New Forum

What about a new forum for the more serious side of members.If there allready is one I haven't noticed.

I was actually thinking of bringing this up a bit earlier today, considering many message boards already have it. However, I'm pretty sure that it's been discussed before, and we don't need a seperate section just for the more serious topics, considering that they fit into the General Chit-Chat just fine.

Go ahead and post you thoughts, though, guys. If you want it, you might end up getting it.

Well maybe like a sub-forum within general chit-chat could work out.You could test it out for a couple of weeks.

I agree. Maybe have a half and half thing, one for more serious political or whatever things. Because the General fourm is often times overrun by spam-like threads. So it would be nice to consolidate them.

I would guess that this has been suggested before....sounds obvious enough.

If it would help the serious threads live longer, then I'm all for it.

Let us think of the far-reaching implications of this.

First, general chit chat would be transformed from few serious topics and decent amounts spam into all silly topics and mostly spam. The quality of the general chit chat would drop significantly, thus the attendance of the general chit chat would drop significantly.

The general chit chat board is this forum's main draw (whether you like it or not). To cripple the general chit chat forum would be to cripple this forum and in effect- this site.

In review of the aforestated logic, it would be a serious blunder to take such actions. You would move popularity of the general chit chat out of the mainstream by degrading its quality further, and thus remove this forum's, and ultimately this website's main engine of generating interest.

If we want to improve the quality of posts, then that must come from individual contributions and not arbitrary forum restrictions. To bring the political and other serious topics into their separate subforum would decrease their lifespan by limiting the number of possible contributors and raising the amount of redundant discussions (between the same people) thereby fueling disinterest in such topics.

Sincerely- I hope I am the clear voice of reason- Bobslob.

Very good point.Well I have another idea.You could put a sub forum in where people discuss their domestic, relationship or friendship problems but keep the debating threads in the general chit-chat forums.

I think it can all be done in General Chit-cht considering any forum or subforum made would still have the same rule set it wouldn't make all too much sense to have a speical lace for arbitray deemed 'serious' topics.

I don't liek the idea too much, considering it would provide othing that you can't say anywhere else.

i agree with bobslob. altering the general chit chat would ultimately crush the forums. nice idea, but it just wont work.

I haven't changed my mind since the 2-3 other threads about this.

Making a forum for serious/mature/whatever discussion won't work, in my opinion. There'll always be immature people participating in the discussion, ruining it.
That way it won't make any difference if the discussion is in General Chit-Chat or a seperate forum for serious discussion

I am talking about a forum within a forum not a full blown forum itself.Maybe we could try it out just to see how well it would do.

It still is a separate forum.

Guess how often I look at the subforums on the general chit chat board. Occasionally with New Members, rarely with Signature Shop and almost never with News Updates. By dicing forums into small pieces you can kill them completely. What if their is genuinely no "serious discussion" going on for a week? You get a dead board, that is what. By expanding what can be said in the General Chit Chat you expand the audience. More people= more opinions and more contribution. Less people= less opinions and less contribution.

The idea of a a "relationship" board is even more divisive than a "serious topic" board. I seriously don't want to know more about who Johnny does or doesn't like than I have to. The only reason I enter those topics and even contribute to them is because they are plopped in front of me and friends of mine contribute to them. If I know I can skip out on those topics then I won't go look at them. Same with nearly everyone else and topics they don't like. Thus the quality decreases drastically.

"Just trying it" isn't a good idea IMO. Like any government machination or superfluous institution, it may be useless, or near useless, but it is near impossible to get rid of once it is established.

Bobslob, my friend, you have taken the words out of my mouth. All else I could say would simply mirror exactly what you said about this. Any such new section would be completely redundant, perhaps to the point of killing it. While I doubt it would be quite so bad, it's still not good enough of a reason to warrant a whole new section for something that is unnecessary.

Really, there's no need for this. It's good that you suggested it in the first place, though, because it shows you're thinking about how to make this place better.

I think that pretty much resolves things, then. Thread closed.