Member Poll - the Essay Requirement

[salviasofthead]

On behalf of the moderator group...

As many of you know, the essay requirement has been implemented to help weed out spam, minors and annoying drive-by postings, in hopes of contributing to a more positive experience here and lessening the demand for moderator intervention with reported posts. From a mod's standpoint, the sheer volume of new postings can be daunting at times, and this measure helps us to keep up as the forums continue to (we hope) grow and evolve in a beneficial way.

Your feedback on this is important to us, since YOU, the MEMBERS, are what make these forums. Many of you have been around for long enough to have seen some of the associated annoyances in the past, and some of you are new and have been directly impacted by the essay requirement.

Please take this opportunity to let us know if you believe this new requirement is beneficial or detrimental to the cause. Please note that this is divided into two SETS of answers - one if you joined BEFORE the requirement and the other if you joined AFTER, since there are obvious differences. We've purposely kept the answers simple, so as not to complicate matters or skew the results.

Thanks for your participation!

[keeper of toast]

I think its helpful, but seeing 300 people browsing the forums, and only 15 of those being members is kind disappointing. I feel like there are many more people who come to this site who could contribute in a meaningful way but just don't feel like writing an essay.

Or not idk haha...my 2 cents

[lapslideman]

I had no idea that one was required.

[Khnum93]

I had no issue with writing the essay. It wouldn't have bother me if it was posted for anyone to read either. I came across this forum while researching. 1st forum I have ever joined.

[i-jinx]

No spam. No in-yo-face "attitude" posts from belligerent kids (not that all kids are belligerent). No endless duplicate threads dealing with the same subject matter over and over.

Those who really belong in a "drug" forum have been nudged in the right direction.

It is quieter of course. But less traffic is preferable to more noise.

Mods are lucky I joined before the essay. I would have churned out a big wordymonster.

[ComoSally]

As a new member (one who had to submit an essay) I didn't see it as that bothersome. It allowed me to show why I was here, and explain a bit of a backstory about myself.
While it showed the mods that I wasn't just some kid looking to get messed up on substances it also gave me a chance to sit back and think about why I entered the world of entheogens in the first place.

This forum seems VERY well moderated in comparison to many of the others I browse, and I don't think it would be anywhere this close knit community if it was filled with one-post, drive-by questions. This obviously isn't the place for that. And I think that's why I keep coming back here to look for information.

My .02 fwiw

[Energy Turtle]

I think the essay was a great idea. It's really a shame that I didn't have to write one....most of my posts are the length of essays, imagine how long my essay would have been!

One thing that I want to say is that many members come to this site with the "get fucked up attitude", and one of the benefits of this site is that the members can teach people that this isn't the right attitiude to have towards these substances....so I don't think it's fair that some potential members who currently have the "GFU" attitude are turned away, when we could take these members under our wings and educate them. Of course, we can only do this with members who are willing to have their opinions changed, and the essays help to weed out the members who have potential from the members that have no hope of ever having a proper understanding of our views. I know I was kinda part of the "GFU" crowd for a short time...but my research on shamnism, combined with the helpful advice of the EDOT crowd changed that.

[witchammer]

I'm glad I didn't have to write an essay as I probably was one of those assholes that you try to weed out here as I only recently found legal ways of relaxing and that is how I stumbled on to this forum. It has only been from reading all of the posts---becoming interested-----becoming educated------and being banned for a week that has conformed me and made me the DAILY edot user that I am. To give you an example I was a street kid from queens who just moved to long island 2 years ago to raise my kids. Now I am a member of a Mycology Club and I have been waiting for my last two fish to die so I can use the tank to grow cactus, mushrooms are in the works too. If that essay had weeded me out because I wrote something stupid, (and I'm sure I would have) none of these interests would be part of my life now.

[kedabra]

I can see the problem for the mods, but it sure is quiet in the Salvia forum recently...I enjoyed some of the OMGWTF noob posts there.

[i-jinx]

True, those gems will be missed.

I just went searching around for the old thread by a guy who suggested that it would be good to get a friend to eat salvia, then drink their urine a few hours later. That was a classic. Can't find it now. Anyone remember the title?

EDIT: Even further back there was the fellow looking for info on where to buy mushroom seeds...