Posted on May 19, 2014
1SG Company First Sergeant
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I have noticed the last couple of weeks a lot of "reposting from other site" posts. I understand that it may seem like a cool idea or that it may strike up responses, but leave that crap on FaceBook ("the other site") I won't point out any specific threads but I'm sure we all know what I am talking about.

What I enjoy seeing here (and what I believe rally point was intended for) is Soldiers regardless of rank asking questions to clarify something or just to gain knowledge. All of the political posts of "what are your thoughts" do no good and probably shouldn't be discussed in a military forum anyways.

I try to be really active on here and have enjoyed being part of this community in the short time I have been on here. I ask for those that take time to read this to really think about what you can offer to Service members as far as knowledge goes. Even the threads about favorite military movies/quotes are some good discussions. You get to hear a lot of personal stories and this can be good to show a different perspective to a current situation.

Let's keep this awesome site awesome, and leave the political debates/sarcasm on Facebook!
Posted in these groups: 2dcac4a3 RallyPointAmerican flag soldiers Soldiers
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SSG V. Michelle Woods
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SFC Gilley

All sarcasm aside, I don't know if limiting discussion subjects and content on Rally Point is a good idea. I personally don't like to get involved in certain subjects so I simply pick and choose which discussions to participate in.

While I don't like to discuss politics, I can see the benefit of discussing that topic with your fellow SMs especially since we have a lot of veteran's rights advocates on here who are doing nothing but fighting for us.

Besides, if I were to post on my Facebook for example, "what are your thoughts on Congress?" there is no way I could limit that to a discussion with only my fellow veterans. Everybody and their momma would be commenting.
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SGT(P) Motor Transport Operator
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Leave it to SSG Woods to ask the tough questions. I was wondering the same, but you clarified your point quite well, SFC Gilley.
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SSG V. Michelle Woods
SSG V. Michelle Woods
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Hey now I had to have clarification on the "sarcasm" issue.
*whew* glad we got that cleared up lol.
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CW2 Humint Technician
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It shouldn't be limited but there should separate sections. All these dumb pointless what do you think about and poll threads can go in "off topic" section. This works famously on most forums.

For example, no one on a car forum wants to go there to learn about an engine part only to have to wade through "should so and so wear a dress" threads. BUT those same people that WANT that connection with the community go down to "Off Topic" (which is often the most active part of a forum) and discuss that junk to their heart's content.
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SSG V. Michelle Woods
SSG V. Michelle Woods
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Ok me wearing a dress is clearly an important topic for all armed services and veterans. Lol really though I think that's a good idea SFC Jones.
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Andre Behrens
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Edited 10 y ago
Hello, RallyPoint engineer here. We recently added a new feature to the site that may be of interest to you. If you go to http://www.rallypoint.com/answers at the top of the list of posts should be a link that says "Change what I see."

Clicking on this should display a small drawer that lets you select which categories show up in your feed. I would guess you want to disable the General Interest topic. If you uncheck the box and click save, you shouldn't see those posts anymore.

Hope this helps!
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CW2 Humint Technician
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I will respond just as I did to a different thread. I found your topic when I was searching for that one. I know this is an older topic but I'll post to answer your question:

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.
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Capt Current Operations Officer (S 3)
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I agree with 80% of what you said here, I really do hate the reposts of the news stories and people posting just for points. But I do think that what makes this site great; its a military site not just about the military. It gives people the opportunity to connect and share things that might not be shared a military forum.

As far as the organization of the thread, Yes I agree there should be split categories for military related, satire, ect. But I think that's what they are trying to accomplish with the tags. If people tag their post so its relevant to what they are talking about they work.

I do find this site useful though, through networking and getting questions answered from a different perspective, but the redundancy of some of the questions and people answering just to gain points compels me not to want to read everyone's answers. I seem to find myself seeking those comments only from individuals who have proved to add usefulness to the conversation.
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