General > General Technical Chat

IMPORTANT POLL: Should there be an off-topic section?

<< < (7/46) > >>

tggzzz:

--- Quote from: Brumby on September 07, 2022, 01:44:49 pm ---If this is in response to the recent "difficulties" then I don't think it's really relevant. 
...
NO amount of shuffling deck chairs is going to do anything that will avert such issues in the future.
...
If this is just to ask because it seemed like a reasonable time to ask, then I ask: "What do you intend to achieve with such a change?"

--- End quote ---

I agree with those points.

(Don't make inferences about the points I have omitted! :) )

bdunham7:

--- Quote from: EEVblog on September 07, 2022, 12:14:58 pm ---b) potentially create greater animosity between users as a result of personal conflicts. Although the longer the forum has gone, the more I see this happens with on-topic posts anyway  ;D
All comments appreciated. Thanks.

--- End quote ---

I think the potential to expose latent animosity that could be left undiscovered in a purely technical forum is a potential drawback.  It's already a bit of a hybrid as things veer off topic, but when moderation is required it is generally accepted as necessary because by the point mods step in the thread has usually gone so far off the rails that there is almost universal agreement that the thread should be locked. 

There have already been otherwise intelligent, interesting and helpful members that are not here because of this, such as blueskull.  I'm not advocating much stricter control or moderation, but making even a specific area 'wide open' is likely to significantly change the overall character of the forum. 

AndyC_772:
I definitely would be in favour of some 'off topic' space. Personally I'm bored of the endless threads that boil down to "please tell me what cheap TE to buy even though I've no idea I want it for", or "please do my homework, I'm desperate". It's become dull and repetitive.

Right now, I see the EEVblog community as being like a sports bar. We all have a thing in common, and really do want to talk about that thing - at least some of the time.

Imagine, though, the bar staff coming along and saying to a group "Oi! This is a sports bar, you can't talk about cars / beer / DIY / whatever in here! If you want to talk about something other than sports, I'm going to have to ask you to leave".

It would be ridiculous. Absurd. People who get together over a shared love of one topic can, and do, want to talk to each other about something else occasionally. It's normal, healthy, and good for a community.

RoGeorge:
We do talk cars and DIY already in our "sports bar" right now.  Pretty much everything techie is allowed.

But if you suddenly introduce politics in a sports bar you'll get bar fights and stabbings every night.

People will stop visiting and make the habit of going to a sports bar instead of a fight bar.  Others will go and make their own bar.  It's trivial to setup a forum hosting these days.  Building and maintaining a happy and alive community is the harder part.  We have that here.  Why splitting it?

Why burning our free time in sterile debates, and make each other's blood boil?

Ian.M:
How about making "Cooking" a sub-section of a new forum: "Other Hobbies" and the moderators treading lightly in "Other Hobbies", but still enforcing the EEVblog forum rules with a modified rule 5, that still bans the most controversial or legally troublesome topics, but says something like:
 "5) This is a hobby forum, so try to stay on-topic. We understand that threads drift off-topic, but try not to start deliberately and grossly off-topic stuff.
...
Those who come to the EEVblog forums to mostly only contribute non-electronics related material are not welcome. There are other forum sites for that stuff, this is not one of them, so please try to maintain a balance between your contributions about other hobbies here and your electronics related contributions in other EEVblog forums."?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

There was an error while thanking
Thanking...
Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod