Opinionators www.opinionators.co.uk

Most people who aren't active members of Ciao.co.uk (or the other opinion site Dooyoo.co.uk) will never have heard of Opinionators, unless they browse around the web and just happen to come by it. This doesn't mean non-Ciao/Dooyoo members or non-active members cannot join the site. Anyone can join. It's free. It's simple. It's fun. It's a community. It can also be very controversial. Overall, it's easily my number one forum site.

Opinionators (found at http://www.opinionators.co.uk/mainboard/index.php) is a forum site set up for opinionated people. Many members of Ciao and Dooyoo are also members of this site. Why? Well Opinionators was originally set up as a community forum for both of these opinion writing sites as a place to hang out, have fun, take part in gritty debates, and generally to bring people together into a diverse community. Being a Ciao or Dooyoo member certainly comes in handy when jumping into this Opinionators community, but Opinionators is so much more than just the opinion writing sites. Yes Ciao and Dooyoo play a big part in Opinionators, but us Opinionators members do (believe it or not) have lives outside of this little opinion writing world. The only requirement needed to fit into this site and community is opinions. If you're opinionated then this is definitely the place for you. You can be quietly opinionated, or obnoxiously opinionated. As long as you have opinions you'll enjoy the benefits of being a member.

Becoming a member is easy. Just like most other forums you enter your basic details and that's it, done! Your Opinionators account provides you with a profile page which you can fill in or eliminate as required. You can use your Ciao/Dooyoo username like most members do, or remain anonymous by using a different username. You don't have to give out your real name. You don't have to admit you're a member of Ciao/Dooyoo. You don't have to particularly do anything except give a valid email address and choose a username. Of course it's much more fun when you take advantage of the profile features such as adding an avatar to your profile, which appears on your forum posts. Or using the PM (private message) function to privately gossip with other members. Or using the signature function which allows you to sign all your posts with whatever takes your fancy (a pic, a website link, favourite saying etc). But these are all optional; so you can be boring and just stick to the basics if you feel so inclined. All new members are welcomed to the site with their very own 'welcome' thread, which is started by either one of the moderators or another member. It's nice to be acknowledged let alone welcomed on any internet site, so thumbs up to Opinionators here (though I can't remember if anyone welcomed me, I'm gonna go check in a mo).

Navigation is very easy; even a blind man could work this site out. On the home page you are met with the forum index. This consists of Site Information, New Members and Forum guidelines for Opinionators. Then there's Opinion Sites In General, Ciao.co.uk, Dooyoo.co.uk and Opinion Sites 101 for discussions on everything opinion site related. And lastly is the non-opinion site related part, which consists of Entertainment, Other Stuff and Lifestyle. To make it even more user friendly you can also choose what colour/type of board format you want. So those people with dyslexia or eyesight problems can choose the best style to suit their needs. The board rules are very easy to adhere to (http://www.opinionators.co.uk/mainboard/viewtopic.php?t=7) Not many rules, but rules which you should try to remember.

OK that's it with the boring basic stuff; now let's get on to what makes this site what it is. Personally I love the variation offered on Opinionators. I love it when you get the debating threads (threads = conversations). I don't always join in on these as some can be way above my intelligence level, such as politics, religion or racism debates, but they always keep my attention, and I read along as the threads develop because Opinionators members are so opinionated, and listening to every ones points of view can be fascinating. In general neither politics, religion or race (to name just 3) never interest me, but somehow it IS interesting when reading discussions on here. I've even found myself learning new things along the way.

The Ciao discussions can be fascinating to get involved in, or even just to read. There's been some classic episodes in the past such as when a certain extremely prominent Ciao member publicly faked her own death and Ciao went into crazed hysteria. Ciao members flocked to Opinionators by the dozen to voice their opinions on this mad woman. The night this fake death occurred, Opinionators must have gained tons of members, unfortunately most of which were never seen again once the storm had blown over (see I'm not the only sadistic person around here). Then there are the Ciao discussions about how to improve Ciao, threads about Ciao messing things up, banned Ciao members spouting off about Ciao deleting them unjustifiably. I bet the Ciao workers absolutely love lurking around this forum when they've got nothing better to do (a-ha that's why nothing ever gets done on Ciao. The workers are all too busy watching us lot discussing them. I'm probably being a bit mean here. We do talk about positive things to do with Ciao such as......as.......as......oh yes such as congratulating them when they manage to add someones product proposal within a month, or when someone actually manages to complete a survey.

The Dooyoo forum used to be mainly filled with complaints about everything which didn't work on the site, what bugs it had, how dead it was, why people couldn't log in, people hadn't been paid, and emails not answered etc. These days it's a much jollier and more positive forum than the Ciao section has ever been. Rather than 99% of the threads being complaints (like it used to be), this section has lots of praise for Dooyoo, suggestions, discussions, healthy debates. Sebastian (the God who works for Dooyoo) is a member of Opinionators and frequently joins in the discussions or answers peoples queries on the board, as do the Dooyoo member Guides.

The other opinion related sections (Opinion Sites In General and Opinion Sites 101) are discussions, hints and tips about opinion sites in general. Occasionally something interesting happens in one of these sections, but I prefer the other areas of the board.

So what about for non-members of opinion sites? What about those who don't want to live, eat, think and talk opinion sites 24/7? This is where the Entertainment, Other Stuff and Lifestyle section come in. You can talk about anything you want here. Seen a movie you like? Start a thread in entertainment. Got a website to recommend? Start a thread in Other Stuff. Wanting to quit smoking? Start a thread in Lifestyle, and without even asking for it you'll receive encouragement, advice and tips. You like to start lots of meaningless and pointless threads? Start as many threads as you want, other people do. Fancy a debate? Start a thread over here too. You can debate anything you want. Most of the time debates just happen anyway. All it takes is for someone to have a different opinion to someone else about anything, and before you can blink you've got a debate on your hands. As you can imagine on a forum for opinionated people, debates happen very frequently, even with regards to the minutest insignificant thing. Hey that's opinionating for ya! Don't mistake debates for arguments though. This is an easy mistake to make, and one which I made numerous times when I was a newbie forum user on Opinionators' predecessor Ciaozone. I'm not saying arguments don't happen on Opinionators, because they do (grin).

Oh yes the arguments . Strangely Opinionators goes through argumentative and fallout stages. Usually they do blow over fairly quickly, but I'm ashamed to admit I love watching members argue publicly between themselves. Because everyone is so opinionated it can be so funny. It's probably not good for the site to have public fall outs within threads, but it's a community, and communities do sometimes have disagreements. Many threads are there for all to see where members are going for each others throats. Grown adults turn into spoilt little brats, insults are thrown, sides are taken, members threaten to leave, everyone hates each other. Unfortunately for sadistic people like me, it does blow over and harmony is restored once more (hey I like my soaps and Opinionators is better than Eastenders half the time). You should see the members/non-members flock to the site when there's a spat. Am I the only one who publicly admits to being entertained when others fall out? I know others find it entertaining too, because the site stats sky rocket at the merest hint of a spat. So if you don't want to join Opinionators to get involved or join the community, just be a lurker like dozens of others who are in it purely for the sadistic entertainment value.

So let's sum up the good points

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Easy and free to join and all new members receive their very own dedicated 'welcome' thread. Diversity amongst members, lots of personalities, characters and opinions. Serious discussions. Fun or pointless discussions. Debates about everything and anything. Recommendations. But MUCH more importantly, Opinionators is a community which may not be noticeable at first. I used to think the Ciao community existed solely on Ciao by using the guestbooks. That the Dooyoo community existed solely through the use of the Tooyoo guestbooks. Now I actually think, believe and know the community of both these sites exists mainly through Opinionators. On Opinionators, members can get to know other members likes/dislikes/character/personality/opinions without having to exist solely through and within the boundaries of opinion writing sites.

There has to be some bad points, surely?

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Everything has bad points and Opinionators is no exception, although I wouldn't call them bad points but rather slight disadvantages. First I want to make a complaint to old Dukey (Opinionators Admin/mod) I NEED MORE PRIVATE MESSAGE STORAGE SPACE PLEASE. I have no idea how many messages are allowed to be stored in your profile before the memory is full, but me and my gossip partner Drewboy do like to talk, and there's been occasions where I've had to totally clear out my PM folder twice in one night .

Then there is the lack of decent smilies (smiley face icons to those who don't know). I know adding more smilies takes up vital memory/server space, and it can make it slower or something like that, but I love my smilies and I'm bored of the limited selection on Opinionators.

The other slight disadvantage I suppose, is that the more experienced, loud or vocal members may put off others joining the site and voicing their own opinion. Not everyone is used to such a (sometimes) harsh opinionated environment. It never bothered me as a newbie, but that's because I'm loud, opinionated and not scared of making myself be noticed. Others, especially those totally new to all forums, or even the internet itself, may be much more wary about voicing their opinion in case it gets stomped on and debated by an argumentative loud mouth. To those of you who do feel wary about making that first post, I'd just say type out what you're thinking and post it on a thread. We're all human. We all started out somewhere. If you have an opinion you should never be afraid to share it, regardless of whether people will agree with it or not. If it wasn't for differing opinions sites like Opinionators, even Ciao and Dooyoo wouldn't exist. Jump in feet first, don't be scared, it's just a computer with words on it, and if someone says something you don't like just walk away or argue to your hearts content.