible surfing environment possible. These changes go so far as to moving our servers to the Worlds Premier Network Facilities located on major Internet peering points in Dallas, Tx.

However, up to this point the changes have been somewhat superficial and have not address the larger overall concern I have for the Greater Marijuana.Com Community. To put it quite bluntly, we’ve lost something that we once had and it’s time to get it back.

You will begin to see some new forums popping up here on CheapTalk. We recognize the importance of providing for a full community experience. It was a mistake to remove “The Lounge” from CheapTalk. The lounge provided something to the CheapTalk Community that the community sorely lacks. That’s the inter-relationships that are created from discussions that that are not only close to your heart, but the farthest from.

“Doesn’t this create hostilities and anger in debate?” Yes, it does. But, I think we’re all quite capable of handling some heated discussions & debates about things that once were taboo here at Marijuana.Com, including other drugs, religion, politics and world affairs and events – which begs the question,

“What does that mean about the rules?”.
The rules are changing. The entire focus of Marijuana.Com is changing. This shouldn’t be too hard in my opinion because over the past few years focus has been blurred and unmanaged. I take full responsibility for this failure of Marijuana.Com to the full Marijuana Community. This responsibility also gives me the power to correct what I see wrong and that’s what we’ll begin to do now.

We have completely rewritten the rules for Marijuana.Com – if you would like to view those rules they are available here; http://www.marijuana.com/420/faq.php...uidelines_item

Consider this to be the grand re-opening of Marijuana.Com, under new philosophy. I will run through the major changes to the forum rules below and the reasons for them as they apply. The fact is, Marijuana.Com needs these changes and I am going to make them.

This is a good time to introduce you to the concept of the “Tank”. Some of you will be familiar with this type of forum, others may not. The Tank will be the repository for all threads that are created to bait or flame and any threads that degrade into flames will simply be moved to the Tank where they will have a limited existence of 48 Hours then deleted. There is no moderation of the Tank except where the security or safety of a person comes into play.

No threads are deleted from this point on and no posts are edited. The time of editing or deleting a thread is gone. Threads that moderation or users believe should be Tanked should be requested by the “report this post” function on each post which is then automatically posted in the Staff forum for FULL staff investigation before Tanking a thread. Once a thread/post is tanked it will be fully available in the Tank for all to read and reply to for 48 hours. After this time the thread will be automatically deleted.

We will no longer be stifling conversations in ANY way. This means that other drugs are now ok to talk about in the context of Marijuana. If there is no mention of marijuana AND no LOOSE relation can be made to Marijuana then the thread / post is a candidate for the Tank.

We are becoming a COMMUNITY. The changes put forth are designed to turn this ship around and right the wrong that has been done. I fully believe that to build a thriving Community we must open ourselves and except people for who and what they are, not because they believe in this or that. A true Community takes all types and the more types that are there the more rich the Community is.

It’s very simple, relax. Watch things unfold if you are unsure. The group of people I have surrounding me, helping me make decisions have over 30 years of direct Marijuana.Com discussion forum experience. I am calling the shots on this change, but I am doing so with the full help and considerations of those with a lot of experience.

Please feel free to ask any questions you would like or to make any comments you would like. I will do my best to not get so lengthy in my responses.


Look forward, not backwards – look forward to a new Marijuana.Com

~r

__________________

replica

It all looks pretty damn good. This particular forum really needs a little more open discussion, I really believe it will make this more of a "community" if you will, rather than the current quick answer/response atmosphere (no offense meant.)

Oh, and the new look is certainly much cleaner.

Cheers

__________________
sleep please

Moderation is a smoker's best friend

More Rights, Please.

rick

Well, you're absolutely right about that - and for me personally, it's sad to see Marijuana.Com this way but we've got a great memberbase to work from and about 20,000 people a day to invite and welcome to the new Marijuana.com.

Thanks for your comments bro!


~r

replica

Gladly

I can't think of anything better than attracting new members, marijuana (whether it be use, legalization, culture, etc) is all about knowledge. Keep fighting the good fight

THC Fiend

I think what you mean is...

you're moving CT into the Lounge, right?

__________________
"Nietzsche is dead."
-God

brevity is... wit

rick

eh, no. Thats NOT what I mean.

This might be a good time to put a fresh polish on those glasses - ...

Each community is just that, it's own community - to make it MORE clear.

:asses some windex and a dirty napkin::

TheOldGuy

Rick,
I'm so glad you took the reins and assumed command of this website. A free and open discussion of the topics will be greatly appreciated.

MarcEmory4Prez

"Look forward, not backwards – look forward to a new Marijuana.Com"

Is it new or just a new coat of paint on the same old house?

MarcEmory4Prez

You missed the point.....oh well.

MarcEmory4Prez

It's one thing to SAY you are going to make changes and yet another to actually DO it.