The White Lions FaceBook page :(

Ever since the White Lions FaceBook page has been created, I see that the Lions Forum has turned into a shadow of its former self.

Your opinion on this, Master Bear ?

I agree Master Guibourg.

It saddens me to see the forum slowly waste away. I feel, though I hope against this feeling, that it will one day soon, go the way of the dodo.

I'm not really into facebook, and I don't particularly want to create an account...

What do you propose we do?

My feelings are the same.
   One thing going for the FB page is that it's A HELL of a lot easier to post pictures than on the Forum. I tried posting a pic of "favors" - small leather patches that we could wear on our belts to identify us as Lions - but for the life of me and Ragnar, we couldn't figure it out.
  FB is, however, not as confidential. Enemies can easily read what is written there - as long as they're FB friends of one of the group's members - so we shouldn't discuss strategies, alliances and any such sensitive issue on that medium.
Besides, relatives are constantly trolling that page.

I'm not sure if I have an intelligent solution to propose. We could use the Forum for more confidential uses, such as the issues mentioned above and the Lions Contact List, which shouldn't be published in the FB page.  
Mind you, there's a lot of junk on the forum as well, silly stuff that might better be posted on FB and that will automatically be deleted after a while, without intervention from a system admin. I'm thinking we should limit the Forum posts to some of the more important and relevant stuff, such as tactical info, diplomatic envoys from allies, song lyrics, etc.
So it might be a good idea for you to create a FB account, to stay posted on Bico or GN de Guerre events, parties, etc. No need to put in confidential info or even your actual name. Limit the number of people you accept as friends to members of our Order.
Is your hatred of FB related to a childhood trauma, a kidnapping attempt by Fiona Boyd perhaps ??

When I first started the FB page, the main idea that I had was that we could post on both of them, because about 2/3 of the guild check their FB WAY more than the forum. Unfortunalty, it turned out that the other 1/3 (excluding Bear) was also checking FB more often, the result being that most of the thing discussed are now on FB rather than on the forum.

I thought that it would be easier for the members to track down event, but now half the page is about funny picture related to a Lion's defecating or SCA videos or history video. It's more of a ''Page where I can show something that only the Lion will laugh''. I don't think it's a bad idea, it keeps a good bond on the social network, but thing is, business was working way more when everything official was posted here.

Agreed on every level.

EDIT: I'm really not into social networking via internet mediums such as facebook, twitter, and the like. Not my thing, I have no interest. I've made my position on the matter clear already and I don't think going into it anymore is worth anyone's time.

here is my opinion on the whole facebook vs forum issue.

for the organisation of events facebook is a much better system of communication than the forum since people are much more into facebook and get the invite faster and reply only on facebook even if it s also on the forum.

for the disemination infornation facebook is much more user friendly than the forum. of course u get to post a lot of garbage also but that s the job of the admin to check that shit. we have some of that on the forum also.

there is more privacy on the forum. i do not know if it is possible to reach the same amount of privacy on facebook but i believe it is possible.

as i say whenever a new member joins the group: when you join us you gain many priviledges and responsability and one of those is that it is your responasability to keep yourself informed

whenever something important comes up i make sure that the information is available to everyonr. i post on the forum, facebook and send out text message
sometimes i even call people. i only have a smartphone and i keep in touch better than most so it is not very difficult.

if the forum doesn t reach people anymore then it should be retired and it is the responsibility of those who need it to adapt.

I checked it out about this whole privacy issue that everyone's been bringing. Nobody can see anything on the page of the group. If you're not a member, the only thing you see on the group page is a list of the members, that's it. No post, no activity, no events, no nothing. So stop talking about anyone else seeing stuff like strategies or alliance, because they don't see squat.

I think this is becoming a bigger issue than it needs to be.

On my end, honestly, things have been working out fine. I am pretty informed as to the events that are going on in the guild and I don't have facebook, and I always knew what was going on when even before I was a member on the forum.

The only things I've "missed out on" are the random facebook parties people throw same day or the next - most of which I have mostly been unavailable for anyways due to sporadic working hours or something similar.

I guess I like the idea of the forum because its OUR own forum. Our own section of the internet to which we lay claim. When you navigate to it, you type in LIONS in the web address. When Australians search for Canadian Larp groups, they find the LIONS forum. I feel that is has more of an impact (more of a holy shit now THESE guys are organized feel to it) than a link diverting one to a facebook page.

I've never felt that I've needed internet social networking media to keep me informed as to what my friends are doing, and I still feel the same to this day. I guess it would bum me out if the forum is retired because we'd be giving up our own space on the internet.

The issue may also be that the forum is a really old system.

It's hard to post picture, no notifications... But, it's just old fashioned (not so great for bringing discussions than newer conversation platform).

I'll check how much efforts it'd take to transfer stuff on a newer system. Though honestly, I probably wouldn't transfer the theme as this is quite a job. Anyway, I'll let you know!