Should the forum (still) be closed on Mondays (2026 repoll)

[Melooon]

Hello, back in 2023, I carried out a poll and a long discussion related to having the forum closed on Mondays! Closing on Monday won the poll, however that was 3 years ago and the community has changed a lot since then 

Since the Monday closure was added we now use the forum as a login system for other sites, profiles were made always open to facilitate this, the art hub is open, guilds are open. Recently people have even noticed the chat can be accessed too; basically the Monday close code is breaking down at this point, and its time for a rethink.

So what will we do?

• Do we start staying open on mondays?
• Do we expand the system to close everything on Mondays?
• Is there a better way we can have some areas selectively closed?
• Do you have some other idea?

You can read the full old thread here to understand why the Monday close was added in the first place, and how people felt about it: https://forum.melonland.net/index.php?topic=2492.0

Some past ideas suggested were:

• Moving the closed day to another day (would this really help or just annoy different people?  )
• Implementing some kind of read-only mode on the forum? (Would this apply to other areas?)

My own view is that the Monday closed time is a valuable time to visit other parts of the site, such as the everyone site, and to spend time working on personal sites. However I also think even with that in mind, we could do a better job encouraging those things than the current Monday closed code does.

Anyway, its an important community feature that affects everyone, so you should have your say 

[IndigoGolem]

I haven't found that this place being closed on mondays makes me more active in the Everyone site, or makes me do more work on my own site. Maybe the latter would be true if i had fewer non-webcraft hobbies and fewer places to be besides here.

If the forum is open every day, that sounds more convenient for people who have stuff to do here on monday and more work for Melon. I do like that it feels like everything is closed to reset and refresh. This is when the shoutbox is cleared (i think, i've never been here early enough on a tuesday to see it empty), and it's a barrier to every day bleeding into the ones before, into a long smear of time.

I don't think closing a different day would change anything at all.

If the forum were read-only, i suspect i would visit less on monday than other days (but more than if it's closed), and i would read new things but not reply to them even after it opens back up on tuesday.

I think it's good that the wiki and one's own profile are accessible, but i'm not sure why the guilds & art hub stay open. But i'm not involved in either of those, so there may well be a reason and i just can't see it.

All this to say, i'm undecided.

[tarraxahum]

I think I count as the old guard by now and personally I am so used to this forum being closed on Mondays it'd be weird to see it otherwise. It's sorta like your favorite convenience store down the street whose opening hours you know by heart. There's something comforting in that.

Not to mention that it does actually help a little bit with my abhorrent screentime habits. I wish every other side had a day they were closed!

That said, I may just be averse to change. I'll let the newer users speak 

[rnottelovesowls]

i like this forum and its community too much to not be able to access it on mondays, personally. i want to interact with you all as much as i can, and i feel that many others do, too. and since this decision was made almost 3 years ago, of course the community would change since then and might want to try something different. what worked back then won’t always work today

besides, the more places on the web there are to go and socialize that aren’t facebook, twitterX or reddit, the better

[fairyrune]

i'm not really bothered by the idea of the forum closing once a week. personally i have found it helpful in that i go and do other things, or take a moment to actually work on my site

It's sorta like your favorite convenience store down the street whose opening hours you know by heart. There's something comforting in that.

i think this is also a nice way to put it, and a good point to consider. it's a routine for many people here, i imagine.

i think the idea of a read-only mode is helpful; this means that, even for people who aren't registered with melonland, they can still browse the resources lots of people share here. this is of course presuming that closing is still helpful for both moderators and users.

[Dan Q]

I mostly like that the forum closes on Mondays. It's quirky, and fun, and it reminds members to spend some time in the real world and maybe even away from the Internet.

Every time I forget that it's closed on Mondays it bugs me when I try to visit anyway! But even despite that, I'm still broadly in favour. That it (apparently) makes technical administration easier too is a nice bonus.

If it started opening on Mondays... that'd be fine too. My preference to keep it closed is only very soft. I'm easy, I guess!

[arachnoFlora]

I am a VERY new member of the forum, so take that into consideration with regards to my following diatribe.

I think the forum should remain closed on Mondays.
The question of how that should extend to other parts of the forum, like profiles, the everyone site, and so on, is probably one that I'd abstain from given my new-ness.

My reasoning is as follows:
Melonland celebrates web art and digital creativity.  I would hate to see a place made by an artist for other artists be pressured into conforming with the convenience standards of other social media platforms.  The Monday closures have felt, to me, like a very intentional part of the forum's identity and endeared me to the community.  As someone who grew up more online than offline, I've spent a lot of days and nights waking up, getting on my computer, and living in digital communities my whole life.  I'm at a point in my life now where I'm looking back and seeing how that always-plugged-in relationship with online community can lead to really negative things, at least, for me it has.  A huge part of why I'm here on the independent web and on the Melonland forum is the asynchronous nature of community.  Emails, forum posts, guestbooks, those forms of connection are such a breath of fresh air after a life spent on Discord, and I think they promote more thoughtful interaction while also making it less easy for toxic relationships to form.  The Monday closure of the forum is an extension of that, and every time I see the "the forum is closed on Mondays" page, it makes me happy, because I know the forum isn't trying to keep me in it forever like some scary online manipulator.  The forum wants me to be free and to create and grow and I think that's beautiful.

Maybe my points wont resonate with too many others, but I felt I should share my perspective as a newbie in support of the Monday closures.

[squidlifecrisis]

I'm a new member, and the first time I came to the forums wanting to chat on a Monday, I was devastated. Then I started poking around the everyone site, the evil forums, and the surf club, and my devastation turned into delight. I definitely feel like it encouraged me to explore others' sites or work on my own stuff more. so I am in favor of staying closed on Mondays! let the server have its naptime, it works hard for us!

[grubbyfox]

I just voted yess for it to be closed still, because why not? Give the mods a day off loool.
It's not a problem for me really. If it was open, I'd swing by. But it really isn't a big deal that I'll have to wait a day haha. Like I wouldn't be mad if it was open, but its def not needed in any way!

[Bede]

I know a lot of people who I've talked about the forum to, but who decided not to join, because one of their only free days is Monday. I also know of a couple people whose time difference makes the forum close on late Sunday for them, and having a recreational place close down on a weekend afternoon/evening is far less than ideal. But I also think this problem will arise, no matter what day is chosen, if it is decided to move it. We have a variety of people with a variety of schedules, so somebody is always going to be getting the short end of the stick; especially those non-privileged in terms of access to free time.

If it's not possible to have the site open at all times, it would be better to simply shorten the length of time where it is closed, to hopefully give people a better opportunity to get online before it closes. Perhaps 12 hours, rather than 24? I also really like the idea of the read-only mode. People can browse the forum, and maybe even think up some replies, in the meantime, and it means that those with limited free time won't be entirely locked out, at least.

[crazyroostereye]

I really don't mind either or, the Forum being closed on Monday is cool and quirky. Personally the only time I got in any way annoyed by it, was when somebody posted a Reply on Saturday Night where I get to read it in the Morning (via RSS) and can't reply. But that's a very minor Hiccup.

It gives me Time to focus on other things, and explore the Indie Web a bit more. Browse some Webrings, or find new Forums.

Honestly the Read-Only mode would be cool, as people who use RSS already get that Privilege.

[snufkin]

While a somewhat new member, I do like that the site closes on Mondays. Like tarraxahum said,

It's sorta like your favorite convenience store down the street whose opening hours you know by heart. There's something comforting in that.

Beyond a vague fondness for the quirkiness of it (I do love a quirky site) I agree with others' sentiment that it can drive interest in exploring new areas of this unfamiliar platform for new users in particular. However, there are those who are only free on Mondays to browse — what to do for them? Maybe we could move the closed day every week, or have alternate closed days? I think it's possible to retain the closure feature while accommodating different schedules

[IndigoGolem]

However, there are those who are only free on Mondays to browse — what to do for them? Maybe we could move the closed day every week, or have alternate closed days? I think it's possible to retain the closure feature while accommodating different schedules

Maybe closing it every ten or so days, so it falls on a different day each week? I don't know enough JavaScript to know if that would be hard to implement, but it would fix this issue. Or it could close more often if a break every ten days isn't enough.

[snufkin]

Maybe closing it every ten or so days, so it falls on a different day each week? I don't know enough JavaScript to know if that would be hard to implement, but it would fix this issue. Or it could close more often if a break every ten days isn't enough.

That's kinda what I had in mind. If we wanted to keep it open on weekends since those days are open for many people, we could also have it cycle through the weekdays -- close the site on Thursday one week, Friday the next week, then Monday the next week or something like that.

There would then arise the issue of people forgetting which day the forum is closed, as it would shift every week. Unsure how that would weigh against potentially welcoming new people who can't make it on Mondays.

[kurohaato]

I also know of a couple people whose time difference makes the forum close on late Sunday for them, and having a recreational place close down on a weekend afternoon/evening is far less than ideal.

This is more or less the camp I fall into. Where I am in the good ol US of A, the Monday closure starts Sunday afternoon/evening, which for a good chunk of people is when we indulge in our hobbies before we need to lock in for work/school. I'm sure other users from the western hemisphere run into the same thing. I've been using the forum for years and the closure gets me every time. _(:'з」∠)_

I feel like a read-only mode would be nice, but some kind of limited one. Like you'd have to do a little scavenger hunt or something to find a special Monday code that you need to add to the url to get a read-only view. A little convoluted sure, but the mods would still get their day off, the people who are willing to do it get to read some posts, and everyone else gets to go to the library and read a biography on the guy who invented lawn flamingos (or whatever it is they do on Mondays).