Why I created this site....
 

This was not a spur of the moment decision. Let me fill you in on the history.

Cougarboard is a great community. Many of us have gotten to know each other very well, both electronically and in person. The great part is that for many of us, it allows us to discuss topics germane to the LDS experience amongst folks that are relatively normal (not the nutjobs on the religion-only sites). I'm interested in what my friends on cougarboard have to say, not what some anonymous guy on some other site thinks.

However the leadership of cougarboard has determined that they prefer to steer their board towards sports. Occasionally they have cracked down on religious-type posts and other things deemed inappropriate to a "family" audience. I actually asked El Jefe to start a separate board that would allow religion. He said he would consider it....but that was many months ago. I know he is very busy. Though I may not agree with El Jefe on everything, I like the man. He was very helpful to me when I needed him on a work-related project. I've met him in person. I have nothing against him and other moderators. I just wish for a more free environment when it comes to discussing issues that I care about.

Others and myself had discussed starting a new board with just this in mind. And now I'm the one that has actually buckled down and done the dirty work. Is this site setup the same as cougarboard? No. Is it as feature-rich? No. Am I planning to make money off this? No. Will I probably lose money? Yes. But on the good side, we do have private messaging, and a number of other features.

Did I start this site to replace cougarboard? Of course not. I see this more as a supplement to CB, rather than a replacement. This will be a different place with a different take and perhaps a slightly different culture. Cougarboard is a much bigger place than it used to be. With greater numbers have come greater chaos, and frankly a less cozy environment. Offshoots of a message board or email list are part of a natural progression. I certainly hope this board always stays smaller than cougarboard.

Will this site be completely unmoderated? No. There are some things that will obviously not be tolerated (porn, nudity, violent images, violation of laws, etc.). We'll have to see how things go. I hope we can create an atmosphere of vigor and respect.

If you decide to come on board and register for the site (and I hope you will), please use the same moniker you have used on cougarboard. That way we can keep each other straight.....welcome aboard.

MikeWaters

Just a quick update.....

El Jefe became aware of this site and has since contacted me. We had a nice chat. He asked me to make members of this site aware that he is planning to allow religious posts in the future, by paid donors only, sometime in the next month (or two or longer). He has to rewrite some code, and as one can well imagine, rewriting code for cougarboard does not pay the bills.

So we soldier on here. I still believe that this place can fill a small but desperately needed niche for freer more open discourse. However it is good to see that to some degree El Jefe on cougarboard.com recognizes this need also.

I don't want to run this thing myself. I would like this to be a collaborative effort.

Signup is now open, and you are welcome to invite your friends.

MikeWaters

i still dont see it

Are you referring to the mobile option? I can't find it either.

First day here
 

Frankly Cougarboard stopped working for me more than a year ago and they couldn't get my thing fixed so I appreciate that this site works. So far it does not appear to be the anti-cougarboard site. Anyway why the name cougar guard, just curious.

Welcome. No, this is not the anti-CB site. Many of us don't post there anymore.

Not sure about the name.

is there a mobile feature to allow better access of CG while i'm on my blackberry.

gracias, mr. waters. now i have something to do during church on sundays!

So Mike, do you still consider this as a supplement to cougarboard or has it morphed into a stand alone?

For me, it is stand alone

i agree. this board is a one stop shop for me.

Me too.

LOL. I was looking through here today for a good quote to pull. I couldn't quite find the one I wanted. Well done.

The amazing part is that things have come full circle, just as Mike predicted. Sometimes life seems like a Greek drama, where we all know the ending ahead of time, but anything we do to change course only hastens the inevitable.

For those of us not in the know, what's going on?

As best as we can tell, Mike's gone postal and is taking the board down in some kind of a scorched-earth suicide mission.

How? He didn't ban DDD for good; just for a moment. People are still posting. Is it that he's being extra disagreeable or mean? Isn't he just in mob boss mood and playing the part well? Kind of like play acting?

Google: "Cougarboard Nazis"
 

So, after getting my umpteenth post deleted from CB today, I googled "Cougarboard Nazis," and this is what came up: http://www.cougarguard.com/forum/showthread.php?p=17422.

Good for you to start a new board where we can post freely! I've personally met El Jefe as well, and agree that he is a nice person. I'll probably even continue to post over there (under a different moniker), but I hope to be able to find more freedom here.

How long has this board been up & running?

Since 2005.

[Tumbleweed goes across screen]

You know how some sci-fi movies start with a scroll about prior wars and battles and civilizations that rose and died and rose again? It would just take too long to explain.

I've fought your battles, I've had your thoughts, I've done your deeds. I am the future.

If through all this you end up with one friend, you will have done about as well as me.

Jefe is a wiser man than you think. If I had known what Jefe had already learned, I would have not suffered. This is a place for suffering. If you wish to suffer, then stay. But I will tell you, those who truly want to suffer are few.

Look, we don't always agree (in fact we almost never agree), but I appreciate what you have done here and, perhaps to your chagrin, I have remained. You built up a nice site at some personal expense and lots of time. For whatever it's worth, I have enjoyed our interactions and will continue to do so.

Thanks.

First off, it wasn't all that much work. Probably the bigger deal was/is putting myself in the crosshairs.

Second, I don't miss the old days. Not that they were all that bad. I just don't miss them.

Third, I'm glad there are a couple of people here to chat with once in a while.

Hey Mike,

Which particular old days do you not miss? I loved this place for about three (six? nine?) months back in the days before too many of the uninteresting people moved in. I mean, I *loved* it, it was my favorite place into which to check on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. It made me almost -- dare I say it? -- happy.

I guess what I'm asking is: is CG as it currently operates basically what you want from it at this point? Or in a perfect world would you still be interested in having a more-thriving, somewhat exclusive BYU-themed community?

Just wondering whether I should hold out hope.

o

I don't miss the squabbling. the back-biting and arguing. The dumb requests I got. The annoying people. And so forth.

The bottom line is this: I let the community evolve in an organic way, taking a hands off approach. Eventually it become something that demanded too much of my time and energy, further compounded by being a place I was starting not to enjoy based on some of the people and the content.

Looking back, it is now clear to me that while I initially promoted the idea of the organic community, I eventually came to resent it. And have come to the conclusion that I should have been more pro-active in shaping the community according to my goals and aesthetic. And in that transition, some were upset with me and what they construed as an unsteady hand at the wheel.

I certainly don't give CG very much attention now. It's not really what I "want", but I'm not entirely sure I could articulate what I want. And that is because to a large degree I think CG lived its life, fulfilled most of its purpose, and then died. Is that so bad? Isn't that what happens to most of us? CG now is post-death. Carousing in the attic, causing just a little noise, but mainly quiet. Like any friendly ghost is wont to do.

Most of the people who post here have a personal connection to me. Zulu and Redhairgirl are old friends from my youth. Archaea is virtually a co-founder of the site and a friend that I have met in person, and have talked to countless times on the phone. And a few others that are old hands and have stuck around for whatever reason.

When CG started, I did very little of the recruiting. Archaea did that. When the CUF break-off occurred, I was given no advance warning. And I let them promote their website on this site. After all, I wouldn't want people to stay here because they were merely ignorant of "better" alternatives. Since then I have done absolutely no recruitment. What would you propose? That I hit all the Mormon/BYU blogs and forums and promote this site? Why? After all, if 99% of CG went on to become CUF, what in the world does CG have to offer? Except for the handful of people here who drop by (largely me, by virtue of the fact that I produce most of the volume)? And I don't presume that I have that much to offer.

The old CG is now so long ago that I don't remember many of the people. I'll be thinking of someone or something and I won't be able to remember their handle.

Do I think I could potentially benefit from increased volume and participation here? Maybe. Probably. I'm open to the idea. Do I want to rehash everything that has been said here with the same old people that left? Not really.

There are all kinds of people right now slaving away at some blog that no one reads. Or just a few read. I read a blog fairly regularly for the past couple years. I made not infrequent comments on his blog, almost entirely reflective and supportive. There were only a handful of comments on his blog outside of mine. And maybe only once or twice did he respond to anything I wrote. I think that's interesting. Blogs for no one. Navel gazing.

Sometimes CG feels like a forum for no one. That's true. But we still have the OPEN sign turned on, and we're still in business. And don't forget--in another year we will have potentially accrued $100 of advertising income that can be donated to charity. That's pretty damn exciting. :|

It was late 2008 that everything changed? had to scroll down the threads to figure that out.

2013 now.

CG started in August 2005. Thus the "post" period of CG is now much longer than the "pre" period.

It probably is not coincidental that that was about that time that Facebook was getting really popular.

Thanks for the response -- it was an interesting read. I like hearing others' introspections.

Wasn't sure if these questions were rhetorical or intended for me. Probably rhetorical, but in case of the latter... Mainly, I was just curious as to whether it would be seen as positive or negative if more traffic and comments found their way here or if you were happier with the site being a sort of more interactively structured blog. More directly stated, I wasn't sure whether it would be impolite for me to try to start a discussion.

So it sounds like the door is definitely open then. Appreciate it.

I'm one of those kinds. Similar to how you've put it, it's basically my journal that I'm okay with people reading (and commenting on). I guess it's navel gazing. I think it would be great if my grandkids pored over it some day. Seriously, I wish my grandparents had blogged. (And fwiw, I usually acknowledge the comments I get, except when they're from my brother; there are some things he doesn't seem to get about online interactions.)

Good to get the lay of the land from you, much appreciated. It turns out it was about five months of good times for me in the pre-ghost version of here -- late '06, early '07. Some interesting memories in there, where interesting = good.

All best,

o

Nobody needs to ask permission to start a thread.