Why have so many mods and great long-time members left? Is it the ownership? The members posts? Trolls? Ads?

Please let us know.

The VB's admisisters cover page has really put me off. It's like a generic magazine article patronizing their veg readers rather than a forum that's exclusive to vegetarians!

The "troll?" threads have gotten out of hand. I wish they could be contained into one thread rather than garbage up the forum. It's hard to know sometime what people are like when they post that way. I recall one really ocd member that i considered a troll for a while. He would question everything, starting new threads for each question. He was active for a while and became much more open about his life and now I wonder what happened? Anyway, not to discourage anyone, but if threads could be more easily merged that would help.

I wonder about so many who join and then disappear. It isn't even like there's been much disparaging of anything, they just don't come back.

I also think posting links to first time members should need to wait a period of time/posts before posting links to their blogs/videos. Really any link.

I know many here do ban themselves temporarily. When you're 'banned' do you still get messages? How about changing the label of banned when it's self imposed to something like 'on break'

We have had old time members return for brief hellos. I wish I knew what their concerns were with the forum

VB has seemed more tame now than in past days. More focus on food than ethics? I wonder if too much? Need more compost perhaps?

VB definitely seems like less of a community than it once did. There are fewer long-term members and experienced veggies to help out the new folks. Less non-vegetarian-related discussion. This probably creates a downward spiral of reduced interest.

I agree with silva about the front page.

I was gone for a while because of all the drama with the forums splitting. I was a mod then, and it was just sucking up too much of my time and attention. I came back last year when I decided to go vegan. I find it less time-consuming now because there are just fewer discussions. I mainly stay to give advice to new veggies and learn about new food ideas. I definitely have no interest in posting as much as I used to.

I agree with silva - new posters should have to make an intro post (or something along those lines) before they are allowed to post links. That should help with the spam and the "self promotion and never return" posts. I also agree with her comments about the home page and merging threads.

Maybe a veggie FAQ would be helpful? (Forgive me if there already is one) Just with answers to the common questions like how to deal with your family/friends as a new veggie, what to do if you accidentally eat something non veggie, what to bring to a meal with omnis etc. I feel like a lot of the posts around here are more or less on the same subject and when the talk around here is the same thing all the time, people will be more inclined to leave. The FAQ, for example, is something I'd put at the top of the homepage. That way it's easily found.

I really enjoyed following the recent debate between No Whey and Joan about certain practices in the dairy industry and how best to frame discussion about them with non-vegans. But it's so rare on the internet to see two grown ups actually behaving themselves, listening to the other's point of view, and not reducing the discussion to personal abuse (in fact I've seen some quite ugly pile ons on here in the past). I'd love to see more of that kind of in depth discussion here, though I'm inclined to be an observer than a participant.

Also, I do love food..

Yes, and the spammers and attention seeking eight year olds are really frustrating.

Spudulika, I think I love you! And I also think I might be learning to take the temperature of the room. Someone like NoWheyJose you can trust not to take something sharp personally, so you can push some things harder. She probably senses the same thing about me, so we could really get into the weeds without injury, but it doesn't always line up like that. I've driven one or two people off in frustration, but at least one of them came back, to my relief. It's not just anyone you can engage the way you can engage NoWheyJose.

I can't really think of many who've asked to be banned. No, it's not possible to get messages if you're banned because you simply can't log in.

I think that a person who asks to be banned has had enough of VB and doesn't want to be tempted to come back easily at some time in the future and start posting again.

I find it frustrating that so many new people come here and introduce themselves, and then you never hear from them again. And the new members that post just to advertise and drum up attention to their own blogs but do not bother to contribute to the rest of the forum I find annoying. Almost as bad as the juvenile trolls.

I also agree with silva regarding the front page, and with Dormouse regarding there being such a small number of core experienced members left here, and very little non veggie discussion going on. People get bored and move on. There just isn't the investment and interest in this community that there once was.

As a moderator, I personally had a difficult time keeping up with everything and felt like I was doing more behind the scenes babysitting than being able to jump into the forums and be part of the community. I love the regulars that post here, and I love helping newcomers and learning from others and just having a place to hang out. It's too bad the other stuff gets in the way of a potential great community. I was a member of several other veg*n forums with similar issues that became overrun by trolls or just completely died out.

I do see this problem: It's hard to find your Questions and Answers!

In order to see your questions & answers, you first have to click on your name, then click on "Statistics", then click on "find your posts".

On other forums (like Yahoo Answers), they have a big tab that says, "My Questions & Answers". Much more straightforward!

This is in large measure why I stepped down as a mod. The articles are patronizing and rather insulting, written by an anonymous pool of authors, who don't seem to understand the underlying passion and commitment of real veg*ns. The avowed purpose of the cover page is to attract new members, but it may be, it is attracting the wrong crowd- curiosity seekers and opportunists.

VeggieBoards was founded by Michael- a vegetarian, who had an interest in veganism too- in 2001. Under his leadership, VB became a phenomenon, the best veg*n site on the web. But Michael's work was voluntary- not for profit- and in 2012, for personal reasons, he felt obliged to give it up. Rather than close VB down, he saw fit to sell VB to Huddler, a non-veg*n management company, in the hope VB could survive as a viable veg*n website. This is when the first "great exodus" occurred. Many of the old-timers objected to Huddler, and chose to leave. On the other hand, some of us stayed. I was not ready to give up what for years had been my "home away from home." Huddler was very lucky to have found Jennifer C- a veg*n- to administer their new site. Jennifer re-organized what was left of VB, and worked with the moderation staff to bring back the old esprit de corps. But then, Huddler sold VB to VerticalScope, its current owner, and Jennifer started to post less and less, and soon stepped down as the site admin. She's still listed as a member, but hasn't posted in over a year. River took up the banner briefly, but was soon replaced by Cricket, the current administrator- a non-vegetarian. As I recall, River asked to be "banned," because she was starting law-school, and was concerned about managing her time. As administrator, and a non-veg*n, Cricket promised to stay in the background, to handle the purely technical functions of the site, and to let the moderators, all of whom are veg*n, run VeggieBoards. Then, these lame home-page articles began to appear. When mods raised objections about the superficiality of the articles, they were essentially overridden, and the articles were published anyway; in other words, we were not being allowed to actually run the boards. I felt somewhat betrayed, but, rather than engage in a behind-the-scenes fight, I elected to step down.

In my view, except for those purely technical aspects of running the site, VB doesn't really need an administrator, certainly not a non-veg*n one. I think Cricket, who has expressed an interest in vegetarianism, should make an actual commitment, and become vegetarian herself, or else keep her word, and stay in the background, and let VeggieBoards be run by, about, and for real veg*ns. As it has become, "our" home-page portrays us as little better than a side-show at a carnival, where outsiders can gawk at the funny veg*ns.

VB has evolved from a genuine veg*n website into a simple for-profit commodity, managed by non-veg*ns, who don't really know what it's about. I think we're being treated disrespectfully, but perhaps worse, VerticalScope doesn't seem to realize that their interference is preventing us from developing our own community. They seem to want us to adhere to their vision of veg*nism, which is not correct.

Thank you, Capstan.

I always use tapatalk on my phone for VB, so I've mostly ignored the articles.

I did ask Cricket if he/she were vegetarian, but I don't think I received a response. How can we be a vegetarian community when the leader is omni? Eating cow while typing a veg article. :vom:

Thanks to Spudulika and Joan for the compliments! I worry that I get too invested in debates and that I might come across as a bitter person who's just looking for an argument, so it's good to know that my posts are seen in a positive light! I've always loved debating and I have respect for anyone who can argue a point articulately, even when I disagree.

I'm relatively new to VB and sad to see it disintegrating. What can we do to keep it alive and thriving?

well, people probably often find VB when they google a question like 'is honey vegan?'...they follow the google link and read the comments, and then their question answered, they go away.

One way to increase posts could be to stop google scanning old posts, maybe, and then someone would maybe join and ask the question.........well...it's one possibility..although people will repeat questions ad nauseam..

plus, I think we really need a shrug smiley.

So I'm jumping on the bandwagon about the articles on the front page which do the entire site a disservice. If I'd seen those when I first found veggie boards I would not have joined.

Some of the articles seem to be written by someone who hasn't had the time to research the question properly (e.g. cats ethical meaty pet food vs vegan pet food) or with no actual interest on the subject (veggie marathoners - this one probably annoyed me disproportionately as I'm a runner and by now know quite a lot about racing nutrition and what endurance racing does to your body). Surely we have members on here with some knowledge about these subjects? I think it's telling that the last few front page articles have had no replies and spawned no discussion.

Well, "we're" on Facebook now, so we can all be friends.

I guess that's how they think it works? I, too, dislike the articles. Stop pandering/patronizing the members. They may think that Facebook and these articles drive traffic to the site, but it's not the right traffic. I've heard through the grapevine from other forums that social media definitely does hurt them, but then that means that forums now have to entice users in other ways.

A few things that I've found recently, anyways: (1) the lack of discussion, (2) the lack of the ability to discuss, and (3) how we sometimes 'come across' to new people as complete stereotypes.

For (1), there are way too many threads about food. There's an entire lifestyle related to veg*ns, so why not explore this area for discussions.

For (2), I've been told and have seen that this site is a "safe-haven" for veg*ns. I understand that it won't (and shouldn't) tolerate hate; however, questions or feedback from members that may not be inline with the 'stereotypical' views of veg*ns shouldn't be chastised.

For (3), I get frustrated when someone comes on here asking a legitimate question about eating meat and the response is "I wouldn't put burning, rotten, dead, horrible, bloody flesh in my mouth". Ok, that's not good for anybody. It reiterates a ridiculous stereotype about veg*ns, and is quite uninviting to new members. They have a legitimate question, and we've essentially rebuked them. These people need our guidance and support, not our scoffing and finger-wagging.

Sorry, not trying to offend anyone, but I've found that forums are generally for discussions. The best part of forums are that you learn about others, their beliefs, and how a particular belief system doesn't exactly fall squarely into a box. There are no particular rules or guidelines that are to be strictly followed in life (generally speaking, of course).

If you want a safe-haven where no one will question your views, don't go into public. Call/email/text your likeminded friends to all rant together. I enjoy discussions, because it helps me learn what I don't know. It also helps me learn about the opposing side of any particular argument. If we discourage discussions outside of our comfort zone, I'm probably going to come around here less. I like getting outside of my comfort zone.

As the great Eleanor Roosevelt said: Do one thing everyday that scares you. If that means stepping into someone else's shoes for a moment, I'm all for it.

Years ago, this forum was a target for anti-veg trolls. A duckhunting forum invaded en masse one time.

That is why we are leery of questions about desert island stranding and insects killed in agrigulture, etc. We can go pretty much anywhere IRL, or on Facebook, Twitter, the web, youtube, etc and argue veganism with omnis all day long if we're in the mood. This is the one place we don't have to listen to that.

The hardest part while transitioning and just living life as a vegan is the food. That's why we talk about it so much, I guess.

If "stepping into someone else's shoes" means tolerating hunters and meat-eaters on a veg forum, then I strongly disagree. If there's one place where we can speak truthfully about meat, it's here-- and, frankly, if someone can't handle a plate of dead flesh being called a plate of dead flesh, then they shouldn't be discussing things on the internet.

I heard about that. It's unfortunate, but that doesn't mean we have to treat all newcomers as trolls. Some people are just ignorant.

Well, if people come on here for a discussion, they may truly want to learn. I would not compare the discussions on here to those on other social media. You'll truly get trolls there. But, sometimes some meaningful conversations would be nice.

I understand about the food. Is there any way to get some of the other topics somewhat active?

If this forum is solely meant for those to complain about meat eaters and to not discuss topics or to help provide guidance, than I am in the wrong place.

I am pretty new myself so I did not know all of this happened.

The facebook thing...no sorry, I will never be liking this forum on facebook. Also I don't really use facebook for anything. I did read a few of the front page articles when they were coming out but they had problems which I mentioned in the comments. I haven't bothered reading any of the newer ones.

heh TailFin, I will actually sometimes argue for something I don't personally believe in. I find it a good way to expand your understanding of a subject.

It absolutely is a good way to expand your understanding. I do it all the time, as well.

Just because you play devil's advocate doesn't mean you have to believe in, support, or accept the opposing argument. It means you're trying to understand the opposing argument to make your own argument stronger. I'm comfortable enough in my own beliefs that I feel I can do this; perhaps not everyone can.

As said that thread was great and the contributions were great and I'd love to see more of the same. Consequently I wonder whether we could have debating questions posed for those who do enjoy a good debate?

Like a well behaved Devil's Advocate thread or threads, posed by v*gans to v*gans rather the kind of typical confrontational crap that comes from omni trolling.

A lot of the YouTube channels I most enjoy involve in depth questioning of commonly held ideas, both by omnis and vegans. Perhaps we could choose a provocative YouTube video topic to discuss, or an article perhaps, but ensure that the debating tone is kept at a sensible grown up level where there is no abuse, intimidation of or 'pile ons' to those who may differ from the majority or most popularly held view.

The great thing about a properly-moderated forum, is that real in depth democratic discussion can take place, possibly like no-where else on the internet. I think there is a real potential that Veggieboards could be great space for this.

And I don't think we have 'too many' vegan food discussions either, just too few of the other meatier (so to speak) ones.

I'm not sure what you mean. We discuss many topics here, but the question of whether or not it is acceptable to kill animals isn't up for debate. This is a forum for vegetarians. If someone is genuinely interested in giving up meat and needs encouragement or advice, that's one thing, but the promotion of hunting or meat-eating is another thing entirely. Maybe we're thinking of very different hypothetical posters, here. What sort of discussions did you have in mind?

Spud, I very much like the idea of a forum specifically for debate between veg*ns. The compost heap has always been my favourite!

Debates between veg*ns usually work out fine here in the compost heap. One problem is we vegans sometimes jump on lacto/ovo veggies, and we shouldn't.

But as a rule there isn't too much piling on, except if political opinions differ from the usually liberal/progressive majority here.

Start a thread in the compost for debate and let's see how it goes.

I've quoted Poppy's recent post from another thread as an illustration of how we members have become disconnected from the mods. Not sure why the admins couldn't have announced the 3 mod resignations from the last couple of months? Also I don't think it's sufficient to have the list of mods in an obscure corner of the FAQs (in Articles).

And what exactly is an "active mod"? Surely all the mods should be active, or what's the point of them being a mod? Having been a mod until fairly recently, my idea would be to lose non-participatory mods at the same time as recruiting fresh mods. Without that, obtaining mod consensus in a mod vote could be a problem, especially when "time is of the essence".

Referring to the administrator, it was my opinion in May 2015 when River relinquished her mod and admin roles that we still needed an admin from among the mods, to help coordinate mod actions, with the site admin acting only when technical help was needed eg member name change etc. Nothing that has happened since has changed my mind.

I just signed in non-tapatalk and saw the articles, and the gross huge Facebook post begging for likes. :vom:

I didn't realize these articles were the first things people see when they open VB. Ugh. I see over a thousand views on some of them. :/

I have been on VB for a little over two years now and I really don't think I will ever leave it. It is the only place I can talk about being vegan without being judged and when I first went veg, I felt like I had so much support here and it made it so much easier to switch.

I had a nice reply, but this site is acting really funky for me today. I lost it. Poop.

We are thinking of different hypothetical situations. I don't mean trolls or those promoting hunting or eating meat. I mean when someone is somewhat thinking about being a vegetarian (or they're asking how to convince family or friends) and the responses are similar to: "Oh yeah, dead rotting flesh is terrible, just watch this video of cows getting their heads bashed in". That harsh response doesn't work on a lot of people. We need to take a step back and learn what's motivating them to make the change, and then cater to that motivation.

That was a fun day to be a moderator. I am only partially being sarcastic.

Fair enough! I can see how the aggressive, no nonsense approach might be off-putting to newcomers.

The Front Page

Not everyone who visits VeggieBoards is in the same spot of the path towards Veg*nism. Some may be just thinking about starting a Veg*n lifestyle while others may have already been Veg*n for years. The front page of the site is intended to invite further discussion on featured articles/discussions and to perhaps join the site if they have not already. Please keep in mind that the articles are not meant to be an "authority" on any topic. They are simply meant to open a discussion where everyone can respond with their thoughts and maybe include some research they have found. It is 100% okay for people to disagree, even passionately. That is how we all learn by hearing all sides to a topic and reaching to reach our own decisions.

I do not (nor does our tech staff) write the articles. We have a team of writers that we use. I would much rather have our featured articles and topics come from members of our community. If you are interested in being a guest author on VeggieBoards, please feel free to contact me.

Social Media

Yes, we do have a very active Facebook page. Some of our Facebook followers are members here, while others may only follow us on Facebook. We want to be able to reach people no matter where they choose to spend their time online, including here or on social media. The featured post regarding our Facebook page is simply letting those who may just be visiting our site for the first time know that we also have a Facebook page.