Do you have a General Discussion section in your forum? Do you restrict these types of discussions? What do you feel should be allowed in a General Discussion?
If General Discussions are restricted are they not faux general discussions? Wouldn’t a better name be Milk Toast Discussion or Banal And Politically Correct Discussion?
In my forum (or any forum) I believe general discussion can encompass anything provided that people remain civil.
General is just that, general but only when compared to the niche of the forum. On this site, anything not related to MyBB or explicitly not identifiable by the forum and category names/descriptions, it general. General, but within the rules. Most people understand this and honor the request of the owner/staff.
If you don;t like the restrictions, then you want/need a "free for all" or "open" forum, not a general one.
I used to have "family friendly" as the only real rule when my big board was really active. Worked great.
General Discussion Is a sort of catch-all in my opinion. What threads land in GD depends upon the niche. In my forum there are appropriate forums for many types of discussions, forums for games and nonsense and forums for pics and vids-- so GD is the home for any discussion that doesn't fit one of the other categories.
If General Discussion is related the forum’s niche then a better title might be Related Discussion. This sharpening of purpose should help reduce ambiguity created by the misnomer of General Discussion.
You are misunderstanding what we are saying. Its general if it does not fit within the niche or any other forum/category explicitly called out. You would not call asking for help with MyBB a general topic here, but you could call a topic about cars general, since that does not fit anywhere else.
@ pavemen
I see how my post might make it seem that I misunderstood what’s being said here. I agree that general discussion is anything that does not fit the forum niche.
My point was that if forums are restrictive of what might be appropriate topics for general discussion then perhaps a better, safer or more helpful name for such a section might be Related Discussions. YMMV
But cars are not related to a site with a Pokemon niche, so its general if someone posts about them on that site.
It is only restrictive in that sites tend to want to avoid inflammatory topics that make users uncomfortable or impacts business negatively (no one wants to advertise with a porn site, or have their traffic driven away by a few users posting volatile topics all the time).
(2013-11-19, 05:08 PM)pavemen Wrote: [ -> ]But cars are not related to a site with a Pokemon niche, so its general if someone posts about them on that site.
It is only restrictive in that sites tend to want to avoid inflammatory topics that make users uncomfortable or impacts business negatively (no one wants to advertise with a porn site, or have their traffic driven away by a few users posting volatile topics all the time).
This feels like a veiled threat. I think I am being stalked by you. Here and in my
other thread. Please stop.
(2013-11-19, 06:20 PM)Puppyite Wrote: [ -> ] (2013-11-19, 05:08 PM)pavemen Wrote: [ -> ]But cars are not related to a site with a Pokemon niche, so its general if someone posts about them on that site.
It is only restrictive in that sites tend to want to avoid inflammatory topics that make users uncomfortable or impacts business negatively (no one wants to advertise with a porn site, or have their traffic driven away by a few users posting volatile topics all the time).
This feels like a veiled threat. I think I am being stalked by you. Here and in my other thread. Please stop.
He is a member of the MyBB community and has every right to browse any thread on the community he so wishes and even look at certain members posts. Earlier today you were looking at my profile. Would it be right for me to tell you to stop doing that?
Not only that, but he is a member of the MyBB staff and disrespect towards members of the MyBB Group will not be tolerated.
(2013-11-19, 03:31 PM)Puppyite Wrote: [ -> ]If General Discussion is related the forum’s niche then a better title might be Related Discussion. This sharpening of purpose should help reduce ambiguity created by the misnomer of General Discussion.
General Discussion is meant for exactly what the name entails,
General discussion. We do have a description for it that expands on it, not that it needs it. The name
should speak for itself.
(2013-11-19, 04:10 PM)Puppyite Wrote: [ -> ]@ pavemen
I see how my post might make it seem that I misunderstood what’s being said here. I agree that general discussion is anything that does not fit the forum niche.
My point was that if forums are restrictive of what might be appropriate topics for general discussion then perhaps a better, safer or more helpful name for such a section might be Related Discussions. YMMV
We are not exactly restricting topics being discussed there, we simply remove topics that are against the rules or topics that the staff feel are inappropriate, or any topics that the staff seem not fit for our forums. This is a right the owners/staff of the forums have.
(2013-11-19, 06:20 PM)Puppyite Wrote: [ -> ] (2013-11-19, 05:08 PM)pavemen Wrote: [ -> ]But cars are not related to a site with a Pokemon niche, so its general if someone posts about them on that site.
It is only restrictive in that sites tend to want to avoid inflammatory topics that make users uncomfortable or impacts business negatively (no one wants to advertise with a porn site, or have their traffic driven away by a few users posting volatile topics all the time).
This feels like a veiled threat. I think I am being stalked by you. Here and in my other thread. Please stop.
I see this same post in 2 different threads now. I have read the post again, and even though english is not my first language,
[u]I see no threat, veiled or otherwise in it.
I see no valid discussion (apart from a few good posts)in this thread, and thus I am closing it. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk further.