New Forum Section?

Okay, so I was writing a lengthy message concerning this, but then decided a shorter one to start with may be appropriate. I am very much interested in having a more serious debate & discussion section added to the forum and maybe be allowed to post serious news articles and whatnot in it, rather than having to go through the news moderator. We have an incredibly eclectic community here and I think that a debate & discussion section could potentially foster some very interesting discussions, so long as we stayed away from certain hot button issues, such as gun control (which as we've seen doesn't work). I have a lot to say concerning this topic, but how about I just put it to a nice little poll and get some feedback.

(Poll didn't turn our quite right, its my first one ever, read as: Are you interested in a serious debate & discussion section?)

Where the hell did my post go?!

Whereever it went, let me say again, I think this is a good idea and have brought it up in the past. I also think that nothing is going to come of this but I voted yes nonetheless.

Well, this has been brought up countless of times and it always falls on the issue with politics. That topic always ends up with arguments and flamings. And serious debates and discussions always involve politics one way or another. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against it. Don't mind it either way.

great idea except in the past it has started some real dogfights.

Like this for instance. Just pick someone that a few people know and all hell breaks lose.

George Bush is unaware of the declivity between his oral cavity and anal cavity and a whole in the ground

Yeah, it's always going to involve politics, but I guess I simply hope by having a separate forum section it could possibly deter people who simply want to flame from posting, is there any way to not have certain sections threads appear on the front page? That way people would need to make a conscious effort to reach the topics?

I just believe that with such an eclectic community when it comes to where people have been raised (only 29% of this sites traffic is from the US, while somethingawful, where they do have a debate and discussion forum is 58.5% US traffic [source: Alexa]). I've definitely seen a few discussions on this website stay reasonable and intelligent, however I've definitely seen the opposite occur. . .

too much to read. I'll check it tomorrow!

What type of discussions ? Political ? Social ? enviromental ?

Modded vigorously, I think it could be done.

This forum: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=politics has a diverse group of members, from many different nations and has intelligent discussion on serious topics based upon these rules.

That forum is quite similar to this with regard to it's demographic compilation, although the average user of that forum is much more likely to play poker and is probably slightly smarter than the average user of this forum. Not by much though.

Quote:

Originally posted by lefty175

Yeah, it's always going to involve politics, but I guess I simply hope by having a separate forum section it could possibly deter people who simply want to flame from posting, is there any way to not have certain sections threads appear on the front page? That way people would need to make a conscious effort to reach the topics?

I just believe that with such an eclectic community when it comes to where people have been raised (only 29% of this sites traffic is from the US, while somethingawful, where they do have a debate and discussion forum is 58.5% US traffic [source: Alexa]). I've definitely seen a few discussions on this website stay reasonable and intelligent, however I've definitely seen the opposite occur. . .

I would bet that 90% know GWB and perhaps 15-20% know John Howard.

I think your aims have merit. But how would this be accomplished?

Eh, any of the above, but try and stay away from hot button politics (once again stuff like gun control). The hard part is when you begin talking about social issues and values, you also tend to move into a political realm, however I truly believe you can have a reasonable discussion about politics, so long as people make an effort to remain civil throughout the discussion.

Good luck, I ll sit back and watch first,

as lounge mod i just HAVE to throw in my 2 cents on this one



i think it would be great if we were had threads that discussed politics, religion, all of it. i say let the shit get as heated as they want to let it get.


however, every time a thread like this has been done in the lounge we always have a shitload of PERSONAL insults that start flying like crazy. americans hating on unamericans, unamericans hating on the americans. thats just ONE of the problems. i mean people get so ugly in there that my PM box will be just filled with complaint PMs from people who are posting in those threads, and from people who are just reading those threads and feel highly insulted by it all.

it is such a complete headache every single time, that we have been forced to ban those types of threads.


latino and i have often discussed how this kind of forum would be a good idea, let people who know ahead of time what kind of discussions theyd be walking into participate in those threads.




i think it would be a good idea.... i think that maybe if this is the way we wanted to go, before making a whole new sub forum just for that, we might want to lift the ban on those types of threads and see how they go in the lounge, just to test the waters before we do something as permanent as putting them in their own sub forum. because it may crash and burn

I completely understand how it goes and that's something that I think a sub-forum might ameliorate. The more that the threads could be made into something that people need to seek out, I think the more you would find that people are more civil. On somethingawful.com (SA) they have numerous forums including one called "Fuck yourself and die" (FYAD) where people simply flame the shit out of each other, they also have a Debate and Discussion Forum (D&D) which tends to remain quite civil. Now on SA they tend to be very harsh about banning people, which is one route this site could go, but I do not see that as a desirable solution. The partitioning of the forum may prove enough to prevent many of the flame wars, as our lounge tends to be more a general bullshit forum, rather than a venue for debate. I will readily admit my ignorance though on how easy, both technically and 'politically,' it would be to instate such a forum and then remove it should it prove to be a complete disaster. Anyways, I've got to go right now, but I'll check back later and post some more ideas, comments, etc . . .

Quote:

Originally posted by FeFeHumHum

as lounge mod i just HAVE to throw in my 2 cents on this one



i think it would be great if we were had threads that discussed politics, religion, all of it. i say let the shit get as heated as they want to let it get.


however, every time a thread like this has been done in the lounge we always have a shitload of PERSONAL insults that start flying like crazy. americans hating on unamericans, unamericans hating on the americans. thats just ONE of the problems. i mean people get so ugly in there that my PM box will be just filled with complaint PMs from people who are posting in those threads, and from people who are just reading those threads and feel highly insulted by it all.

it is such a complete headache every single time, that we have been forced to ban those types of threads.


latino and i have often discussed how this kind of forum would be a good idea, let people who know ahead of time what kind of discussions theyd be walking into participate in those threads.




i think it would be a good idea.... i think that maybe if this is the way we wanted to go, before making a whole new sub forum just for that, we might want to lift the ban on those types of threads and see how they go in the lounge, just to test the waters before we do something as permanent as putting them in their own sub forum. because it may crash and burn

I know it's a headache and all, and I know you and I have talked about it, but just take a quick look over the rules of that politics form that i referenced in my first post. I think they have it set up nicely, and now you guys have tools that are useful for enforcing such things without an outright total ban right away.

Frankly I'm surprised we've gone this long without having a serious discussion forum here.

It might bring some of the lurking intellectuals out of the woodwork.

Ive always liked the idea of having more serious threads in the lounge, to which ive made a couple in the past that didnt involve mentioning politics or religion, i think its more also a matter of people ACTUALLY trying to come up with something to talk about. Ive made threads regarding adoption, carreer choices, giving to charities, been an organ donor, and a whole bunch of other ones, without getting into politics or religion....so it can be done, its just a matter of thinking of something..

but i must admit, ALOT of the members here dont come here for serious talk....and alot of these threads end up with little affection. Bring on a stupid idea, or a ridiculous one...and people enjoy and go nuts.. its hard to keep people
on WBW interested in serious topics im afraid


Now, on the topic of a separate sub-forum, i dont think that would be needed....since lifting the bans will just allow people to post them in the lounge, since it IS for general chit-chat that doesnt belong in any of the other subforums, and it would just create a need for even MORE mods..

Im all for the ban been lifted and tested, to see if it can be accomplished....but im not very confident about its success im afraid

also...on the topic of serious news threads....you can, like i have in the past....make a lounge thread and use the news
URL as a basis for starting a debate on the topic THAT news article talks about...therefore creating a topic thread and not a news thread.

Quote:

Originally posted by Latino

also...on the topic of serious news threads....you can, like i have in the past....make a lounge thread and use the news
URL as a basis for starting a debate on the topic THAT news article talks about...therefore creating a topic thread and not a news thread.

Thats a really good idea on how to come up with some decent things to talk and debate about and i've never even thought about it.

Thanks for the idea Latino and maybe more people will see this idea and use it to start some more discussion threads

im all for the ban being lifted as well, i agree with latino that they could just go into the lounge, i mean we could just try it that way


we'd have to come up with a few special rules for those types of threads and all


latino or myself will talk to diz about it and see what he says :P

Quote:

Originally posted by FeFeHumHum

latino or myself will talk to diz about it and see what he says :P

pfft....talking is for losers

just show him your tits, then tell him what we want

I have a better ides, lets make a forum, that takes Noobs directly to it. It's the only thing they see until they hit 100 posts.

After 100 posts, it unlocks all the other forums.