The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Dumbing Down the FFN
Does the FFN understand what is happening to the FFN site?
Without "reinventing the wheel here", one of the seasoned FFN members posted the following:
Between FFN CONSTANTLY adding *news* posts and the assorted games, caption-this and meaningless posts, anything good just gets quickly buried. I guess it could be compared to a tsunami of that crap just rolls in every day and buries the good stuff.
On the other hand, there's way more things to take serious than the slow and inevitable decline of FFN into a facebook clone. Probably only a matter of time before there's pillow fights, mafia wars and farms here on FFN."
What is causing the decline of some of the brightest minds participating on the FFN? Possibly, as the FFN staff redesign and change the format, you can see from the below example that the FFN is really trying to keep the topics varied and interesting. One key thing that you can see below is that once upon a time, there were more than just five forum choices. Is less really better?
Personally, I don't think having five choices is a good thing. As mentioned above, information and articles for important issues such as the Japan earthquake and nuclear threat are buried.
Perhaps it's time to change the categories to enable informative posts to not get buried. Out of sight equals out of mind... Perhaps a separate window component for the games might be a good solution. Regardless, having more than five choices prevents the minimal five choices from taking up what little room the FFN provides for intelligent forum posts.
The existing format consistently has two of the five spots, sometimes more taking up the minimum (5) forum posts that are displayed. What is even more scary is that there are 22,220 replies for a forum post on Word Association and 1,018 replies to another word game. What are our priorities?
Am I alone here? I don't think so... This profession is just that, a profession. I challenge others to raise the bar and support posts that have minimal comments. Use this site to learn more than play. Your life and others could depend on it.
or,
I could be missing the obvious fact that this site is moving more toward the social side. Silly me for thinking that the FFN statement on the bottom of the page means what it says...
This site is intended for use by current and former fire, rescue & EMS professionals.
CBz
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Firefighter Nation WebChief on
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CB, the site is for both the serious and the fun ... there's room for both here ... see the other comments about what's coming, but we're definitely not going to lose the 'fun' (non-serious) parts of the site including the off-duty and game discussions ...
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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As soon as the reactors started to go south on Japan, I posted comments about folks getting prepared for worst case scenarios. Some comments informed me that there was thousands of miles of ocean and a lot of rain to disperse any radiation. And then today, I read...
BOSTON -- Health officials said Sunday that one sample of Massachusetts rainwater has registered very low concentrations of radiation, most likely from the Japanese nuclear power plant damaged earlier this month by an earthquake and tsunami.
John Auerbach, the Massachusetts commissioner of public health, said that radioiodine-131 found in the sample - one of more than 100 that have been taken around the country - is short lived. He said the drinking water supply in the state was unaffected and officials do not expect any health concerns.
Nevada and other Western states also have reported minuscule amounts of radiation, but scientists say those presented no health risks.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said the in-state sample was taken in the past week, but they did not say where. The testing is part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency network that monitors for radioactivity.
State officials said similar testing was done in California, Pennsylvania, Washington and other states, and showed comparable levels of I-131 in rain.
Massachusetts testing last week of samples from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs showed no detectable levels of I-131, health officials said.
I am not disputing that any radiation we get from this accident will in now way come close to getting an x-ray or other medical scanning that blasts you with a dose of radiation. That's common knowledge that we all should understand. Simply put, there really is no problem at this point in regards to harmful exposures.
I wanted to bring attention to the FFN membership that a release anywhere on this planet has the potential for affecting a lot of others, downwind, which means everyone reading this post... With jet streams and wind currents, the USA is "downwind" of Japan. We all have to understand that should something go REALLY BAD, then it's a whole different game. What more justification does one need to dust off the radiation detectors and review what alpha, beta and gamma monitoring is all about.
I've read figures comparing Chernobyl to Japan's problems and Japan is nothing close to the problems and toxic releases that Japan has faced. I have confidence in the international community of scientists to know what they are doing. This is no longer just a Japanese problem, but a world problem and it would be naive to think that the finest minds on this planet are working together to resolve this as soon as possible.
Not sure what to believe at this point. I've had too much hazmat training to believe what's said on the news. All I have to go on is my experience, training and information from networking; with people who know a lot more than I do telling me that so far, even though this is very serious that the only people in any real danger are those living in Japan, or maybe offshore in a ship...
CBz
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In this business, one needs to have a sense of humor... Just sayin'
Quoting myself, "the FFN is really trying to keep the topics varied and interesting". So you can see that I am you number one fan, although a bit frustrated. I love to have fun as much as the next firefighter but as mentioned, serious posts get buried, and deep. Clicking (10) ten pages to get to a post on the nuclear radiation issues in Japan is not acceptable. The good news is that from reading your followup posts on this site, the membership and myself now know that you are addressing this problem and through new web design engineering, will accommodate the various needs identified on this site. I look forward to seeing how you change things for the better. To not do so may cause continued "Dumbing Down" of the FFN site as well as less members... Thanks for preventing this from happening in advance.
Keep up the great work!
Mike Schlags "CBz"
PS: If anyone on this site understands having a sense of humor, it would be me. Pardon the expression, BUTT, I do have a sense of humor...
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My goal and intent for this post was not to dissuade individuals from having fun, only that there seems to be more fun than work. A fair balance is the goal here. As mentioned above, I use humor and graphics to illustrate points or to just have fun... And I assure you G-Man, I have more fun than most, maybe even more than you... :D
CBz
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No, thank you for supporting change for the better. Your fan! CBz
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Thanks Derek for your support. This type of open forum serves as a great tool for the FFN web staff to review and make changes accordingly to keep the membership happy and the site meaningful.
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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That should be good. I look forward to that. Thanks, Chief.
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Permalink Reply by Greenman on
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That's good!
I think the Social side draws a lot of Firefighters into the site who otherwise wouldn't sign up for a "virtual classroom" they weren't ordered to log into by their departments, but then they end up learning new "stuff" while they're here. So there needs to be an easy "on ramp" form the Social side to the educational side of FFN.
Keep up the work, I think most of us realize it's an evolutionary process to make a great site, and not a "minute rice" moment of creation.
Greenman
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CBz,
I can by your screen name that you're not a 'stick in the mud' type, and I like your choice of illustrative visuals for your posts.
I'm looking forward to the new format coming out in April, so the content is more identifiable and in it's own lane we, the drivers on the FFN highway can choose which lane to be in at any given moment.
I said this before, but humor and fun make great on-ramps to the real content, and not everyone can start out in the Number One lane, some have to get up to seed before they change lanes.
Greenman
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FFN's reply alone made my time composing this blog post worthwhile. Finding out that you are working through computer software design and engineering to keep this site relevant and up-to-date is a good thing. Keep up the great work! Can't wait to see what you guys come up with. To Infinity and Beyond!
CBz
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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The reality is that content is going to be driven by the users. If all the users want is a *cool* place to play, impress their friends and are only interested in pablum, that is what is going to be here.
Seems to me that at the least, the minimum age should be 18 and one should have to be a FF or EMT. But then, where would some people go for their on-line dating experience(s)?
P.s. KGoD, good to see you poking your head in. Sadly, you're one of the ones that's been driven away by the villagers with pitchforks and torches. Damn multi-armed goddess, frightening the village folk the way you do.
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Permalink Reply by FFN WebTeam on
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Kali,
You are incorrect in your reference to the Featured Blog post. We do feature those user blogs which are well written and have an attraction. We do not feature those which are little more than a poor forum posting. In the example you have copied, those blogs were done during FDIC by FireRescue Magazine editors. This is also in addition to the online exclusives from our print contributors. When users begin posting their blogs now that FDIC is over, the the list of Featured Blogs changes.
If you had gone past the blogs featured during FDIC week, you would have seen:
"The Life of a Probie" by Cindy Harris
"Notes from a Rookie Firefighter" by Denise Imperiale
"Chesapeake (VA) Auto Parts Store Roof Collapse Double LODD 1996" by Chris Naum
"Ramblings of a Helmet Collector #3" by Andy Turnham
"What's in a title?" by Greenman
"Tales from a Tailboard Fireman" by Mike Simms
"You Probably Won't Die, No Matter What You Do" by Ben Waller
"Forcible Entry:What Are You Doing?!?!" by SAFE Firefighter
"Australian Airshow Aces" by Alison Aprhys
"Can You Hear Me Now? Staying Alive: Prince George's County Fire, EMS Department Unveils Mobile Mayday" by Bill Carey
"Public Safety's Not Affected, A False Dichotomy. Shared Post From CMD-FD" by Gabriel Angemi
All of these since the first week of March. As much as we work on the back end of the site, not counting the upcoming changes, user participation is a large contributor as well. We can certainly be more encouraging, and assisting, with forums and blogs - and you may see that in the near future - but we can't tell you or anyone else what to post for simply posting's sake.
Will we see any material from you regarding searches, canine teams or tactical EMS?
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