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Post by Watchman35 on Jun 3, 2017 1:32:23 GMT
I wanted to offer a suggestion for consideration regarding the recently established, pinned prayer thread.
Don't know if this is only me (with my Aspergeresque tendencies), but it seems to me that it might lend itself better to the format of a separate Prayer Section, with individual threads for each prayer request initially posted within that section. That way, you don't have responses from different prayer requests mixed together in a way that, at least for me, is very jolting and disorienting. When person A lists a specific prayer request, and then all of the subsequent prayers that follow under that thread pertain to the exact same prayer request, it is much more unified and cohesive in following the thread. When prayers for person B are interspersed among prayers for person A, context can become completely lost if I am familiar with Person A's prayer request and situation, but then come across a prayer post for person B that makes little sense to me because I may not be familiar with Person B's request.
Hoping that this makes sense. We could even leave the general prayer thread pinned at the top of the prayer section for those who want to offer prayers that are not tied specifically in response to someone's original prayer request thread.
Anyway, I am all for prayer, in whatever form it might end up taking here on this board. I definitely feel like sharing each other's burdens adds unity and fellowship to this place. Thanks for taking time to consider my suggestions.
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Post by Benjamin on Jun 3, 2017 11:10:02 GMT
I don't necessarily mind that - my only concern there would be that I generally try to keep the 'sections' as limited as possible, so that we don't end up with too many sub-forums.
If that's something others are interested in, I'm happy to manage it that way, though.
Thoughts, everyone?
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Post by morningstar on Jun 3, 2017 15:09:29 GMT
My vote is to keep in the same, just one Prayer thread...just my opinion.
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Post by Gr8tful on Jun 3, 2017 18:18:44 GMT
I see the reasoning both ways, it can get bogged down w/all prayers on the same thread. But also see the concern of too many sub-forums becoming an issue. Would making a section for prayer requests with say 4 or so sub forums be a good idea? Am thinking like, one sub forum titled, Family prayer request, another titled Prayers for healing/restoration, another for say Request for national, political prayer, Prayer for salvation.....something along those lines?
Benjamin, you are the one who has to maintain it all so what is best for you and for the board?
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Post by Gr8tful on Jun 3, 2017 18:30:11 GMT
I see the reasoning both ways, it can get bogged down w/all prayers on the same thread. But also see the concern of too many sub-forums becoming an issue. Would making a section for prayer requests with say 4 or so sub forums be a good idea? Am thinking like, one sub forum titled, Family prayer request, another titled Prayers for healing/restoration, another for say Request for national, political prayer, Prayer for salvation.....something along those lines?
Benjamin, you are the one who has to maintain it all so what is best for you and for the board?
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Post by Watchman35 on Jun 3, 2017 18:54:47 GMT
I feel like I need to clarify my original suggestion. I think we would only need one Prayer Section (or "Board", as it is actually labeled on the Home page), without any need for other prayer sub-sections. Just one new Board called Prayer Requests, which would hold all prayer requests regardless of topic, with the new Board showing up either under the Main Forum or the Members Forum. It would go under the Main Forum if we wanted non-members to have visibility and to be able to pray even if they cannot post; or it would go under the Members Forum if we wanted only members to have visibility to our prayer requests. It would become either the fifth board on the Main Forum, or the third board on the Members Forum. (Personally, when I am in need of prayer, I would like as many folks as possible to see the request and respond with prayer, even if they cannot post because they are non-members. I'm thinking the Lord will honor the prayers of non-members with equal weight as members... ) With the new Board called "Prayer Requests" under either the Main Forum or the Members Forum, members would then simply create a thread on the Prayer Requests board each time they needed prayer, just like we create new threads on other boards today. We could adopt a simple standard title format of "Prayer Request: xxxxxxxx". There would be one thread for each initial prayer request. All prayer responses posted for that specific request would then all naturally be held in the one thread, with no confusion or out-of-context responses to other prayer requests mixed in. I'm quite confident I could convince you this makes much sense if we were in a room together...not so sure how I am doing relying solely on these posts. LOL. To illustrate the confusion that can easily come from the current single prayer thread format, I brought up the prayer thread just now. I scrolled to the bottom to look at the latest post. It is one from Gr8tful. Unfortunately, from the post itself, I cannot tell exactly what the original prayer request was or who made it, so I would have to scroll though and search for that original request. As the Prayer Thread gets more and more activity, this will become increasingly more time-consuming and potentially frustrating for folks. All of these issues go away by simply adopting the format I have attempted to explain here. It really is, in my opinion, a much better format structure to serve the members of the Forum. With this approach, it is always very clear who is praying what for whom. Thanks for taking time to allow me to try to clarify and for considering my thoughts.
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Post by elizabeth on Jun 3, 2017 20:58:05 GMT
I like the thread the way it is. We are a small board, and perhaps as we grow, we should look at a change such as Watchman is suggesting, but for now, I think it is fine as is. On the message side, we women have a running prayer thread running, and it works well for us. I don't think anyone has a problem with it.
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Post by Gr8tful on Jun 3, 2017 22:01:46 GMT
Watchman, what you explained I'm sure is easy to understand, but for the life of me, I have no idea what it means! lol I assume Benjamin knows? Have you gone to the prayer request thread in General? rapturewatch.boards.net/thread/7141/prayer-request-thread That was pinned just a day or 2 ago. Maybe we should see how it goes before deciding Benjamin, since that thread is new? IDK....I trust you'll make the right decision. Thanks Watchman for your input btw. Glad to have new members who want to be a part of us.
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Post by Benjamin on Jun 4, 2017 7:01:12 GMT
thanks for the input, everyone:
I've created a poll in general discussion to cover this question. I'm happy either way, so I'll just leave that for a few days and go with the consensus.
I take your point, Watchman - it's hard to siphon out new prayer requests among all the subsequent comments in a thread like that. We'll see where this goes and run from there.
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