Off Topic if I may.

[MJuric]

As I stated over on the other forum it has been my experience that the best and longest lasting forums have a pretty robust off topic sub forum. This allows the "Gurus" to do something other than sit around and answer the same question over and over again.

However, also in my experience there seems to be a fine line on the moderation of these sub forums. Too long of a leash and inevitably a few people end up either becoming so obnoxious that no one wants to be there. Too short of a leash and you never get any interesting debate....and no one wants to be there.

It's almost as if there needs to be a "Tribunal" rather than moderation. Sure you can instantly put the brakes on someone that appears to be skidding out of control but I think it makes sense to have discussion over whether the actions the individual took was "Over the line" before that person simply gets tossed out.

Personally I'm way towards the side of allowing down and dirty debate but also understand that's not everyone's thing. However no matter where the line is, someone is going to cross it eventually.

[matt]

Just so you know, I'm generally against off-topic stuff, but being in the position of starting this from scratch, I recognize the need and the aid it can be to keep people coming back.

I've been an admin and a moderator before, so I'm pretty comfortable with drawing the line. I like to give people a lot of space to say what they need to say, but I definitely also have boundaries.

Eventually I will want to gather a team to help run the place, but for now, I'm still figuring things out using this platform.

[Roasted By John]

One thing we found out in the SW forum, (it may be just the timing with the guys that frequented the forum at the time), is the need to have something Off Topic, which actually keeps most of the BS away from the good and informative posts, typical response was, move that to the Dump.

If you look at any comment section or forum post, once they get around 20 replies they are way off topic, someone feeds off of one persons comment and decides to post something, either better or demeaning and it goes down that Rabbit Trail.

There are some that need a place to hangout and BS..

Just my 27.5 cents (2 cents adjusted for inflation)

[matt]

There are some that need a place to hangout and BS..
Just my 27.5 cents (2 cents adjusted for inflation)

We have the Off-Topic area. You can think of it having a different name, but that's what it's for.