I asked a few times to the moderator to explain why the decision to merge a specific topic into a generic one, but I’ve been ignored.
Maybe there was a good reason, but I have no chance to know as the communication has been interrupted.
I’m not sure what happened to BA, this is not how I remember it.
The funny thing is, I’ve been accused by the same person to be a troll. Well, I won’t annoy any longer.
Farewell.
There were a lot of AI threads that popped up in a short period of time. The current megathreads were the solution to prevent new ones popping up daily.
However, I am in full agreement that the thread merging can sometimes be seen as overzealous (reducing the will of people to discuss various subjects as their carefully thought points are thrown into quickly buried piles), and I would also be in agreement if you share the sentiment that user suggestions tend to be ignored to the point where the section for site feedback appears to be superfluous and is really just a trashcan to throw ideas into. The best way to not make your voice heard is to call it quits.
There are 1923 messages in the moderator inbox right now, with an average of 20-30 flags being cast every day. Feel free to start your own forum with 150,000 active users and four unpaid volunteer staff and do a better job- we’ll be interested to learn from your success for sure 
Still waiting to hear why the staff appear to see round avatars and endless scrolling as non-negotiable design decisions in the context of an art forum (which has been asked almost since the initial move to Discourse).
Newer != better as far as UI/UX trends go.
Nope. Actually, this site is usually run out of Bart’s personal pocket most months
Yep – the advertisers. 
There are a lot of threads asking for help und there are a lot of people who suggest things… and
people who are posting their art and tips and tricks. This is for me: The community 1).
Sadly sometimes it is very different to understand the problem when there is nothing else than an image of “some result” and amost no other text than “how fix”… ( yes the to is missing).
And then there are the people who argue why blender is that bad (or this forum). If someone knows some other apps (or forums or is the plural fori ??) someone can see: they simple do not know enough about 3D software …fori or in which situtation to use which technique. Some do learn form the replies → see 1) .
But sometimes when someone suggest things (sometimes easily findable via Menu → Help → Manual ) they even get more pi**ed… 
Even more: There are also the people who wants to discuss the problems of the world in this artforum ( i’m not referrring to @anon40845008 here)… or some conspiracy theories. 
But this seems the percentage you find everywhere in live 2) .
Anyway:
As everone can see via the FAQ (top left; menu ) → supporting BA → BA Patreon Page the “contant income” is by 147 members with a total of €78.01/month.
Anyone can lookup the monthly cost for:
And yes there has to be made a decision about the software to use running this forum. And there is also a forum feature to flag posts which is driven by the community and seems to be used intensively… ( Mostly it seems when someone doesn’t like the replies (s)he get. Because somone can read them before the are flagged. ) And sometimes threads are split and also merged (sometimes because users post the same thing in different categories or even minutes afterwards again → just more work).
And guess what: this decisions are not made by some users who mostly do participate in the non-3D areas of this forum. But flags are…
So some users seems to underestimate the amount of money and work any greater project needs to be “alive”. Maybe because they never were involved in some bigger project ?? IDK 
Maybe it’s → 2) ??
Maybe they should simply think about what they had agreed to while registering onto this forum, simply re-findable via the about page and further the guidelines and TOS and especially point 3. User Content License ? Maybe they have forgotten 
Tip:
To get one own personal opinion published to the world one have to do what every other person have to do: pay for the publishing and get responsible for any juristical counter measurement.
Or simply be more Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree and do not want to have changed so much because one think one can do better.
Just my two cent about a non–3D, non–art or non–blender related topic.
Happy blending.
If you wanted to express it latin it would not be fori but fora. It would be fori if it was masculin but forum is neutral and neutral (usually) uses the -a ending in latin.
Well said.
Something I always like to remind people of is that this is private property. Bart is paying for these servers and he chooses to allow us to access them.
If you choose to protest in front of a city hall in America, you have freedom of speech covering your right to do so.
However, if you choose to protest inside of a Denny’s, they have the right to kick you out of their private property.
Bart’s servers, Bart’s rules. Seems pretty simple to me.
You’d dare think I’d deign to step foot amongst the rabble? FIE, I SAY!
This has nothing to do with flags or the amount of messages the moderators receives. One only needs to look at Joseph’s activity to see how often he reacts to various posts.
I directly pinged him twice in the very thread he responded, and he obviously decided to ignore me. I asked him twice to explain why he was merging my post, to no avail.
Maybe he didn’t like where I was going with what I wrote, and decided to take action.
In fact, he also called me a troll. Too bad he doesn’t know I’ve been on this forum way before he probably knew this forum even existed.
As for the work of the moderators, no one is forcing them. They know what they’re getting into. I admire what they do, I honestly couldn’t do it, no way I could find the time. But if one commits to something, better try your best, or at least be open to critique.
Some moderators shown neither of both in the past. There were some users (I remember one in particular) who were quite disruptive, and yet, it took a lot of time before a moderator actually took action.
Meanwhile, it took one simple reply of mine to get Joseph on his nerve (you can judge by yourself how offensive my reply was, just look at the AI thread).
He demonstrated his lack of moderators skills also on the Palestine/Israel Conflict thread, which, thanks to him, got very close to be locked, while the thread is instead proof that users can have a polite, and informative discussion.
As I said in that AI thread, it’s not always been like this for him. Maybe it’s due to stress, or his patience is wearing out, things that I can both understand. But the very fact that he still hasn’t addressed why he decided to merge my post, proves that he’s not interested, and he’d rather have me out of his way.
Well, life is too important to get salty on a forum.
I hope you can all keep enjoying Blender, as I’ll do. I always tried to push this incredible software since my first days at Prologue Films, and continued throughout the years wherever I worked, when no one knew what Blender was, or when, if you mentioned it, people would look down at you.
Things got better, and Blender is now recognized as a serious tool, capable of great things. I like to think that I contributed in my own way, even if a tiny bit, and I’ll keep doing it by spreading the word, by trying to get it implemented in pipelines, and by keep buying add-ons from the amazing developers.
Ciao
Your initial statement or assertion was in the AI thread, then you started a separate thread to flesh out your supporting argument for that assertion. Makes total sense that it be enjoined to your initial post for complete context, whether you think so or not.
You were answered, here in this thread, but since your reading comprehension seems to require things to be said multiple times, here it is again- all AI conversation goes in the megathread. It’s been this way for years, there’s nothing special about you or anyone else. It’s the rule. Always has been. Why you should get special treatment? If anything, you should be happy- you’ve been moderated exactly like everyone else, in an impersonal and fair way based exclusively on rules with no considerations for personal taste, which is what you’re asking for, no?
Looking at the stats, it’s interesting to see how many tens of thousands of posts have been merged over time in this forum, and yet somehow all those posters survived. I think you will too
Silly reason to leave for 
Years ago, I decided to install a “forum” on the website that supported a piece of software that I was selling at the time. (And that, technically, I still do …)
It did not take me long at all to scrap the forum. Because: (a) I realized that none of my paying customers had asked for it, nor were using it. And: (b) because I absolutely hated to be “a moderator.” I am not cut out for this non-job. But I acquired a permanent respect for the role – and the critical but thankless importance of it. (P.S.: Thanks!) 
There are real costs and volunteer effort which play a crucial role in “what we get to experience here every day.” Get involved, if you want to. But, don’t criticize, if you don’t.
I really hate to be posting to this thread and here’s why…
To me, when someone announces they are leaving, what they are really doing is seeking is attention. “oh no, please don’t go” sort of attention.
If you are leaving, then just leave… because this sums it all up
Don’t let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out…
Randy
I don’t see round avatars as non-negotiable, but it’s easy for people to shout they want X “because it’s better”, but don’t put any real effort behind that statement. Why do they need it? And how many people want this? How many people do NOT want this? And what’s the amount of work involved? Cost? Who will do the work? (Spoiler: probably me). Have you thought about ALL the cases that’ll be impacted by this change?
So, if you feel this strongly about such things, make the effort and get substantial support for it.
Endless scrolling is just how Discourse works, and it would require an extremely strong case to switch to another platform (as well as a commitment for additional resourcing).
Meh, I kinda prefer the way this works as is, tbh. It works consistently across multiple devices, and I know what to expect.
I have no issues with the scrolling on this website on any device. No idea what people are complaining about.
Nor shape of the profile pic.