I don't think the "tag" system consistently shows up in likely places, whereas thread prefixes are pretty visible. I attempted to make it Less Garish. No idea how well it worked.
It looks a lot better now, actually. Like people before have said, it simply being there is enough because it's a button and visible.
As a side note, I'm now informed that it was generally assumed that all threads in Brainbent were automatically "vent threads", and I am wondering if this belief was in fact universal, or if other people had assumed it was a mix of "vent threads" and more general discussion of brainweird, etc.
Yeah this is less hideous and it's still pretty visible to me. Like HEY LOOK AT ME FUCK I'M DIFFERENT AND NEW THING AAAAAH. The severity of that will die down after a few days but it'll be easier to pick out at a glance still.
Since the time I made my vent thread (which was about this time last year?), I thought that almost all threads in brainbent were assumed to be vent threads. I am and have been aware that vent threads were not the original purpose for brainbent. I think that the general purpose changed like something along the lines of this: "overflow from brainbent's inbox" -> "some advice about brain things and a "group hug" place (ie a place to get hugs when feeling down)" -> "advice about brain things go on braaaaiiiins/advice forums, more threads to ask for hugs when you're upset (this is how I use my vent thread and what I understood vent threads to be)" -> "mostly hugs/vent threads*" -> "if you want your vent thread to be Not Public move it to the holler closet, but if you don't care you can leave it in brainbent" Does that make sense? Edit: had to close a paren Edit x2: *what other people seem to mean by vent threads: "place to scream when upset, not necessarily asking for hugs or advice"
I had assumed it was meant for vent threads because that's how I saw it used with, I think, a few exceptions. But I don't spend much time in Brainbent and I used to spend even less, so I'm not very familiar with it. Also the new button is much easier on the eyes, thanks for taking care of that.
"Vents" wasn't really a thing that was intended for the forum, they just sort of happened. The original use (not intent) of Brainbent was as a more personal/individual focused brainweird section, where as Braaains was for less personal, more general discussion. That's quite different from what it's been built up to more recently.
I assumed brainbent was vents and other brain discussion not better suited for braaaiiins (so like, help with self dx'ing and the like, as opposed to "why do people do the thing) and holler closet was exclusively vents.
I always thought Brainbent was for general brainweirds. When vents started appearing there and then the Holler Closet was made and most people moved their vents to the Holler Closet it kind of reinforced my original feeling. Unless a thread title indicates it's a vent thread outside of the Holler Closet I assume is NOT a vent thread (until I read some of it and see that it is).
Uh, what exactly is the definition of a vent thread? For the purpose of knowing what should be marked.
A thread for the purpose of just expressing strong feelings without expecting, and often not wanting, replies. Lately they seem to be used for being offensive to the forum, or people on the forum, without wanting an actual discussion. Just venting frustrations that may or may not persist beyond the moment of the vent. A few people have lately decided to use them to be offensive in general without expectation of having to defend their offensive comments.
my view is: a thread intended for venting (imo "to vent" = give free expression to a (often strong) emotion). so a thread for someone to give free expression to their emotions. people often specify in the OP what they want exactly for the thread (not always, but it's fairly common). like their opinion on replies in the thread, clarifying if their stuff written there should be considered their true opinion or just emotional upset, if there is going to be content other than venting, etc.
This was my impression. As a note I use my own vent thread to keep me from jumping others (re: bitching in private) and as a sort of ME space where I have true control of topic ect. I also sometimes just talk about positive things or ideas or fandom things that don't belong anywhere else. So like a misc thread +cutlery sometimes. I think defining a vent thread in general is pretty impossible though.
Also if holler closet is exclusively vents, do threads in there have to have the vent tag? It seems needlessly redundant and just easier to move vents completely to holler closet
I don't even know. I don't think the whole thing ever got thought through, and there's clearly a lot of very strong expectations people have which do not necessarily align.
I think accurate board descriptions would help better with this. brainbent and holler closet have become user defined boards so now it may be worth creating a poll of definitions for both for us to vote on, and once a description is decided, moving threads that dont belong in there to a more appropriate location. (hell, brainbent being misc brain content that doesnt fit anywhere else would be sufficient enough at this point) so that new users arent as confused as i was when i saw these two descriptionless boards hanging around
Can't have a vote without having a discussion to first figure out what common ideas there are, anyway. So all paths lead to asking and answering questions like "what do you use brainbent/hollar closet for" and "how would you describe these forums"
