To Our OT regulars,
The Chamber Tavern split, which we made in 2012, has been controversial ever since it happened. It was part of our recent OT survey and has been discussed frequently both in the public forums and in staff. One of our goals is to improve the experience for all of our members and the split was an effort to do just that. Many of you have told us that it has not done so. For more than a year you all have been voting with your posts and the Chamber is not the popular place we thought it would be a year ago. Whether it's the lighter moderation, the speed of thread creation and movement, the frivolous topics or members photos, it is quite obvious that the Tavern is the forum where the majority of you spend your time.
Given that, the staff would propose a change and recombine the Chamber and Tavern into a single Off Topic forum. Unlike the previous OT, we would keep the the lighter moderation of the Tavern as the standard for moderating. But to accommodate those who do want tougher standards for their discussions, we will encourage the use of the Red Diamond (RD) as an indicator that the thread starter would like a more restrictive and tougher moderation standard (a la the Chamber). Having two different moderating standards within the same forum will be challenging for both moderators and members. The staff is willing to take on that challenge if you all are also. RD threads can and should be used to facilitate discussion within a more controlled environment and as such lend themselves especially for more serious topics. Generally though all topics may be suitable for RD threads so long as the thread starter puts some effort into the opening post to start real discussion of the topic at hand.
Our objectives:
1. Have a vibrant, inclusive forum where serious or fun discussions are welcome, and threads move along at a healthy pace.
2. Have mods who are involved and responsive and generally even-handed.
3. Maintain a fun but respectful (and PG-13) atmosphere.
The Chamber Tavern split, which we made in 2012, has been controversial ever since it happened. It was part of our recent OT survey and has been discussed frequently both in the public forums and in staff. One of our goals is to improve the experience for all of our members and the split was an effort to do just that. Many of you have told us that it has not done so. For more than a year you all have been voting with your posts and the Chamber is not the popular place we thought it would be a year ago. Whether it's the lighter moderation, the speed of thread creation and movement, the frivolous topics or members photos, it is quite obvious that the Tavern is the forum where the majority of you spend your time.
Given that, the staff would propose a change and recombine the Chamber and Tavern into a single Off Topic forum. Unlike the previous OT, we would keep the the lighter moderation of the Tavern as the standard for moderating. But to accommodate those who do want tougher standards for their discussions, we will encourage the use of the Red Diamond (RD) as an indicator that the thread starter would like a more restrictive and tougher moderation standard (a la the Chamber). Having two different moderating standards within the same forum will be challenging for both moderators and members. The staff is willing to take on that challenge if you all are also. RD threads can and should be used to facilitate discussion within a more controlled environment and as such lend themselves especially for more serious topics. Generally though all topics may be suitable for RD threads so long as the thread starter puts some effort into the opening post to start real discussion of the topic at hand.
Our objectives:
1. Have a vibrant, inclusive forum where serious or fun discussions are welcome, and threads move along at a healthy pace.
2. Have mods who are involved and responsive and generally even-handed.
3. Maintain a fun but respectful (and PG-13) atmosphere.
That tells me you're not really interested in the undecided opinion if you can't be bothered to separate it out from the people who genuinely don't give a damn one way or the other.
...so it must be good. 
Here we have another bad idea, and its time has obviously come. I say, if it is the will of the people to hang themselves lets get the rope and be done with it.
