The Light and Dark Sides of OT - Splitting of the OT, A Proposal

[RedWolf]

Originally posted by XIII

Truth to tell - I want to drive politics out of CFC altogether. They don't add any value at all to our main franchise as a Civ site, and prove altogether just too contentious for any good. And takes up loads of time to mod.

The day "politics is driven out of CFC" is the day i'm out of here for good. That in and of itself may not be that big of a loss but I would guess there are many other valuable posters that feel the same way.

How many of us even still play civilization regularly?

The question of course is "Why post on a civilization site at all then?" The answer to that is that in this forum I've found a group of people that were originally drawn here due to a common interest. Civilization is in many aspects a way of life. Although we all have very diverse political beliefs, ethnic and religious backgrounds we also tend to have A LOT of things in common.

A "real life anology": We tend to make friends that have common interests - ie: people that play the same sports, video games or listen to the same music. HOWEVER it doesn't mean that you sit around with those friends and talk ONLY about that sport or music ALL the time. The common interest is what brings you together but NOT what sustains a friendship.

 

[RedWolf]

Originally posted by XIII
Someone already said to combine them - which I'll look into, once OT Lite got straightened out.

The point of the Humour section was to keep the jokes out of the discussions (even the light hearted ones).

As mentioned before off-topic is suppossed to be a gathering place of people chatting about stuff (even if some of it is frivolous) - it shouldn't be cluttered with jokes.

 

[RedWolf]

Originally posted by XIII

I'm going to move the poll to Site Feedback eventually, and angle for a more universal polling.

Shouldn't the voices of those who already live in and love Off Topic count MORE? Since those are the people who will be affected most by the change or lack thereof.

Moving the poll OUT of off topic skews the results.

 

[JollyRoger]

Two more bits after reading the latest discussion.

Maybe its just me, but it seems that the political content of OT has toned down over the summer. Most of the old timers I notice being missing were political animals in their own right. You're right - there are plenty of other places to go on the net for political discussion and there are also plenty of places you can go for the lighter stuff. OT, as it is, has, in my opinion, the right mix of both. Divide it and I for one am a lot less interested in visiting (mission accomplished) as will be a lot of some of your more mature posters. The light thread will become a spamfest and the dark thread will become a troll and flamefest with a demograghically less mature poster dominating both in a way that does not happen in OT as it stands today.

I see the no votes have overtaken the yes votes in the poll - and if you honestly look at the quality of the responses from those giving their reasons for yes and those giving there reasons for no, I think you should see, in general, the downward spiral of post quality that splitting OT will give you.

 

[cgannon64]

Originally posted by XIII
Truth to tell - I want to drive politics out of CFC altogether. They don't add any value at all to our main franchise as a Civ site, and prove altogether just too contentious for any good. And takes up loads of time to mod.

That's when OT ceases to be important and becomes spam.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

One vote chged fr no to yes...

 

[AVN]

@XIII Can you please change my yes vote to a no vote.
After reading all the arguements I have changed my opinion.
The no voters have convinced me with their motivations.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Done.

 

[Kakashi]

Originally posted by phoenix_night


But why? It serves no purpose.

I agree with XIII, the constant "news reel" thing going on every time something pops up on the news pisses me off quite a bit because I want to see Off Topic subjects not the evening news that I have just witnessed on television

 

[Kakashi]

Just keep an OT, thats all I need. Splitting sounds exelent!

 

[Shadylookin]

don't read those threads we don't have a gun to your head telling you to read all the news threads pick and choose to your hearts content.

 

[Ohwell]

Originally posted by XIII

Truth to tell - I want to drive politics out of CFC altogether. They don't add any value at all to our main franchise as a Civ site, and prove altogether just too contentious for any good. And takes up loads of time to mod.

I agree. If politics are driven from this forum I might come back here more often, because, personally, I think people who debate politics on forums are among the lowest people on earth. Get a life, guys. Stop talking to people across the world about things happening on a third corner of the world, and go out, get some fresh air. Get some real friends, get a mate, work at your career/school. On the off chance that posting here 24/7 will not hurt your life considerably, it certainly won't help you. If you enjoy debating alot, become a politician or join a debate team. Work at it. If you debate here because "there is so much free time", then go outside and do something constructive and healthy for society instead of arguing about how much you want Saddam impaled (Thats for Darkshade... ) or for how much you hate George Bush. When it comes down to it, none of these things matter at ALL to your life, not in the least. At least, they shouldn't. If you're so keen on complaining about issues, then make a difference. A real difference. One in real life, off of the computer.

 

[Bose]

Originally posted by Stapel
OT and its political debates are what makes this forum a great forum! Getting rid of them, or, as a 'settlement' putting them in their own little corner, will not help getting more older posters. It will probably do the opposite!

Take it from me, this is not the case. For alot of the older posters, the political debates are the major source of frustration...

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Originally posted by Ohwell


I agree. If politics are driven from this forum I might come back here more often, because, personally, I think people who debate politics on forums are among the lowest people on earth. Get a life, guys. Stop talking to people across the world about things happening on a third corner of the world, and go out, get some fresh air. Get some real friends, get a mate, work at your career/school. On the off chance that posting here 24/7 will not hurt your life considerably, it certainly won't help you. If you enjoy debating alot, become a politician or join a debate team. Work at it. If you debate here because "there is so much free time", then go outside and do something constructive and healthy for society instead of arguing about how much you want Saddam impaled (Thats for Darkshade... ) or for how much you hate George Bush. When it comes down to it, none of these things matter at ALL to your life, not in the least. At least, they shouldn't. If you're so keen on complaining about issues, then make a difference. A real difference. One in real life, off of the computer.

Thats pretty damn funny coming from somebody with almost 6000 posts Like Jollyroger said, look at the quality of the posts suporting it, and the quality of those against it. With the exception of my two previous posts of course

 

[Bose]

Originally posted by Dumb pothead
Thats pretty damn funny coming from somebody with almost 6000 posts

This place hasn't always been pathetically political... before the war it was actually fun and entertaining.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Originally posted by Bose

This place hasn't always been pathetically political... before the war it was actually fun and entertaining.

Im not always in the mood for political discussions either, sometimes they are just the same tedious stuff over and over, same old arguments over and over. Same thing with the religious threads. My solution is simple though: I dont click on those threads when Im not in the mood for that particular topic. Thats all! No need to reinvent the wheel. Click on what interests you, ignore what doesnt.

 

[Silverflame]

Originally posted by XIII

Truth to tell - I want to drive politics out of CFC altogether. They don't add any value at all to our main franchise as a Civ site, and prove altogether just too contentious for any good. And takes up loads of time to mod.

I agree with that. I remember before the war, OT was a much more fun place than it is now. There were political debates, but they were always much more low key and did not dominate the majority of the topics at OT. Topics that are dead now like anime used to be really popular back in that day...and topics like SARS were hardly discussed at all during that time...

But then came the big stupid war, tensions rose, and chaos erupted. Some people said that everything would get back to normal once the war was over. Well, I guess it is because most of the Iraq War debates have ended, but the hot atmosphere left from the war still remains in the form of the religious debates.

If this proposal is rejected, then I may end up being one of the leaving "vets" even if I'm not widely recognized. I hardly post at all right now, and my addiction to CFC is diminishing every time someone votes "no" to this proposal. But other than the proposed split, the only remaining purpose I have here is the All Other Games Thread, but that place is dead as well...

 

[History_Buff]

Bah, come to Gamecatcher. WE have a Lite OT (called OT btw ) and we have a serious political/quizes/serious crap forum. And it works fine, as it wil here. OT has been totally swamped with Religious topics, and everybody replies to everything. Any starting topic just gaets ingored as people post only in the big threads. And thats exaclty why i dont come here anymore.

 

[Bose]

Originally posted by Dumb pothead
Im not always in the mood for political discussions either, sometimes they are just the same tedious stuff over and over, same old arguments over and over. Same thing with the religious threads. My solution is simple though: I dont click on those threads when Im not in the mood for that particular topic. Thats all! No need to reinvent the wheel. Click on what interests you, ignore what doesnt.

Fair enough DP, I've always thought the same. Whatever entertains one poster may not be another's cup of tea. The thing i hate, is that the more and more political/religeous type threads take the place over, the more 'spam' calls there are for anything different. You watch how many spam calls there are on that 'Hungry Hippos' thread i just started. I found it funny, and i reckon others will too, but the people who start/maintain the Political threads don't want to cater for others who enjoy something different.

I say go ahead XIII, things always have to evolve, and as you said, you can always change it back. I know i'll come back more if you go through with it.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Ohwell
I agree. If politics are driven from this forum I might come back here more often, because, personally, I think people who debate politics on forums are among the lowest people on earth. Get a life, guys. Stop talking to people across the world about things happening on a third corner of the world, and go out, get some fresh air. Get some real friends, get a mate, work at your career/school. On the off chance that posting here 24/7 will not hurt your life considerably, it certainly won't help you. If you enjoy debating alot, become a politician or join a debate team. Work at it. If you debate here because "there is so much free time", then go outside and do something constructive and healthy for society instead of arguing about how much you want Saddam impaled (Thats for Darkshade... ) or for how much you hate George Bush. When it comes down to it, none of these things matter at ALL to your life, not in the least. At least, they shouldn't. If you're so keen on complaining about issues, then make a difference. A real difference. One in real life, off of the computer.

Well-said!