How useful is OpCom? - UPDATED (dooyoo-uk.tripod.com)

Member Name: AdvocatusDiaboli

Product:	dooyoo-uk.tripod.com
Date:	09/08/01 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Open forum

Disadvantages: Censored too much

After my first visit to the Opinionated Community I was left wondering what purpose it really serves?

I am not sure that it actually relates to the purpose of Dooyoo at all. Surely Dooyoo exists to provide consumers with advice regarding certain products or issues? the Opinionated community seems to belive that the idea of this site is to find good authors and read their work. I am the first to admit that I do not use this site solely for its main purpose. The addition of Speakers Corner is great for debating but was the start of this site move away from consumer issues towards a more general opinions site similar to writtenbyme.com.

I write more frequently in Speakers Corner than any other category but have encountered some problems recently and was unsure what to do about them. I have been accused of being a racist and sexist as well as receiving many insults. To reply to these people in the comments section seems pointless as after a couple of days nobody is reading your opinion anymore (unless it is highly rated, mine rarely are because, although well written, some feel if the disagree with me they must rate the op SU). When I heard about the Opinionated Community I thought I would have a look in and raise my concerns about the various members who seem intent on slandering people. I noticed a great number of threads by people trying to do the same but all names had been replaced by ******. I can see why this is done but I do believe an outlet is needed for these sort of concerns to be expressed.

I will not report anyone to the 'Dooyoo police' because I believe that it goes against free speech. I have also heard about members accusations resulting in people being kicked off Dooyoo, I think this is a disgrace. The only people who should be kicked off Dooyoo are those who insist on copying other peoples work. The whole idea behind Dooyoo is the freedom to express yourself and just because you hold strong opinions this should not
result in warnings from 'above'.

I would also like to know what influence over Dooyoo the moderators of OpCom actually have?

Many of the posters seem to be part of the supposed 'in-crowd' and the 'Good reads list' seems incredibly exclusive. I would like to see a section at OpCom where members are able to advertise their opinions simply because they are not getting any coverage. This is especially true in Speakers corner where if you select a category the first opinions are all VU, crowned and well read. This is great in other categories but because the majority of Dooyoo users are very politically correct and feel that any opinion not written by a 'do-gooder' should be deemed SU and end up at the bottom of the pile. The result of this is that the only opinions that most people see at Speakers corner are all in the same vain and do not challenge people to think about an issue in any way. I have written a number of excellent opinions in Speakers corner yet because I do not have the 'leftie' views of the majority of users my opinions are deemed at best useful and vanish without trace. The world would be a very dull place if we all held the same beliefs.

I can fully understand that OpCom is against negative naming of people as they may not be able to answer the accusations. This is fair but where does it leave me? I know that my accusers use OpCom so shouldn't I be able to go there and ask them what their problem is? and perhaps even draw the atention of others towards their practices?

The solution, I believe is a messageboard either at Dooyoo or OpCom where posts of this nature can be made. All the moralistic do-gooders who are too scared to hold a strong opinion can ignore it and let the rest of us have our right to free speech. No offence to any of the moderators of OpCom but I would be very linterested to see what they write on the topic of censorship in Speakers corner.

D
epending upon your view of what Dooyoo is used for I can see the merits of OpCom. I also believe that there should be an additional outlet for those who feel left out. The main benefit I can see of OpCom is the possibility of suggesting new topics but as Dooyoo does not mention if it actually looks at any of these I am uncertain as to how effective this is. I am pretty sure though that Rape was taken off the topics list as a result of the complaints within OpCom, I believe the removal of Rape to be a controversial decision but I can understand why it was done.

The Opinionated Community is a great idea but if they could just loosen up a little and treat people like adults instead of children I believe the site would be a lot more effective.

UPDATE - Thanks for the many comments. I think I was misunderstood by some but I hope I have clarified myself. I have used some of the advice given to me by the members of OpCom but still feel that there is a need for a messageboard of some sort on Dooyoo.

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