How do you feel about the variety and quality of RallyPoint discussions?

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:48:01 -0400

RP is a professional forum for making contacts, looking for employment and discussing what we can't discuss with others who have never worn the uniform. There are so many topics of discussion out here and some tend to be less serious than others. I freely admit that my discussions and replies tend to be more on the lighthearted side so I wanted to see how others felt about the variety and quality of Rally Point discussions.

Response by CPT Zachary Brooks made Jun 18 at 2014 11:51 AM

CPT Zachary Brooks — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:51:13 -0400

Most of the discussion are great and profound, some are moderately ok and I can pass, then there are the "Should a 2LT salute a 1LT" types...

Response by MSG Wade Huffman made Jun 18 at 2014 12:03 PM

MSG Wade Huffman — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 12:03:37 -0400

I think there is a pretty good mix on here. I too enjoy the lighthearted ones as a break from thinking too hard on the serious ones! There are some that I have absolutely no interest in, but that's OK, others may very well have a strong interest in them and I can choose to not participate in those discussions.
I do wish there was a better way of organizing the discussions (and sorting them by the date the discussion was started), but I guess that will come in time. RP is still a pretty new endeavor and we can all work together to make it even better!

Response by CPT Richard Riley made Jun 18 at 2014 12:09 PM

CPT Richard Riley — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 12:09:32 -0400

MAJ Petrarca, when you look at the site overall I think you have a mix of questions that gain member interaction on many levels. There are threads of value that answer earnest questions just as there are some threads with the sole purpose of fun & interaction. The combination keeps members commenting, the content continues to refresh, so it seems the mix is on target for the audiance.

Response by LCpl Steve Wininger made Jun 18 at 2014 1:05 PM

LCpl Steve Wininger — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 13:05:09 -0400

I think the mix is perfect Major. I remember back in the seventies there was a candy bar commercial "Sometimes you feel like a nut, Sometimes you don't." I think that applies well here on Rally Point. We all have days when we feel as you stated, "Lighthearted" and we all have days when we are not.

Rally point always has something going that fits whatever emotion we are feeling.

Response by MSG Brad Sand made Jun 18 at 2014 2:38 PM

MSG Brad Sand — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 14:38:20 -0400

Can be any one of the answers...but if we makes this too formal or serious, I will not be spending time on the site.

Response by 1SG Steven Stankovich made Jun 18 at 2014 3:18 PM

1SG Steven Stankovich — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 15:18:34 -0400

I think that we have a great mix of questions on RP sir. There are those who out to gain new perspectives on issues, some who are looking for advice, some that are very light-hearted, and those that like to stir up a little bit of controversy. I believe that this variety is due in part to the diversity of the RP members. All services, all ranks, retirees, veterans, and civilian supporters being a wide range of experience. What also adds to the variety is the fact that all ranks are members.

I do make it a point to took at a question and think about it prior to adding my thoughts. There are a few discussions out there that I do not think that I can bring anything positive to or I have felt that by adding my two cents it would only add more fuel to a fire. Those are ones that I hit the "next slide" button...

Response by SPC Charles Brown made Jun 18 at 2014 3:18 PM

SPC Charles Brown — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 15:18:46 -0400

I have come across several topics that were very serious, some were well stated and contained the right mixture of comedy and seriousness, while some started out serious and wound up on the comedic side. Overall I would say that this site has just the right mix of both.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 18 at 2014 8:50 PM

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 20:50:32 -0400

You want to go ultra-professional, go Linkedin. I enjoy having fun with a pitch of seriousness.

Being too serious at work I don't want to continue being in the forums here, so give me a break, kitkat bar!

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 18 at 2014 11:22 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 23:22:21 -0400

Of course, we may not know WHO some people are!!! :O

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 18 at 2014 11:50 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 23:50:27 -0400

Sometimes there's just too much... Then again, maybe not. :D

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2014 9:33 AM

Capt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 09:33:21 -0400

I think there is a good combination out there...Im with you though, "Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive." -Van

I do however think there are a lot of repeat questions, just stated a different way and a lot of conversations that are not needed and it seems that they were started just to earn influence points.

Response by GySgt William Hardy made Jun 19 at 2014 11:30 AM

GySgt William Hardy — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 11:30:47 -0400

Unless I am mistaken, we have the choice to respond or not to respond. So what is the big deal here. If people do not think a topic is worth discussing, few will respond and it will die a quick death. If it peaks the interest of many, it will go on for a while until something else comes along. As long as we get to practice or freedom of choice in here, all is fine. When we start getting too many rules, this site will fail. Many military sites have "rooms" and the type of discussions are sorted by the topic. People who want to discuss politics can have a political room, people who want to discuss military regulations and customs can have their room, etc. I found it useful since I am not notified of every single item that comes up. There could be a room for "Professional Contacts and Employment" which might be a very good thing.

The whole point is we should have freedom of speech and participation options.

Response by CW2 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2014 12:16 PM

CW2 Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 12:16:34 -0400

I'm not going to lie, I rarely come to Rallypoint anymore, and this is why:

1) Showboating. There are quite a few posters that feel the need to poll every single thing that comes in their mind for no reason at all except from what I can see - to gain points. Some polls are ridiculous, some are like huh, and I don't think any are actually useful (from these people not talking about this one). This is annoying to me, as I see the same people over and over posting new threads that are completely irrelevant; again - to gain points. This wouldn't be such an issue, except that:

2) The organization of RP is terrible. The way the threads are bumped to the top, the fact that you can't load them in the way a traditional forum is set up, etc...so these people can go through and thumb a bunch of posts and continually get their pointless threads to the top....which also makes it worse because:

3) There are 4,000 duplicate threads or threads that are so similar that between #'s 1 and 2 I usually get frustrated scrolling past all the BS to find threads that are worth responding to or learning from. This is complicated even further because:

4) RP has become a site where many people just repost news stories they've found, and if the story is big enough there's usually 50% of the front page of threads talking about the same news story in slightly different fashions. "what do you think about Bergdhals release", "if he created a RP account...", etc.

The overall problem is that people want to be heard and responded to. But the way this system is set up, someone could read this thread and they are going to see the top response and rarely get to the last response. A traditional thread on a traditional forum is a discussion between a bunch of people, usually. Here it is a personal discussion with individuals in a public setting. Half the time the discussions could be carried out in private message and the conversation would be no worse off because there isn't really a discussion.

Overall the content is simply weak. It's good if you want to gain points or "connect" I guess, but to me I'm looking more for usefulness I guess. And granted I have had some help from RP in the past solving some issues like a simple PRT plan, but lately it seems like 99% of the content is "vote if you are a commissioned officer", "vote if you are in the Army", "who here has only 9 digits instead of 10", "do you gel your hair at work" or other pointless categories.

To me this site should be mainly about questions in the military split up between the sister services and having a general discussion and off topic section where people like that one SSG can poll to his heart's content and get all the points he wants while we can actually have discussions about regulation interpretation, situational experiences and how to handle them, leadership, etc.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2014 7:39 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 19:39:56 -0400

I think that some take a topic off the subject most of the time. But in all good place to be.

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Jun 19 at 2014 7:41 PM

LTC Paul Labrador — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 19:41:43 -0400

I like having both serious discussion as well as more goofy, lighthearted ones too....

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2014 8:20 PM

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 20:20:57 -0400

I think it's a good mix. Even in a serious discussion it is good to be broken up a little by humor. The right kind of humor, at the right time will get people to open up and talk.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 9 at 2014 5:08 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 05:08:31 -0500

I think most discussions either involve an opinion or a statement of fact. And best when discussions are free. Humor is a great way to offset becoming too serious and these days there is the need for both.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 9 at 2014 5:49 AM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 05:49:57 -0500

I rather enjoy what we have going here. And believe we have just the right mix.

Response by 1SG Michael Blount made Dec 9 at 2014 7:03 AM

1SG Michael Blount — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 07:03:00 -0500

RP is a great place for making contacts within the veteran/military community, with just about the right mix of serious and lighter subjects. Nice thing about some of these discussions, when they get too heavy, is...the "ignore" button

Response by Maj Chris Nelson made Dec 9 at 2014 9:06 AM

Maj Chris Nelson — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 09:06:57 -0500

I think that some is light and in good fun. Some is people trying to learn about themselves/leadership and still others are looking for feedback on how to possibly address situations. I think this is a good mix.

Response by SGT Michael Glenn made Oct 6 at 2015 1:17 PM

SGT Michael Glenn — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 13:17:12 -0400

I find RP to have a lot of good topics but am constantly getting sucked into a vortex of having to throw my 1.5 cents (2 cents isnt worth 2 cents anymore people) into a discussion. I cant stand stupidity and dont take the NORM route of being a duck in a row like others do, if it stinks and others are doing it, Im stepping out of line, I was never a good follower. I used to get down and dirty with some of these people on here but have decided to take the more humorous approach on things as it helps me cope with some of the things posted. I am not good with politics and will try to avoid these type of discussions. Many have Huge ego's on here and I try to stay away from them as best as I can , but there is always that twisting sucking vortex....