Merge off topic and general discussion

[Dreadnaught]

So let's break people out of the mentality that Atari cultivated - that we're all stuck in a pen and are to remain in our designated forum and not wander out of it. Most forums aren't as segregated as Atari was.

Yeah, but one positive is that it helped consolidate the place. One thing we found with the WPH integration is that too many subforums = fragmentation and it's hard for people to think that there is much going on.

Two certainly seems reasonable, but I think [m]any more would be pushing it without double the members.

[Cedar Point]

I don't think there will be a problem with one becoming more active than the other. As long as there are cool pictures, things that make you happy/de-grooved/go WTF, then off-topic will be popular. And as long as there are things to and at, general discussion will be popular.

[Dreadnaught]

Sooo...

1) "Debate and Discussion" & "General Chat"?

Or

2) "Inane Drivel" & "General Chat"?

[Wraith]

I vote 1.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Go for it. (1)

[Being]

"Discussion" & "Chat"

Titles don't need lots of letters to define what's there.

[Steely Glint]

Well, this is a surprisingly hard problem. I have problems with all these suggestions, but can't think of anything better.

"Discussion": of what? the weather?
"Chat": it's not a chat room
"Debate & Discussion": tautology
"General Chat": what's "general" about it? Am I to take it that specific chat is disallowed here?
"idle chat"/"inane drivel": needlessly dismissive.

All of these forum titles make reference to the kind of conversation that takes place within, but not the subjects. I have a mild problem with this.

I think that the general understanding here is that first forum is for discussing topics like

news
politics
science
religion
ethics
philosophy
ideas generally

and the second forum is

events in ones personal life
humor
wry observations about life
pictures
etc

What word or two words encapsulates the topics for the first forum and what word or two words encapsulates topics of the second forum?

Or, failing that just go with General Chat and Debate & Discussion, since they're the best suggestions so far

[Being]

"Discussion" & "Chat"

Titles don't need lots of letters to define what's there.

Debate is Discussion.

Chat is General Chat.

[Steely Glint]

Those titles don't define what's there, though, Being.

[Hazir]

So let's break people out of the mentality that Atari cultivated - that we're all stuck in a pen and are to remain in our designated forum and not wander out of it. Most forums aren't as segregated as Atari was.

I think so too. I'm used to a couple of fora where people wander in and out of subfora and write something where-ever they feel inclined to do so. The only thing that 's enforced there is that you stay on topic in the sub-forum. If not, you can continue the topic in another appropriate sub-forum. I never quite got the DBZ-CC upset in the Atari forum anyway.

I still would love to see a My Active Topics link right next to the Active Topics link by the way, that also should take away a lot of the muttering about having to keep an eye on more than one forum.

[Wraith]

I still would love to see a My Active Topics link right next to the Active Topics link by the way, that also should take away a lot of the muttering about having to keep an eye on more than one forum.

And change all three thousand of the current styles? Nevar!

[Being]

Those titles don't define what's there, though, Being.

I agree. But that is where thread titles become useful.

[Steely Glint]

And forum titles when you're trying to decide which thread should go where.

[Spawnie]

So far im in agreement with the current system. Keeping the decent topics seperate for when new people come wanting serious discussion makes us look more professional.

Anyone wanting a single-page thing can get it by clicking "view active topics", as mentioned.

My only wonder is why the main forum isnt called "community chat"? We still even call ourselves CC'ers

[gogobongopop]

We still even call ourselves CC'ers

I hereby propose, that from this point forward we call ourselves "The Super Friends"

If somebody wants to add a "-Dooper" after the "Super", I'd probably be okay with that.

[Spawnie]

That might make timmy come and post though.

Theres nothing that rolls off the tongue to call us though. Forgotteners? TWFs?

Maybe we can have a lame thing where we all say "TWF" instead of "WTF"

But no matter how hard we try, we can never be as cool as we were when we were CCers.

[Nessus]

I think we might have to merge the two, I'm afraid

There's four or five topics in the "debate" section that belong in the off topic one, and the political compass thingy has no business in the section with "wots fur dinnah" and the pictures thread.

*sigh*

[Hazir]

I think we might have to merge the two, I'm afraid

There's four or five topics in the "debate" section that belong in the off topic one, and the political compass thingy has no business in the section with "wots fur dinnah" and the pictures thread.

*sigh*

Or we could tell our admin to discipline himself and others by moving the threads to the appropriate forum. I think there are good long-term considerations to keep the two separated, these should not be shoved aside because people are still used to rules of a place that never really fitted us anyway.

[Nessus]

Or we could tell our admin to discipline himself and others by moving the threads to the appropriate forum. I think there are good long-term considerations to keep the two separated, these should not be shoved aside because people are still used to rules of a place that never really fitted us anyway.

This assumes people are capable of both learning and change

[Timbuk2]

people are still used to rules of a place that never really fitted us anyway.

It didn't?

We made the place pretty much our own, which is why so many of us were such long-term members.

How on earth did it 'not fit us'?

* keeping in mind of course that there was a hard-core who never got involved in many or even any of the heavier politics/economics/religion type threads and were indeed just there for the lolz.

[Hazir]

It didn't?

We made the place pretty much our own, which is why so many of us were such long-term members.

How on earth did it 'not fit us'?

- keeping in mind of course that there was a hard-core who never got involved in many or even any of the heavier politics/economics/religion type threads and were indeed just there for the lolz.

I am pretty certain a lot of people, while posting in that place, did a lot of self-censuring (in the lolz-section). I know I did.

[Hazir]

This assumes people are capable of both learning and change

Yes. And if they're not they should be taken out and shot.

[Ziggy Stardust]

There's this method to determine whether the separation is clear enough. I call it the Ziggy 8-ball lowest common denominator test. You ask Ziggy: Do you understand the way the forum is separated. If Ziggy answers "yes" it is clear enough.

And Ziggy answers "Yes"

It's not rocket science.

[Hazir]

There's this method to determine whether the separation is clear enough. I call it the Ziggy 8-ball lowest common denominator test. You ask Ziggy: Do you understand the way the forum is separated. If Ziggy answers "yes" it is clear enough.

And Ziggy answers "Yes"

It's not rocket science.

Maybe we should give Timmeh the power to close threads that are placed in the wrong sub-forum

[Wraith]

Steely's pedantry aside, it sounds like "Debate & Discussion" and "General Chat" are the best we've come up with. We can use the forum description to expand a bit more, perhaps including everything Steely listed in sentence form?

A disturbingly large number of people are mistakenly voting to merge the two topics. In the long view for this place, another point in favor of keeping them seperate is our means of drawing in newcomers. If they go onto the forum from the blog and all they see are the "What are you eating", "What are you listening to", "What are you happy about" etc. threads, they're going to come out with idea that this forum is just like twitter, but less popular.

I also agree with those who said we need to start enforcing this by moving threads posted in the wrong place.

[NGS]

they're going to come out with idea that this forum is just like twitter, but less popular.

That's just because we don't have an iPhone App.

How about renaming the current Off-Topic section "Thing that matter" and the current General Discussion "Things that really matter"?

[Flixy]

Steely's pedantry aside, it sounds like "Debate & Discussion" and "General Chat" are the best we've come up with. We can use the forum description to expand a bit more, perhaps including everything Steely listed in sentence form?

A disturbingly large number of people are mistakenly voting to merge the two topics. In the long view for this place, another point in favor of keeping them seperate is our means of drawing in newcomers. If they go onto the forum from the blog and all they see are the "What are you eating", "What are you listening to", "What are you happy about" etc. threads, they're going to come out with idea that this forum is just like twitter, but less popular.

I also agree with those who said we need to start enforcing this by moving threads posted in the wrong place.

That, especially when integrated with the blog, has cnvinced me to change my vote.

[Dreadnaught]

Alrighty, it's something we'll start enforcing.

[Spawnie]

Blog and Debate Forum and Community Chat ?

This seems good. Community Chat should be in there somewhere

[Ziggy Stardust]

Let it go Spawn ... let it go. It's history. You're clinging on, to a World Forgotten.



Can a brother get a violin in this shitkicker or what?