Originally Posted by
Solax
"Off-topic is a board meant for less-than-completely-serious debate, idea sharing, news linking, et cetera."
I don't know how much more you could ask for...
Threads/posts that are deemed 'low effort' aren't allowed. Low effort, fun threads. "Less-than-completely-serious" doesn't include the kinds of threads wibbles used to have. That's the point of this, to allow for these 'shitter', 'useless' threads that maybe don't result in any meaningful conversation.
The point is 'why can't we have useless/fun-for-the-sake-of-fun threads'. It seems that the answer right now is, 'you can, but you gotta pay us $10'.
Originally Posted by
Solax
Maybe the solution to increasing activity and discussion here is to relax the rules and restrictions on what can be posted but I think that if that's what it takes to solve the problem then the problem in the first place is just that most of the community is incapable of thinking of good things to talk about in the first place.
You're automatically equating 'good things to talk about' with threads that don't facilitate 'less-than-completely-serious debate'. In your mind, and in the minds of a lot of mods, good = useful. That's the way the rules are set up and that's how we're told to act.
Now, that's OK. We have to realise though, that the way we see shit isn't necessarily the way the community sees shit. Good, for some people, might mean 'fun' instead of 'useful'. Right now, we (staff) have decided that 'good for the board' means 'useful'. Maybe the community would prefer 'good for the board' to simply mean 'fun' and 'active'. In my mind, when it comes down to the will of the community vs. the will of the staff, the staff's will should take the backseat.
Now, I'm not saying that the will of the community is to have a freer Off-Topic or to have wibbles come back. I don't know what the community wants, that's what this thread is for. All I know is that there's been rumblings in the community about the policing of Off-Topic for a while now, so I figured it would be good to give this issue some attention.
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It might be useful for someone in authority, and in the know, to explain to us why wibbles was removed in the first place. If we analyse why it 'failed', we can come up with solutions to ensure it wouldn't fail again if it were given another chance.
Last edited by Ele; Sep 6, 2016 at 05:14 PM.