dont know if i will stay. I believe by speaking my mind here and now, i have denied myself any chance of being promoted or judged worthy. If being real and speaking my thoughts must be suppressed for lack of segregation than...

Some parts of this posts are copied and then edited from another post of mine: The illusion of free speech


The illusion of free speech

At times I see people on the forum telling me they want 'free speech'. I see arguments that without this free speech "This just promotes egotistical judgement of each other and separation". however, what they try to say with this 'free speech' talk is that they want their form of 'free speech' on the forum but not a complete freedom of speech.

And how can we? Should we allow free speech about dosing unknowing people? Should we allow free speech about buying/selling? Should we allow free speech about personal attacks on our members? Should we allow free speech that is bashing spiritual posts in the most destructive way possible?

Of course not. Some rules are here to protect us all from law enforcement, others rules are here to make sure we can all come along and some rules are here to protect and improve the social status of DMT. It is impossible to satisfy all members to the full 100%. And with this knowledge in the back of my mind I try my very best to be as fair as possible to as many members as possible.


THE DMT-NEXUS PLATFORM

I chose to make a platform where we can share our experiences and where we try to evolve the knowledge we have about this molecule. One other thing that is very important to me is that we also are a place where people from outside the DMT-Nexus can come visit us, people who do not have much knowledge about entheogens. I want them to see that unlike all the prejudice that is out there, that we are a reasonable bunch of people who are actually a lot like them. The only difference between them and us is that we take entheogens and that we try to do that in the most responsible way possible, and that in turn requires critical thinking and reliable information.

For some that might not be important and they might reason that they do not come here to be a nice example for the outside world. However, it matters to me and not a little bit, no it matters a lot to me! Without this progressive platform I highly doubt that we will ever move forward the way we are doing now, combine this with the hope for a better acceptance of DMT in this world and I will work damn hard to reach that goal! I don't want to go jail for just taking DMT or any other entheogen, I want to explore the world of hyperspace without any fear for law enforcement and in total personal freedom.


THE WELCOME AREA

The welcome area is here for several reasons:

• To keep the quality of information high in the rest of the forum by preventing spammers, trolls and haters from polluting;
  
• To help preventing suppliers from recommending their own products;
  
• To reduce the workload for the moderators;
  

People get promoted according to the quality of their posts and not the quantity. If people are clearly an addition to this community then they are promoted fast, if they are detrimental then there will likely never be a promotion.

In the past we have had many problems that the welcome area solved. It may not be a perfect solution but it is the best we have. If you have ideas on solving the same issues in a better way then I will be all ears.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

this is not true at all and with some good post and an introduction you could get promoted by the end of the week, but you are doing yourself no favours in the promotion stakes, if you want to be part of a community you need to accept the rules of the community.

I haven't visited the ayahuasca.com forums so I cannot comment on that. However, I've read threads on the Shroomery. The site is significantly more disorganized than the Nexus and I've seen various posts with people acting hostile towards each other.

I wouldn't really call the Shroomery a loving and peaceful community. But that's just my personal opinion. As far as the way the Nexus is ran: It is The Traveler's toy and he does with it as he pleases. He's a very intelligent human being and everything you're looking at here on the Nexus has been carefully thought out and discussed. There are other people helping him out fine tuning it and improving the Nexus.

Look at it like this: To get into most universities you have to prove you got the brains to be able to make it. To do this you either need to have a high school diploma or take an entry exam to get in. The Nexus is just like that university. We believe that all our knowledge should be openly accessible for everyone. But in order to be able to add knowledge to it, we ask that you prove that you have the correct attitude. The welcome area is that proving ground, where you should show off your knowledge (and expressing you have none is showing that you are in fact knowledgeable), ask (smart) questions and share your ideas.

There are quite a few members that were promoted because of their extensive and very well written introduction essay. I'm also very confused what you're exactly trying to achieve by ranting against the way the Nexus is ran.

Don"t worry about it, stick around,debate, post if you feel you have anything relevant to say (without being too rude, which i don"t feel you have been) you might like it.

Being promoted to a full member really, doesn't carry too many advantages, the promotion scheme is here in my eyes, to make sure the nexus isn't filled and doesn't allow itself to be filled with ignorance or hostility, I love the way the community is built at the minute, promotion feel's like an acceptance into the community and those who are full members, welcome newly promoted members with open arms because they know they have passed the same initiation they did, regardless of post counts. Quality, not quantity.

You havn't denied yourself anything by expressing the way you feel, rules are made to be questioned as are beliefs, stick around and speak your mind but do so with respect and you'll see a promotion turn up.

I have belonged to guitar forums that are more heavily moderated than this, and there is very little legal, moral or existential risk involved with most guitar playing.

Unless you're dueling Satan.

Satan plays the fiddle. Specifically, one made of gold. I thought everyone knew that.

Online forums are essentially meritocracies- your place in the community, both official and unofficial, is based on your qualities and contributions. We've tried making promotion easy by providing several pathways:

- other members can vote in favor of promoting you. Enough votes and you're in;
- an established member can vouch for you personally;
- a mod or admin can choose to promote you based on a strong positive impression from your posts.

I admin a forum for tattoo artists and it's really hard to keep everyone happy. It takes only one troll (an outspoken person with a systematically bad attitude) to drive away a lot of quality activity. It's a high priority here to prevent that.

And no, you haven't damned yourself; you challenged the system but you were polite enough about it. You will find disagreements here, but because of the rules they usually remain civil, and are often very productive. I'd like to recommend that you write up a truly stellar intro essay, let us know who you are, and we can take it from there. If you ever have any practical suggestions to make that could offer real improvements to our system here, we are all ears.

LOL

Promotion comes very easily if you just contribute.

As stated above by a few people the welcome area (Open Discussion) is in my eyes one of the most useful, as it covers subjects over such a broad perspective, and there are loads of people browsing all the time.

I have seen other forums and the way they insult each other / challenge knowledge / deny other peoples experiences. Its just not for me hey, feels kinda common (sorry to say).

Nexus is the only forum I have ever joined up, and it will probably stay that way too as I genuinely believe (apart from everyone sometimes trying to outsmart each other [i kid]) that this is one of the best communities around.

Its actually overbored how much information can be acquired here, WITHOUT even having to join.

Anyway, good luck with the promotion, it will happen, just be real like you are

And Trav, thank you for everything you do, I really appreciate the work that you do for us all.

Peace

Imo The Traveler has set up the site perfectly, more so than any other forum i have joined. I like that you have to get promoted to post in the other forums on this site.

You have been repeatedly given many good reasons of the probationary period as well as the positive effects it has. Even the creator took the time to explain things. If you really cant understand why we have it then maybe your right and this isn't the place for you. You wouldn't be the first.

If you could, try to not take it so personally. That would help. Your defensiveness is evident in your reply stating nobody has told you WHY when just above that post of yours it was explained perfectly.

So it looks to me that you all ready have your mind made up and nothing will change that. I hope thats not the case as this is a very special place.

And for the record...if somebody is in triple digits posts and not promoted....No we haven't missed them they have done and said things to keep them where they are. When you see people with under 10 pots and promoted they have earned that just the same.
I have promoted handful of members on simply their intro essay and so have other mods.

This isn't a popularity contest, this isn't a country club golf coarse...its a forum of some very high caliber minds. Being a full member is not a right of humankind but anyone can come, read and learn. Even use the chat for emergency or immediate information needed. Trav has made sure harm reduction is paramount but its our right to not allow every whack job that this place attracts to dilute the integrity and quality we have all created together.

If you are planning on being a productive member of this community, then you should have no problem gaining full membership. Adding to the discussion, correctly observing the attitude section and adhering to it, and writing an introduction essay will do wonders to get full membership.

Take me for example. I never wrote an intro essay (which is recommended) but I was active in the forums and in the chat. One day, without even asking, Endlessness promoted me. The admins keep track of your activity. If you are a productive member of the community, full membership is easy and quick to obtain.

I think that Olympus put it wonderfully.

I like how this thread is by itself proof of why the promotion system is a good idea with the kind of people we are lucky to have in the community.

It would be so much easier to disregard any filters and allow people right in, simply banning those who go over the top, instead of taking the time and effort to implement these criteria and answer any questions.

As others have said, this is not because the Nexus only admits happy campers or because there is any trace of elitism. There is not a drop of elitism in the Nexus, nor it is a place to please people. There is the wish to provide top quality information about critical topics that need that quality desperately. This is the first priority of this community as I understand it. To join you have to understand that as well, and its implications. If you do, you will have no problems with the promotion system at all. On the contrary, you will appreciate it.

Hey Traveler!!! You should add a "like" (and maybe a dislike) system to the nexus, i love that about the mycotopia forum, but i enjoy the topics more that are discussed by the nexus, i think it'd be a good feature!!!

The ayahuasca forums are also completely dead in comparison to this forum. I know I have been a member there for a number of years. I like the forum well enough but that forum is just an empty street compared to this forum.

You have been here all of..what..a day? You think it is easy to moderate the gigantic influx of people that sign up here on a daily basis? All the people that sign up wanting to talk about the drugs they slang on the street or the plethora of RC's they got fraked up on last night? You have no idea what it is like to run or moderate a forum of this size, that draws in as many people as it does when the topic is a HUGE grey area already, drawing in all kinds of attention that is not wanted here.

The promotion system is relativly new compared to how long the nexus has been around. It was put into place for good reason. You were not here back then so you dont have the perspective others do on the situation. It has nothing to do with elitism. It simply allows Traveler and the other moderators to be able to manage the site without it descending into uncontrollable chaos that is hard to clean up. There is just way too many people being drawn to this place on a daily basis now.

If you cannot understand this you are entirely welcome to just post on other forums.

I feel insulted! I spend ALL my time voluntarily in the Welcome Area. I see the Welcome Area as the absolute best area here - the best posts, the most interesting trip reports, fascinating new folks, etc.

Your probationary time will be infinite because you dug a really deep hole here. . Too bad you didn't take time to read all the links that came in your welcome PM. You also didn't bother to check the site closely did you? There is an announcement that explains that promotion is done on a voting system here. Established members will vote yes or no based on the content of your posts, which we hope is Martin Luther King like - the content of your character.

I'm not casting any votes either way for you right now, but what a deep disappointment.

How about we start over and you write a nice Introduction Essay? Then make some friendly posts in the open area showing that you understand the rules here. Participate, don't complain!

You cannot come in 7 years after the fact and expect to take over a site with YOUR idea of rules - this place is well established with over 20,000 members. We have FIGURED OUT WHAT WORKS OVER TIME. This wasn't just frivolously designed at the drop of a hat by some kid.

Oh and YOU DO have the ability to respond to posts that are not in the welcome area. Just start a new thread in the Open Discussion area and reference the thread in your title. Then in your first paragraph, include a link to the thread you are referencing. Then sit back and watch it take off like wildfire - like most Open area posts do.

This post was a great disappointment to me. Please take a LOT of time to look around, read and figure out what this place is about before passing judgement. If you don't like it, I wish you well. If you do like it, please participate within the rules.

Its actually easier to get promoted now in comparison to when I joined, seeing as we all get a vote as to who gets promotion.
There really is no valid argument anymore as to fairness of promotion or lack of.