Been thinking about Off Topic

Mr Green · 2006-09-24 16:17:50

Hi,

Ok I do enjoy looking at OT threads & some of it is funny or interesting...

Wondering if posts in off topic are worth keeping ?

Could it be that you have like seven days and then thread is removed ?

Do we need off - topic at all on forums ?

I have noticed that once a thread gets out of hand (not all but some !) its a rolling snowball that cannot be stopped

The English language can be very hard to understand and words that may mean nothing to some can & do offend others so you have to be careful

this is not a flame thread I want (& will get !!) constructive discussion

archuser · 2006-09-24 16:48:31

I think it's good to have an off-topic thread. It allows the community to communicate with each other and have discussions about topics that are not to do with the main subject.

As long as it is moderated properly and that people know what is and what isn't accepted then it should be OK.

dtw · 2006-09-24 16:56:49

it's supposed to be set to prune...no wait, that's teh troll bin. I can set it to prune though...

Dusty · 2006-09-24 17:01:07

Mr Green wrote:

Wondering if posts in off topic are worth keeping ?

Most aren't.

Could it be that you have like seven days and then thread is removed ?

Maybe longer than a week, but personally I think if it was possible to auto-purge the forum it would be great. I'm not sure if it is -- dibble would have to comment. However, now that I think of it, old posts aren't really the problem -- they take up space, but I don't think Judd notices much, its nothing compared to the size of the repositiories, and they're talking about keeping sources available now too.

Do we need off - topic at all on forums ?

People know I don't like it much, but it does serve a useful purpose -- I can move or split off topic stuff from other forums here! I guess there's not much harm in letting people play, but its also easy for things to get out of hand.

I have noticed that once a thread gets out of hand (not all but some !) its a rolling snowball that cannot be stopped

nah, it can be stopped. locking threads is almost too easy...

this is not a flame thread I want (& will get !!) constructive discussion

Its been discussed before, but I really don't like the status quo, so if somebody can come up with other suggestions, I'm personally open to them. To summarize history, we tried having OT rules, but people cried censorship. We let a lot of stuff go. We generally lock threads after they get out of hand rather than before, also because of the censorship accusation. Off topic is not meant to serve a "useful" purpose, its a place to hang out and be friends... which many would argue is a useful purpose. We had a mod that ignores postcounts from off topic, but I believe dtw found it hard to maintain. We also had a mod to ignore the off topic forum in search results, but it also seems to have been disabled.

Dusty

dtw · 2006-09-24 17:18:28

Yeah, shame about those two mods.

I find off-topic works really well until people starting posting to it like it is their personal blog. If people have inane, inflamatory or general ramblings that they want to share with the world I do recommend they get a blog, they can say what the hell they like in that!

We've been largely troll free for ages and I think that is an asset to all of us

Mr Green · 2006-09-24 17:20:14

I don't have a problem with OT most of the time ...

Guess its knowing where to draw the line ...

Censorship ...emm tough call

Maybe its another round & round thread like 'whats your favourite wm?'

Who is like in charge of OT so to speak?

Mr.Elendig · 2006-09-24 17:43:58

about why these kind of threds get posted here, when there is a subforum with the lovly name: "Forum, Wiki & AUR Discussion"

That said, I woud miss OT if it disapered. The off topic part of this board is one of the "least ugly" of bbs I'm on. (I'm more or less active on about 15-20 boards atm)

Mr Green · 2006-09-24 17:57:40

ok ok ok move the thread not my day today....

Arch Linux

#1 2006-09-24 16:17:50

Been thinking about Off Topic

#2 2006-09-24 16:48:31

Re: Been thinking about Off Topic

#3 2006-09-24 16:56:49

Re: Been thinking about Off Topic

#4 2006-09-24 17:01:07

Re: Been thinking about Off Topic

#5 2006-09-24 17:18:28

Re: Been thinking about Off Topic

#6 2006-09-24 17:20:14

Re: Been thinking about Off Topic

#7 2006-09-24 17:43:58

Re: Been thinking about Off Topic

#8 2006-09-24 17:57:40

Re: Been thinking about Off Topic

Board footer