@PeoriaDotCom Naked women and beer works for bribing me.

There are a few "bullies" for lack of a better word, that when disagreed with, mock, ridicule and make fun of people. I think we all know who they are. But they don't actually break any rules. They just make people uncomfortable. Nobody wants to post something that is serious only to be made fun of. IMO saying "Are you trying to look stupid?" is the same as saying "You are stupid". And let's face it, you can't have any kind of serious discussion with a silly meme or gif.

@skutfarcus : Nailed it again.

Removed By Request

I've always been fond of self-moderated websites. Stackoverflow, for example, encourages positive contributions and rewards you for it with new privileges. Reddit is another example, anyone can create and moderate their own communities and the most active content rises to the top. People feel a sense of accomplishment.I just don't get any sense of reward or privilege for having been here all these years. I have 55 credits on my account, I don't even know what those are for and feel like I stumbled across them by mistake. I only visit the forum and ignore all of the other sections because I don't find them particularly useful compared to other resources for similar content.I come here mostly because it's local, and I'm interested in what people might be saying about local topics. I like a good debate. Less so for click-bait blog titles or "oh what a beautiful sunny day" threads.On a possibly unrelated topic... From day one it has been a bit of a mystery who you are, why you registered this domain, and what your motivation / commitment is to this community. All the about page tells me is that this is apparently a company project and you live out of state. So what is the end goal? Build up the traffic and sell it off? Utilize it as an SEO tool? Certainly your job is more than building thriving online communities targeting cities you don't live in... What are you getting out of it?

This really isn't a "forum" any more where participation was encouraged and posts could be anything from silly games (come on - admit it, they are fun even if they are mindless) to serious discussions. In my humble opinion, this current evolution of the site is just plain not as interesting as it once was. Not that you asked, and just my two cents worth, but I find it mildly annoying to have to click on every thread just to see what it is "really" about. Having categories would help. I miss some of the formerly more active members - there were some interesting and lively discussions under categories where you could pick and choose.

Removed By Request

I miss getting up in the a.m. and not seeing certain people on here. I knew so and so would be logging on when I did or shortly there after. I loved seeing what was posted the from night before, cuz you knew it was gonna be something! and I would race to the computer just to see what the religious section would bring. but no more now I spend time on facebook with my actual family. :sigh:

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

@tapeworm Re: Me & PDCI think I've answered this several times, but it gets lost in the shuffle.
I have a lot of family in Peoria. I lived there a while when I was a kid and my grandmother was dying. My grandparents on my Mom's side have a long history in Peoria -- my grandmother was a Ward, grandkid of a Southside Bank founder. My grandfather was a Rutherford, cousin to the William Rutherford who started the wildlife park. My Mom was born & grew up on the south side (Greenlawn Ave)...she was married at the Mark Twain hotel ( not sure if that was the name it went by back then ). I have a fondness for Peoria, and would hope to bring something valuable to the community, but feel like I've failed in that respect. I've kept it, despite losing many thousands of dollars on it, out of pride and ego I guess. I've created booming communities in other locations that have been vauable to many people, but have had trouble here. I've been doing PDC for, what, 9 years now? If I were out for a quick buck, or just looking to sell it, I would have been gone a long time ago. Re: credits -- it's something I'm working on, not released yet.

@PeoriaDotCom I remember when you came to visit Peoria and a bunch met for lunch at "The Mark Twain". That was a long while back.

[ Removed by Admin ]

@BABA -- Fair enough, if you think the site should be moderated less strictly, it's a judgment call, and you're free to disagree.
But there is definitely a vocal group that thinks otherwise, and frankly I've decided I don't want to be in charge of a project where anything goes. That said, I have other projects, moderated under the same guidelines as PDC, that do well -- posting is active, and the majority of it is positive, informative and/or entertaining. I'd like to see PDC get to that point, too.

I think I'm seeing something between the messages here... Just today I saw this video:
www.youtube.com/watc h?v=QAK0KXEpF8Uand immediately I thought about PDC, specifically this message thread. And it occurred to me that people may have stopped posting because of a certain fear. Not fear like life or death, but more like not wanting to get anyone riled up and have to deal with the aftermath. I'm guilty of it. I've started countless threads and replies, only to delete them, saying to myself "this might not go over well. Such and such person will probably say this or that." I think that Joe's idea of creating incentives for us to post to the site is a wonderful idea, but then what happens after the event? Are we posting here because we wanted to be part of a community, or because we wanted to win the prize? I guess what I'm saying is that we should WANT to be here. We should ENJOY posting here. When PDC started, we didn't have other options like Facebook and Reddit. Now we have to CHOOSE to come here. To make people do that, this place has to be hospitable, reasonable, and friendly. There's been a lot of talk about overmoderation. Yes, there was a time when things were getting disrespectful and mean. Sadly, extreme measures had to take place with longtime members' accounts shut down. Some were friends of mine, and I hated having to tell them "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do."Seeing recent discussions though, I have observed that heated discussions CAN and DO take place without turning into a mosh pit of spears. I have chosen to sit back and watch several conversations to see where things go, and people have been policing themselves much better lately even in the heat of a pointed discussion. I hope this is an upward trend.I have a point, believe it or not. And that is that it's up to us, the members, to make this place a success or a failure. Joe can sit in his Boss-man chair all day long giving out Klondike bars and propeller hats and shirts that say "I posted on PDC and all I got was this crappy t-shirt" but in the end it's you and me. We need to create an atmosphere where people want to be.

I miss the community part of PDC. I posted because I was communicating with friends. Now it seems like a lot of gotcha posts and idiotic memes.