Aethera

I do not believe the person who opened the Josh & Anna thread is a mod. I believe we'd be fine to open new threads as long as the names are respectful, and the commentary stays respectful as well.

Hey guys. Another former Counting On / 19 Kids mod here, who also left long before all these changes took place (in 2020), due to personal life changes, nothing to do with the forums. I was also here the week that the Josh news broke, as we tried to figure out what the rules should be in that hectic time. We tried to make the rules as straightforward as we could, and relax them when things calmed down and it felt warranted. What strikes me as most strange about that recommended post is that it's also highly critical of the new system - for instance, of locking threads for titles that were set 5-10 years ago, when instead they could be changed. For the bewildering policies. I can't say I disagree with those aspects of the post, but the new admin might. And yet, it's been marked recommended. Perhaps they thought they were simply elevating some polite disagreement over their policies without reading thoroughly. As a mod, it was my (volunteer) job to read all of the posts in this forum, and in others that may feel similar - Real Housewives, Kardashians, Sister Wives. Did I sometimes roll my eyes at the granularity of some of the discussions, and the passion shown by posters for and against people on TV that I never watched? Yes, I admit I did. But it was not my job to judge anyone, nor was it my job to take sides on disagreements of opinion over those on the shows. The point of these forums is to have robust discussion on the shows. If people didn't get granular and re-discuss long-standing topics, it would get pretty quiet around here. It was my job to keep things civil, roughly on track, and make sure that folks were adhering to the few basic over-arching rules of Primetimer. It was also my job to facilitate and encourage discussion. I agree with @frenchtoastthat the badges are unlikely to accomplish those goals. I've been half-following the current drama here via reddit and connections to former mods. It doesn't look like fun for anyone. Hopefully Primetimer will survive the growing pains. I have a lot of fond memories of my time here.

At the mid-point of the season, when I'd forgotten half of who was still on the island, I went to the CBS site to look at the bios and such. Half the cbs.com/survivor site is dead - News and Photos hasn't had anything new posted since S40, the cast photos were there but all their bios were empty (still are), even the Winners page hasn't been updated since Season 35. It feels like CBS has stopped caring, if they can't even be bothered to load cast bios. I feel like the best thing about this season is how ably the cast themselves demonstrated the staleness. Carson winning at puzzles because he was able to 3D print them all, and then all the ones he tried showed up. The cast bringing everything to that tribal because they knew a beach switch was coming. I understand new challenges are expensive to build but they have a HUGE library of them, and with the consistent location, they couldn't store more of them on-site? It's not like they're all huge - the final challenges in particular are often quite compact. I miss the variety. I have a core group of co-workers who still watch, and we all got together last week after the finale aired and discussed. Everyone loved Carolyn and agreed her strategy was underestimated but that she did herself no favors in FTC. I honestly was not surprised that Yam Yam won, based on his words in FTC. He did play a social game but in a deeper way than just "let's get everyone to like me" - I thought he did a good job of manipulating people's emotions in multiple episodes.

Folks, as is stated in the very short, bright red mod note that has been pinned directly above the reply box for weeks, discussion of Jed's run for office is off topic until it's shown on episodes, when it will then be discussable only in context of what is shown on the show. He is a politician, and thus the Politics Policy applies. Warnings will be issued for violations.

Folks, we are wandering a bit from the subject here, which is The Kitchen. Please stick directly to the show in this thread. If you'd like to discuss general topics, our Everything Else forum has lots of threads that might be useful!

A reminder to discuss the show, not each other, and that those on the show are fair game. And finally, remember that the Ignore Feature can help ensure a pleasant site experience. (Click on your name and then Ignored Users to add anyone you like to your list.)

Folks, participants on the show are fair game, and though we should be gentle to minors, discussing Alex's impact on her child's health is ok.

Folks, I've pinned a reminder to this thread, because we keep going over the line on the Politics Policy. Read it, know it, follow it, please. I know things are stressful and upsetting, but we still need to follow the policies of the site. If you have questions about the policy, feel free to PM me. But if you mention a politician (not just national, also state, etc), political party, administration member, political body, etc, your post will be removed and you may be warned.

Folks, please take discussion that is not about JD & Abbie to the Small Talk thread. As always, if your post isn't primarily about the Duggars in question, it doesn't belong in the thread.

Folks, discussion of Kanye West running for the US Presidency is off-limits here completely, unless it appears on KUWTK itself. See our Politics Policy. Posts referencing his relationship with the current US President are also out of bounds.

Folks, please remember to stick to the episode, and not get ahead of the show. Not everyone knows what happens next. I've moved spoilery posts to the Fact vs. Fiction Thread.

Jed is running for office. However, until that run is shown on the show itself, discussion of it is out of bounds due to our Politics Policy. Discussion of his opponent, President Trump or any other politics, for purpose of comparison or anything else, is ALSO out of bounds. Further violations of this will receive warnings.

Guys, it's fine to discuss hot button issues, as long as you do not bring politicians into the discussion or otherwise violate the Politics Policy. Violations may result in warnings.

Yes, I’m sorry, a forum issue deleted our M show vaults. Editing it out.

Ah yes a few of our vaulted forums for accidentally nuked during the forum upgrades. I’ll remove the link.