Speculative Zoo Design and Planning forum

ZooChat was started in 2003 to discuss zoos and animal conservation. I had three main goals when starting the site:

1. a place to discuss news about zoos
2. an opportunity to share knowledge and educate each other about zoos and animals
3. building a community of like-minded people to share experiences and knowledge

If I was to condense the goals down to three words, they would be: news; education; community.

We've always had an element of speculative discussion that went beyond the factual and explored the "what-if" scenarios. This can still be educational - investigating how things might be done differently at a zoo; considering what species might work well in a mixed exhibit; how you might design your own exihibits or zoo features. These are all examples of topics which lead to interesting discussion that remains within the original intention for the site.

However, there are some topics which do not really fit within the intent of the site. Sharing works of fiction and short stories is one example we've already had to restrict due to the amount of work involved in ensuring they remain "family friendly" and avoid any NSFW content that could be unsuitable for our diverse community.

More recently, there have been a lot of new types of threads created in the Fantasy Zoo forum, focused around role playing games and challenges. This is not really what that part of the site was intended for and has been a source of friction amongst our members for some time now.

After an extensive review of the content being posted on ZooChat, we have decided to refocus and rename the fantasy forum to make it more clear what our intent is.

As such, I would like to introduce you to the Speculative Zoo Design and Planning forum.

We would encourage the following types of discussions here:

• hypothetical discussions about developments or exhibits in existing zoos
• ideas for specific theoretical collections - such as geographical or species themes
• speculation about extinct species and how they might be exhibited in zoos
• individual designs for a fictional zoo where you have thought out how you might design exhibits, choose species to keep and encourage visitors - where other members may critique your design and make suggestions for improvement. The key word here is "design" - we expect some thought and detail, not simply listing species of animals.

... while the following types of discussions do not belong in this forum, or on the site at all:

• role playing games where participants assume the roles of zookeepers or characters in a fictional scenario and act out their decisions in the thread
• animal breeding and exchange games where participants pretend to run a fictional zoo and breed/swap animals between their facilities
• any other type of challenge which involves creating fictional exhibits or zoos

To be clear: we encourage the discussion about theoretical zoo and exhibit design - but don't make a game out of it. It should aim to be educational rather than pure fantasy.

Further to the above changes, we have also recently introduced restrictions on new members posting in this topic. We encourage new members to contribute to other parts of the forum when they first join and not simply hang out in the speculative design section. Once they have been a member for a while and posted enough in other topics, they will automatically be granted access to post in the Speculative Zoo Design and Planning topic.

I will note that these changes are not a sudden reaction to recent posts - this discussion amongst the moderation team has literally been going on for years now (since 2018!) and has been a source of ongoing debate between the mods as well. It's been a challenging process to identify types of content we feel fits with the goals of the site and to succinctly explain what we feel doesn't.

We hope that the change in focus for this specific part of the site helps us to continue growing the ZooChat community as the world's best resource for the discussion about zoos and animal conservation.

Note that the the existing Fantasy Zoos forum will be archived and made read-only in 1 week from now, to give existing threads a chance to wrap up any ongoing activity. The moderation team will assess existing threads to determine which fit the criteria to be moved to the new Speculative Zoo Design and Planning forum.

To summarise:

• effective immediately, no new threads can be created in the Fantasy Zoos forum
• existing threads in the Fantasy Zoo forums will remain open for new posts for one week from today at which time they will become read-only
• the moderation team will decide which existing threads in the Fantasy Zoo forum meet the criteria for the new Speculative Zoo Design and Planning forum and will move them there, so they may continue to receive new posts beyond the next week
• new members are not able to post in the Fantasy Zoo or Speculative Zoo Design and Planning forum until they have been registered for some time and contributed to other parts of the site - at which point they will automatically gain access to post in the new speculative forum.

 

I refer you to the third point here:

 

The threads that aren't moved over will still be available in read-only form, so you need not worry about that.

 

It's going to take a while for the mods to assess all of the old threads - so please be patient while we work our way through them.

 

I don't have a problem with someone starting a thread where they suggest some criteria and ask for suggestions or discussion about it.

For example: "What species would you include in a walk-through-aviary based on {some geography or theme}" ?

Or perhaps: "How would you design an exhibit to showcase kangaroos?"

Or even: "List your top-10 animals that you would choose for a section of a zoo based on {some geography or theme or similar}"

... just don't make it into a game or challenge. The point is for discussion and education.

Each type of scenario should be in its own thread - a thread where multiple scenarios are posed is likely not fitting with the intent of this part of the site.

 

A. we don't disclose specifics and they are subject to change at any time

B. that is kind of the point - we don't want new members to join solely to post in this part of the site.

If they are only joining because of the fantasy section, then we actually do want to discourage them.

I've looked at the statistics and there are quite a few members who have never posted outside of the Fantasy forum and are obviously uninterested in contributing to the wider community.