Test Forums: Off Topic for Politics and Religion

[Captain Ewok 1,857]

A new forum for those two topics. Whether this works or not we will find out. The suggestion was made and it is worth testing. I am open to keeping it or merging everything back if it fails. Feedback welcome .

[^_^ 5,021]

I don't see how it could "fail". Move the topics to the subforum often enough and user behaviors will modify.

[Captain Ewok 1,857]

By fail I mainly mean that it fragments things in two forums or makes navigation difficult. If these topics can be easily split away and help to naturally divide OT then it is helpful and worth keeping.

[Ban Hammer 12,853]

i suggest aj to moderate that new subforum.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

How about a seperate 'games' forum?

[Amby 490]

I think it's too confusing

[Pooky 3,355]

i suggest aj to moderate that new subforum.

Two questions for you:

1. What drugs are you on, exactly?

2. Can I have some?

[^_^ 5,021]

test over?

[Captain Ewok 1,857]

Did not seem to work well. Another option maybe but the forums were not very balanced. Maybe I did not wait long enough but I did not see any benefits so I reverted the change for now.

[^_^ 5,021]

Did not seem to work well. Another option maybe but the forums were not very balanced. Maybe I did not wait long enough but I did not see any benefits so I reverted the change for now.

balanced? what doyoumean?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Perhaps for the next experiment, try creating a kinder, milder subforum, like, "Animal Lovers", for example.

[Peikko 1,575]

I am officially confused. If the point was to separate the 'controversial' topics, it was working well - I don't see any other point in doing it and if that meant that the rest of OT became quiet and boring, so sad too bad. Am I wrong?

[^_^ 5,021]

I am officially confused. If the point was to separate the 'controversial' topics, it was working well - I don't see any other point in doing it and if that meant that the rest of OT became quiet and boring, so sad too bad. Am I wrong?

I thi k the vacuum inOT would have eventually been filled by the kind of inane banter that was the norm whe i was a noob. conversations about cats and lube and husbands.

a lot of that went away when the forum became more political.I am sure that would come back given enough time.

if you throw a sub into the water it doesn't turn into a reef overnight.

Edited September 4, 2010 by Legacy member

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I too was beginning to see a friendlier, more interesting Off Topic forum begin to arise even in the far too short time the option existed. The point of the exercise was to provide a separate location to post the controversial subject matter that was overwhelming OT and turning away those who would like to participate in an off topic discussion without it becoming an aggressive free for all, and yes, I thought it was working. The apparent vacuum in OT is only because the handful of people who are monopolizing OT - the ones who get involved in the controversial subject matters - were moved over to the controversial topic sub-forum and others had not yet realized a friendlier OT was available.. I definitely don't think there was enough time given to test the political/religious sub-forum at all - a trial should be a few days at the very least.

We do need to have some place where people can post off topic subject matter without everything becoming politicized and argumentative between just a handful of people. Right now, that doesn't exist -anymore - on VJ. OT currently belongs to just a few who monopolize it and turn almost every thread that is offered into some sort of a political or religious football to be tossed back and forth between themselves.

[^_^ 5,021]

all but the lamest message boards have cohorts of regulars.

even the the old OT, the non political OT, was monopolized by it's own cohort of regulars. they eventually left, much to my delight.