Special needs board

[Storygirl]

Night Elf posted a good question on the special needs subforum, but I'm afraid people may miss it. Please check it out over there!

Also, do we really think we need the Special Needs subforum? Couldn't all of the questions posted there be answered on the LC board? What is the difference supposed to be, anyway? I feel that I miss posts, sometimes, because I forget to look there.

Anyone else think we should merge the two?

[Wheres Toto]

I think the Special Needs Board is actually a social group so can be set up as private.  That way nobody who isn't a member can see any posts.

The Learning Challenges Board is part of the main forums, so is completely public.

[Storygirl]

Hmmm -- it's never been a social group before, but is a subforum, like the college board is a subforum of the high school board.

There may be a SN social group, as well, though.

[PeterPan]

They created the subsection a few years ago during some rearrangements. Some people at the time had wanted it, and, as you say, it's sort of unnecessary. I think the idea was that LC could include people dealing with challenges without diagnosed disabilities, etc., where SN would be more disability-specific. That was the logic. 

[laundrycrisis]

I think it was to be able to have a place where posts won’t be accessible to search engines and general people who are browsing around the forum - privacy? 

[PeterPan]

Iirc even clubs, which you think are private, are searchable with a google site search, which is always how I search. The subforums would certainly show up on google searches. Definitely no about privacy. And probably posts there show up in the "new posts" thing people read from where it just lists what the new posts where everywhere. Like you say, that's how we end up with people here posting who didn't realize they were on LC.

 

[Storygirl]

Yes, I don't see how posts would be any more private than any of the other subforums. If people have that impression, though, it's too bad, because they may not realize that anyone at all can see the information.

I think there may be some confusion about what is a subforum and what is a social group, or club, or whatever they call them now. The social groups used to be able to be made private, but I don't know if they still are. I think with the changeover, some of those settings changed.

But the special needs boards is just another forum, like Chat or K-8, that anyone can read.

Maybe people who post there have specific reasons why they think it is a better choice than the LC board. But, really, I don't see a difference in the types of posts. And having the subforum makes it possible for some questions to be overlooked by the LC posters. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks it is pointless!