What exactly is the RP Experience supposed to be?

2015-11-01T17:24:09-05:00

There is a recent post by an RP member who feels that many of the posts are irrelevant...insignificant...boring and most people who are posting these supposedly only post to chase points.
It seems that I fall into this category of DISLIKE in this particular post. I do not post to chase points. I post because I want to know how other RP members feel about a particular subjects/story/headline/issue....I want to know what their thoughts are...or I want to hear from those who agree with what ever the subject is and why they think it's right...and debate about it.

When I first started posting I had no idea about points....how to get them...how they are earned etc....it took me a while to catch on and it took a while for me to finally get and understand how to pose my questions in my posts....
After reading quite a few comments on this post there is one comment that chastises quite a few of the posts that I myself have posted..... and or Posts by others that I have commented on ...and one of the things said was THIS IS NOT what the RP experience is suppose to be.
I would like to know WHAT EXACTLY is the RP experience suppose to be like.
I've only been on RP for a few months....it seems many have been here much much longer. I'm hoping the long term RP members can shed some light and enlighten me on what exactly is the RP experience....Is it not what I've been experiencing so far?
JUST CURIOUS....because so far....I have enjoyed my time on RP with the exception of a few members and I thought this was the "RP experience."

Am I missing something?

UPDATE: 10:57 PM November 1 2015.
Thanks to MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca who gave me the link to the Rally Point guidelines, here is what is says on the first page #1. Seems to me this is what's being done.....so now I'm really not understanding why there are a number of members getting so upset with the topic's of discussions
1-1 Purpose
RallyPoint is a professional community designed to provide service members and Veterans with
a way to connect with fellow service members, Veterans, and employers. In the Answers
section service members and Veterans are encouraged to share appropriate information,
discuss ideas and policy, and build connections and friendships. RallyPoint caters to the military
and thus emphasizes professionalism and etiquette

Response by SSgt Alex Robinson made Nov 1 at 2015 5:37 PM

2015-11-01T17:37:22-05:00

It should be shared experiences and knowledge

Response by SSG Warren Swan made Nov 1 at 2015 6:10 PM

2015-11-01T18:10:30-05:00

It's going to vary person to person. While I see what the original poster meant, once RP begins to censor the type of posts or the site content, we've lost, and now are no better than what we complain about on other sites. Keep doing you. If what you post has value to YOU, I'm sure someone else has it too.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 1 at 2015 6:40 PM

2015-11-01T18:40:37-05:00

There has been a lot of frivolous trope posted lately. Not necessarily saying that applies to you, but there has been a lot. A couple of members' posts come to mind.
I am not the thought police. Generally if I find a topic to be uninteresting, I just move on to the next one.

Response by COL Vincent Stoneking made Nov 1 at 2015 7:57 PM

2015-11-01T19:57:16-05:00

This meme seems to surface every few months, with some variation of "this is how we do it in MY Army!" In reality, this is a social media site. It is what its members make it (and the Administrators allow). Despite of the opinions of any person about what it "should be."

RP management has put out some good left & right limits and the Admins do a pretty good job of policing anything that goes outside of those generous boundaries. If you haven't been contacted by an admin, you're doing fine.

Personally, I find some of the "irrelevant" (to someone else) posts the most interesting. There are a lot I don't comment on, due to discretion, but a lot that I find interesting. And a lot of the "relevant" (to someone else) posts brain deadening. Then again, as 1SG Private RallyPoint Member said, there are some I don't find interesting and just ignore. That's what you do on a social media site.

Response by PVT Robert Gresham made Nov 1 at 2015 7:58 PM

2015-11-01T19:58:31-05:00

Sgt Kelli Mays Just like in real life, everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. Everyone has their own opinion. that is the reason that you will find so much diversity, and why you will ALWAYS find someone who will disagree with something that you say. But, on the other hand, you will almost always have someone who agrees with you, someone who will defend your point of view. It is the very nature of "Social Media", the chance to express your views.

As for chasing points, yes, I see it too. People who want to answer every question first, so that they can pick up "Trailblazer" points. So they write a three, or four word comment, with no substance, just to be the first. I just wish that people would think about what they write, and not just write one hundred, one line answers. Sometimes a one line answer is all that is required, but if you are doing it just to get your answer in first it does seem kind of shallow, and petty.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 1 at 2015 8:15 PM

2015-11-01T20:15:15-05:00

I think RP should be what you want it to be. We obviously do not all agree.

Funny thing is I have seen identical arguments on almost every group.

Here, is my take. One should be able to post whatever as long as they do not show disrespect for others or become abusive to others or another group.

Lighten up folks posts that you don't like or do not want to read is what the scroll feature is all about.

Response by COL Jon Thompson made Nov 1 at 2015 8:19 PM

2015-11-01T20:19:13-05:00

Sgt Kelli Mays SSG Warren Swan I agree fully with SSG Swan. I believe RP is designed to be an open forum for military SM and veterans to share. It is our community. If an admin on RP starts to censor what people post (as long as it is not disrespectful or harmful), the site will lose members and those remaining will lose out on discussions. I do think that anyone who chases points on here is wasting their time because those don't mean anything. I would even recommend that RP get rid of those. But I have found a lot of value in discussions that may fit into some of the compliant categories. I think the way this site has evolved is how all social media sites evolve. Even on Linked In, I have seen discussions that I felt did not belong in that setting. I guess what I am not understanding is why people are complaining about something they are not forced to read and comment on. Just ignore it and the person. Do not let anyone stop you from posting what you want.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Nov 1 at 2015 9:35 PM

2015-11-01T21:35:15-05:00

I'm not sure if there is a definition of the "RP Experience." We're all here to share experiences, reach out to and support each other and have a few laughs along the way. I've chafed a few pairs of skivvies along the way with some of my more lighthearted banter. We all have different reasons for being here but are united by the uniform we currently or once did wear. We "get" each other where a lot of our civilian friends and coworkers don't and that's probably what led each of us here. Our esteemed colleagues who have responded here have all made some great and valid points.

IMHO, what I have seen happening here lately is that there are so many discussions being posted that A) its hard to find the things that each of us may be looking for even with the tags and topics available to us to filter our interests and B) even when you filter the discussions and find what you're looking for it's hard to know what to respond to because there's so much out there. There seems to be an over abundance of trolling (starting a discussion here by transplanting it from another social media outlet) going on here to the point where its "de-ja-vu all over again". Yes one can choose to ignore it and not respond but after a while it's too much to filter through. There are also a lot of members trying to make discussions unique simply by rewording them from what another member posted - "What do you think about ..." vs. "How would you feel if ..." This is why admins keep merging discussions to the dislike of members. I keep advocating that folks search outside of the "start a new discussion wizard" using key words only before trying to post a topic. See if what you are about to ask has already been asked. Even this method is not fool proof but it will cut down the duplicate discussions. Another trend is posting a discussion w/o providing a context or direction. If one simply posts "What do you think about ..." without adding an opinion or direction one wants to take the discussion it gives the appearance of "Posting for Points" or "Hey I just found this on MSN or CNN or wherever and it hasn't been posted od RallyPoint yet so let me do it." If there's important news out there chances are most people have seen it before it gets to RP. Promoting discussion and sharing is highly encouraged, simply regurgitating posts is not.

Again, just my humble opinion, there's a reason that RallyPoint isn't Facebook and there's a reason why a lot of folks want to see a level of professionalism and decorum maintained here. We admins do our best to maintain the site according to the posted rules: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwGCGf-BJVo-V2dWSVdvMXRQX0E/edit. Will we please all the people all the time? For sure we won't, but we're trying to keep the Commander's intent, in tact.

RP 3-1 Proper Participation and Use of the RallyPoint Answers Forum.pdf