| General > General Technical Chat |
| IMPORTANT POLL: Should there be an off-topic section? |
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| N0NB:
Dave, I think you have steered away from the idea of a wide open anything goes forum which is a good idea. Targeted off-topic forums are likely much more manageable. Areas like hobbies or work interests would seem to lend themselves to moderation. Instant hot button topics really don't lend themselves to moderation but rather subject everyone to polarizing cries over "free speech" issues which never seem to end well. Many years ago, before what is currently known as social media, I was a member of a Web forum who eventually was chosen to be a moderator. About the same time there emerged a clique on the forum who mostly interacted with each other but were polluting the various forums with junk posts mostly in the vein of junior high humor. It didn't matter if one of the clique was actually trying to have a serious post on a subject, the other hyenas quickly descended and started their shtick. The administrator created an off-topic forum as a means to cope and for a time most of the garbage stayed there. Over time, like honey, it attracted newer forum members who weren't aware of the history and who eventually got chewed up and spat out by the clique. A lot of folk that just wanted information on their project got sucked in and it didn't take long for word to get around to other like-minded forums that this particular one was one to avoid. Another pastime of the clique was to ride the fence as it were to push the limit regarding the forum rules. Eventually, I too had my fill, resigned, and simply stopped visiting the place regularly. As a mod I was left with few tools other than deleting posts which would pop right back up. Playing whack-a-mole for any length of time isn't my idea of fun. The admin was largely MIA at the time and only he could suspend posting privileges or ban members. Once the clique figured that out it was game over. In the years since I checked it out a few times and the clique seemed to be about the only activity left. I always thought it was a sad ending for a site that in the early years I was a member was a lot of fun and had a lot of mutual respect and valuable input into each others' projects. The choice is yours, but I know what I would not do. |
| tggzzz:
--- Quote from: AVGresponding on September 12, 2022, 06:40:02 pm --- --- Quote from: tggzzz on September 11, 2022, 11:22:35 pm --- --- Quote from: AVGresponding on September 11, 2022, 11:55:21 am --- --- Quote from: pcprogrammer on September 11, 2022, 11:34:21 am ---And can we now stop this please and get back on what this thread is about. Do we want a new section to post non electronics related topics in or not. I wonder if a change of the original post with the latest view on it being for other hobbies only, and still no politics, religion and guns, can help in making a more founded decision. --- End quote --- I'd change "guns" to "weaponry", otherwise you'd likely get some smartass posting about crossbows, combat knives or somesuch and saying "it's not a gun, so I can post about it". --- End quote --- Pens can be more devastating than swords, and thats without using them as a stiletto. When rules become explicity codified in writing, barrack room lawyers and officious busybodies have a field day. --- End quote --- Extend that argument to its logical conclusion and we should have no codified rules at all. If someone uses a pen to stab someone, they are by definition using it as a weapon. If someone uses a pen to write rhetoric that incites people to violence, again, it's being weaponised. If we say discussion about weaponry is not allowed, then the logical assumption is that discussing how to stab someone with a pen, or how to trigger a riot by writing inflammatory things, would be against the rules. Equally, a discussion about how to use a pen to provide a breathing tube in an ad hoc trachaeostomy, or how to write a letter designed to calm an angry argument, would not be forbidden. --- End quote --- That is the approach promoted by anacharists. It is beguiling to 6th formers (i.e. 16-8yo UK schoolchildren), but a little consideration leads people to realise it is immensely destructive. The trick is to find the right balance between rigidmrules and anarchy. That requires humility and wisdom, both rare attributes. |
| m k:
Since everything is said at least seven times is it time for conclusion. First there where Chat, later it was labeled General Technical Chat. First there where also TEA "chat", later it turned to more serious and even later it tried to go back, partially. Now a middle ground between old Chat and General Technical Chat is possibly needed. Current "Gas Armageddon" is clearly showing that content is not the issue, it's nuances of presentation. Even clearer(ly?) if back channel moderation there is non existent. Maybe all that is needed is just a bit of shuffling. Rename General to RL Activities, Other Communities to General and move General Technical Chat to new General. Relabel old TEA to more hardcore and new TEA to TEA Chat. New hierarchy can then go so that too light stuff from everywhere can be splitted to General. And if something in General General is big enough it can have its own section, like Cooking and TEA Chat, at least photography, cars and wood working are also mentioned. |
| tautech:
--- Quote from: m k on September 13, 2022, 09:39:09 am ---Since everything is said at least seven times is it time for conclusion. --- End quote --- Careful now, that might imply it's time for commonsense to be applied, something that's not that common. :-DD |
| tggzzz:
--- Quote from: m k on September 13, 2022, 09:39:09 am ---Since everything is said at least seven times is it time for conclusion. ... Maybe all that is needed is just a bit of shuffling. ... New hierarchy can then go so that too light stuff from everywhere can be splitted to General. --- End quote --- Obsessing about hierarchies is an exercise in non-productive deck chair shuffling. Hierarchies do, however, provide a good starting point for barrack room laywers and officious busybodies. Academics even get brownie points for renaming/moving species :) All tree hierarchies are wrong in most ways, and right in one way. The best they can hope for is to indicate is where something shouldn't be. Most people simply use the "Show unread posts since last visit" and "Show new replies to your posts" and "Search" links to find stuff. Those are designed to ignore hierarchies. |
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