Do we want an "Anything Goes" Forum?

[Jordan]

Whatever you decide J. I suggest a spot like the adult section with the understanding that if it gets out of control/wicked bad it will be stopped and rules of engagement will be adopted for the entire forum such as no politics, religion or ? etc. (I would not want to be the one to make the decision as to what is appropriate topic matter). I think most here are responsible adult types and I have a lot of respect for everyone here. While this is a/the Leatherworker.net site we are all humans and occasionally need to vent so I see no harm in giving a restricted topic a try. We have a poster on our wall Titled "All you really need to know to get along with others is what you learned in Kindergarten. I especially liked the one about taking an afternoon nap everyday!

[jbird]

I hope this dosnt happen it will make enemys and do no good IMHOP.

Josh

[Tkleather1]

Tkleather1

You can go to buckaroo Guide to get your cowboys opinion on something. This is a leather workers form. I think this may be bad for the form.

That just my cowboy opinion.

Mark

Hey thanks I didnt know about that one. I will have to check it out.

[CitizenKate]

Well, here are some of my random thoughts... I apologize for the length of this post.

Thought 1: This site cannot be everything to everyone. The wider the scope of topics we try to accommodate, the more the quality and depth of content will suffer.

Up until now, we've pretty much allowed any topic to be discussed in the "off-topic" forum, and it's worked okay, but more and more people are finding stuff in there they don't want to see, mixed in with the stuff they do want to see, with no way to distinguish them until they've already wasted time reading it.

So we have two choices. We can create a separate forum to help people more easily distinguish between groups of topics. Or we can decide not to include the topic any longer. Since our primary dedication here is to share and learn about working with leather, it's my opinion that anything outside of that should be considered more strongly for omission.

Thought 2: I understand that some people need a place to vent their frustration with the government, politicians, various groups, or just love to chew the fat on political topics. There are other people who just want a place to preach politics. Nothing at all wrong with any of that. If I want to participate in a political forum (with all the rants, preaching, debating, and accusations you can stand), there are way better places on the Internet to do that. Is that really what we want people to start coming here for?

Thought 3: A few people here have said they would be in favor of having a section where anyone can literally discuss anything "... as long as it doesn't get personal," and "... as long as you go in there with a thick hide."

When you have a membership as diverse as this one, and you post a rant about some group, any group (gender, nationality, race, religion, profession, age group, sexual orientation, you name it), chances are very good that we will have members who are in that group.

The vast majority of us who visit this forum have matured to the point where we don't allow what someone says about us or some group we belong to affect us. We have seen in the last few days that not every single person visiting here has reached that level of maturity. The fact of the matter is, these topics do become personal, very quickly. There are also a few people whose idea of a "thick hide" is being able to deliver the most venom. My concern is that an "anything goes" topic may end up becoming a magnet for people who are just looking for a place to play out some unhealthy aggression.

Thought 4: We have allowed some very controversial discussions to continue completely un-moderated because the individuals focused on facts, ideas, and particulars of the issue, rather than on personalities or motives, or resorted to name-calling or personal insults. This is one place where this is allowed to go on almost daily, regardless of the personal views of any of the staff, because controversy does have value to the membership at large, and it is highly relevant.

Meanwhile, there is teaching going on, new demos being posted, questions being answered, ideas being shared...

I personally would much rather focus on all of this.

That being said, Johanna, I'll support whatever you decide. But if we do this, I too would like it to be set up like the adult section.

Kate

[analogphotographer]

I am new here and i do not think it is needed.People will still get mad and all upset for some stupid reason.Then mods will start to issue warnings,time outs or outright bans.

It works on some boards but here i think it would cause trolling.If you are on other boards you know what that is,if not it is when some one post just to get a rise out of people and cause problems.This is a leather board and politics do not belong here.I believe it would make this place less attractive to the new people.There are plenty of boards were people can get bent out of shape.

My vote(not that you are asking) would be for a home town forum of all the different states.This way people of certain areas would know what is going on around them and also get local help if needed.Sorry for the off topic suggestion.

[rdb]

Good thinking, CitizenKate!

[whinewine]

No. This is neither the place nor the venue to spew mindless venom.

That's destructive.

Troll the internet: there are probably many thousands of sites (both far left leaning and far right leaning) that cater to one's distorted views of reality, and those are the places to go if you want to vomit your hate. You'll be preaching to the choir there, you'll reinforce each others' distorted moral & intellectual superiority there & you won't piss people off like you do here in this very diverse, mixed site.

This is LW: a CONSTRUCTIVE place. It should stay that way.

Even our 'off topic' area was fun as long as it stayed out of religion & politics & moral judgements, but it's gotten very nasty & divisive & mean spirited.

LW is for leather. Lets keep it for leather. Lets truly act like the professionals we would like to believe we are.

russ

Edited April 4, 2009 by whinewine

[McJeep]

Oh boy, never seen anything like this question before </sarchasm>

This either happens or has happened to almost every board I've ever been a part of and there are many - I gots a lot of interests While it can be interesting to chat with someone about politics or religion etc, even with the best intentions the typed word sucks for getting a point across without huuuuge chances of it being taken the wrong way. And then there are inevitably those who will troll just for sport. MHO is that an off topic is plenty enuff rope without making a section "anything goes"

If we do end up with a section for that can the section title be marked up as bold and underlined and typed in bright red so it grabs my eye to avoid clicking on that topic? LOL

I really enjoy the fact that this forum is lean, clean, and down to the business/hobby at hand ... Leather in all shapes and forms. Between that and the outgoing generous nature of a group of people more than willing to take time out of their own lives to type away at a keybord to help someone (that they've likely never met before) figure out something leather related? Love this place

But on the anything goes topic?

One of my favourite pics sums it up hehehehehe

[Randyc]

I like the forum as it is. We have the best thing going right now.

Randy

[Luke Hatley]

dont need it........... the folks that want it can use the chat line 2nd Tuesday of ever week..