So the last few weeks have been a little rocky.  There have been lots of fights and other behind the scene brawls.  I suspect that it is time to step back and make things better so I am trying very hard to get all of your input via some polls so that things can go back to running as smoothly as possible.

Please bear with me on the polls.  I want to get your feedback and polls are the easiest since they are anonymous and everyone can vote freely.

I have said this before, this is my favorite topic at HairTalk and I visit here daily to read all the posts.  Please help me keep it a wonderful place to visit and share.

Thanks in advance for answering the polls.  I will do my very best to be fair and try to make changes as per the majority interests.

Heres my input, and these are just my opinions.

I hate sub-forums that are broken into 1000 different forums.  Maybe its just laziness on my part, but I don't want to have to look through 5 different extension forums just to find an anwser Im looking for, or to help someone with questions of their own.  I like the setup the way it is now, and in all honesty find the "shrinkthingies" thing silly.  Its an extention method therefor I think we should be able to discuss it on here.

Breaking up the forum even more is just... I dunno, redundant.  Would you split up the long hair support forum for "professional hairdressers, long hair styles, shampoo's and conditioners, photos, braiding patterns, trimming methods" etc?  I would hope not, because it just seems very unnecessary.

The only other sub-sub forum I can see you adding is possibly wigs, but other then that I think the extension forum should be left the way it is now.

(edited for spelling)

I agree with Kalika, I don't mind the shrinkies being called shrinkthingies but I'd rather just see everything as it is on here, I for one can't be bothered looking at the other threads lol, I'm just too lazy, I'll just click on this one and probably Sherries but to be honest I think the other ones will become redundant.  I mean, we have a trade thread but it hardly gets used, if anyone has anything they put it on here, they forget that's there even though its at the top.

I think you've done a superb job Karen, keeping the trolls at bay.  I think that's all that needs to be done really.  We are in majority women (sorry Moff) and women don't always agree on things and hair I've found is a very touchy subject with a lot so there are bound to be a lot of heated discussions.  Saying that, people should sometimes think about how the thread will go if they say exactly what they think and perhaps have a cup of tea and then see if they want to write the same bearing in mind the subject that was started could actually be a viable discussion subject and then it just gets closed, so its not really fair for whoever opened it xxx

Anyway, sod the trolls and hurray for Karen xx

I agree too.  Love the forum exactly how it is and think you do a great job at keeping the trols at bay.

x

I agree.

No changes .

karen, i understand there were issues with shrinkthingies topic, but i guess if you elaborate on what exactly is the issue, what exactly we can or cant talk about, will help us help you.

I agree totally with other posters on this thread esp kalika who said we are only discussing the technique on this board and thats what this board is for.  So is it the name shrinkies that is touchy, but what is the difference between shrinkies and shrinkthingies?  For one there is more to type....

I think that as far as message boards go, this one is by far the most friendly and supportive.  Arguments on this board have been mild in comparison to other forums on the internet.  And, honestly, I never did think there was a problem. 

In real life, you're always going to run into nasty people, and you just deal with it.   It's nice to have the option to ban people, but I think it should be used very sparingly.  I don't have a problem with locking threads that have digressed into arguments and insults without any informative content. 

With regard to the advertisements, I wouldn't have known where to go or what to buy without the, um, dare I say ads from some of the board's frequent posters.  Maybe Karen could have an approved list of "advertisers" made up of people who also post substantive information?

I also think that we should be free to discuss the shrinkthingies.  Many posters use them and have questions about them.  To not allow discussions does everyone a disservice.  I don't know what the argument was about, but the rest of the board shouldn't be punished for it.

So, in sum, keep things way they were - we have it good here!

Koffee Brown wrote: I like things the way they are too. And agree w/ Kalika, I'd like to see a wigs section. And on anohter thread, i suggested SHRINKS for a substitute name.

Kalika & Koffee....

Just wigs in general or a specific topic related to wigs?

Thanks in advance.
Karen

I am fairly new but have been lurking for awhile.  This forum seems great compared to most on the Web.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

IMO, I don't see a need for change.  I don't think anything is broken so no need for a fix.    I agree with Kalika on the subdomains, I'd rather see everything right here.  This is actually the only forum I visit on the board. 

I didn't get the whole shrinkie's thing either. 

Heres my 2 cents! I do feel that a board with categories is a good idea. Its easier to read and post just what you are interested in. I personally have no interest in wigs...so thats a waste for me to shuffle through. Or if I want to post or read about dying/bleaching or find a tidbit of information it would be easier to find. But I also agree that only a few categories is necessary. You wouldnt want the information too spread out in to many places. That would make it more confusing than anything.

I always liked the quinnster board. I thought it worked and ran very well. But this board is so huge and there is so much information here that it would be impossible to seperate it all into categories, and would just totally confuse things, and everyone would be lost. Threads here have never been sorted so lots of threads go into many different subjects. So I just dont see that categorizing would be a good thing here or even possible.  If a forum starts out with categories thats fine, and it works well. But it wouldnt be good here.

It works out fine here the way it is so....even though I think a categorized forum is a good thing...I wouldnt want to change this one.

ok heres my one cent

dont change a thing.

shrinks, schminks, what ever way u want to call it, its around and the peeps want to use them, learn about them etc.

thanks for always keeping this board upscale and comming to us for help.

It's really quite simple in my opinion.

Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it mean.

Don't feed into negative posts by responding with harsh words to one up them. Ignore them and they WILL go away! Some people do start trouble intentionally for whatever reason but try to be dignified and ignore their posts.

Life is unfair but I have learned most in life by my mistakes.

I for the most part like the board the way it is. I didn't really get into the shrinkie ordeal and didn't read any of the posts until after the fact but didn't see anything wrong with the topic of who owns, what are they called, who sells them, etc.. posts. After all, this is how to obtain information.

On the topic of banning people, I have seen Senior Members that have not been banned for the same thing a Newbie has been banned for. I don't agree with that. Rules should apply to everyone.

This format is great and I have enjoyed this forum although I am not here as much as I would like to be.

Black wrote: I've been wearing extensions for over two years now. Before I choose my extensionist and the system I would be using in my hair did A LOT of research, I have known too many women who had dealings with unethical stylist and gotten screwed. I found extentionists that advertised they were using a certain method who weren't listed as a certified extensions with that method. I found extentionists who weren't licensed cosmetologists and those who had had their licenses yanked. When I was on the internet I found IDENTICAL client pictures on different extentionists' sites. As I'm working towards my board certification, I'm back at the research. I'm a newbie to HairTalk and while there is a lot of information here, when I attempted to qualify the opinions and experiences of some of the professionals here, I'm finding again that people are misrepresenting themselves in the same manner. If this forum is a representative sample of the profession of hair extensions, there are going to be people whose shady behavior is going to upset others. When those individuals are called on there behavior they are going to be upset. Conflict is apart of life and group interactions. From what I've seen the moderators of this forum do a good job of keeping things from getting out of hand. Regarding shrinktubes I joined the list after this incident hit the fan. Its led me to do a lot of research into the history of hair extensions, the majority done at http://www.uspto.gov/ and with extension professionals whose credentials I've been able to verify. From what I've gathered, issues like the one revolving around shrinktubes are nothing new. Before there were shrinkthigies and Shrink Links (patent no. 753211, '92, Barrington) there were Eurolocs (patent no. 5752530, '98, Traintinger) and Hairlocs (patent no. 6938624, '05, Arroyo, et al.). Before THAT there was Fusion (patent no. 4934387, '90, Megna). And I'm pretty confident that my discoveries are only the tip of the iceberg. I don't think that using code works is going to make these issues and people's feeling regarding these and related issues go away. When I first learned that someone had been banned, I was upset. I'm big on freedom of speech and the right of someone to have their opinion. After my research I've learned that there is so much going on behind the scenes. Because of that I'm going to trust that admin did what they did for very good reasons. Especially if a participant is given a warning regarding a behavior, it is that person’s decision to continue that behavior.

Thank you for your eloquent post and related info.  You make some excellent points.  I see this type of situation in many areas of the hair industry, not just with hair extensions.  There is the whole product diversion situation and the braiders vs licensing issues and the chemicals vs non-chemicals issues plus lots of other patent and copyright and trademark events.

Welcome to our board.  I appreciate your thoughts.