Forum
>
Announcements
>
Thread
Log in |
Register
So I eventually (not sure when, maybe after a few years) deleted the aforementioned off-topic forum because it was getting very few worthwhile posts. Most of it was just spam and/or self-promotion.
I'm not too worried about those latter two these days because self-promotion is easy to delete or move to the correct section, and spam hasn't been a huge problem, so I have no reason to think that adding a new section would suddenly make it one. I also think it would see more activity because the forum as a whole is much busier these days than 2010 (~100 posts per day vs. less than 1).
What I am concerned about is the increased polarization of the internet, much more so now than in 2010, and whether to allow political topics on the new hypothetical off topic forum.
If I don't allow political and controversial topics, what even is there to discuss that can't be currently? This seems like it would be (or, become) its main purpose. Most other topics can just go in the existing General section.
If I do allow political topics, we run into the issue where some people will discover that their political opponents are right here browsing this site and will be unable to handle it. Currently we keep a lid on this by mostly not discussing it, which is fine because it's not like we need to do that for the site to function well. But if we allow it, suddenly now there's friction and conflict where there was no need for it, and we might lose people who are otherwise quality contributors to the site. At the very least it would require very strict moderation, and whoever is doing the moderating would be frequently accused of being unfair to some people, or sides of an argument.
I am open to being swayed here (let me know if there have been similar examples on similar sites, and how that went), or to ideas that would mitigate the conflict caused by choosing to allow political topics. One thing I've thought of is to make it opt-in only in some way rather than visible to everyone, but I haven't fully thought it through.
If I don't allow political and controversial topics, what even is there to discuss that can't be currently? This seems like it would be (or, become) its main purpose. Most other topics can just go in the existing General section.
I kinda feel like this is what the "Subcommunities" section is for, so that users can find other things in common with each other that aren't immediately obvious. The problem is that it's jumbled together with "Foreign Language" threads, so it's a bit of a mess.
Also, I always thought the "General" section was more specifically for female muscle-related discussions, and not necessarily just anything and everything.
?????????
The problem with a subforum like this would be maintaining what I'd call a netiquette. It used to be a thing when only universities, research facilities and military installations had Internet.
It includes things such as 1) not "voting" on things, 2) not writing "ditto" messages unless explicitly asked, 3) always responding below the quoted text, 4) always quoting text properly, 5) not starting a sentence in the title and finishing it in the body of the message, 6) not writing messages that are purely expressions of private emotion or don't mean anything to the reader, 7) not quoting entire messages if only responding to a small part, 8) not quoting anything at all if responding to a previous message, 9) always assuming that the other person's viewpoint either makes sense or even when not, is held for a reason, 10) critique over criticism, means that you're allowed to tell the other person he's wrong only if you tell him why or how you think he is wrong, 11) absolute prohibition on outright blasting or ridicule, spite or snark, 12) only very limited use of irony or sarcasm.
Not everyone finds all information interesting and nobody agrees with every other viewpoint. But very rarely if ever people find each other's pure expressions of emotion in any way interesting.
The problem with American politics in particular and Western politics in general is that most if not all positions are intentionally unattainable ideals or catchphrases intended mainly to hypnotize the followers and aggravate the opponents. There's usually nothing else to it than emotional reactions. And if ever someone tries to have a sensible discussion on anything political, it takes only one idealist or sentimentalist to ruin it for everyone. Sometimes it's hard to avoid caricatures of people and positions when caricatures are all they have always been to begin with.
The problem with politics is that it's a mixture of reality and fantasy, but the end goal is to keep everyone busy in their fantasy, and the method to achieve this is to get people to attack the other guy's fantasy and in turn see their own fantasy under attack. Even if you tried to grasp something real, be it natural resources or energy, population or agriculture, it will get immediately swallowed up by the fantasy struggle. By definition and by the very nature of the thing, everything in politics is worth ridiculing but extremely few things are worth discussing or learning about, and this naturally sets the tone of most political discussions.
But saying "?????????" is like pointing down at my penis with an alarmed expression on my face, not making a single sound and expecting everyone to know what I mean. An even slightly smarter person would just say what he means.
What I am concerned about is the increased polarization of the internet, much more so now than in 2010, and whether to allow political topics on the new hypothetical off topic forum.
In a word: Don't.
There are plenty of other places on the Internet for people to talk politics. It will absolutely get out of hand, and that will be the rule, not the exception.
You and the Mods already have more than enough on your plates in maintaining GWM. Politics, if permitted, will suck too much time and energy from the Mods, result in countless user bans, and still get out of control.
Politics is by its nature "all" or "nothing" and no holds barred.
Opt for "nothing" for your sanity and to preserve the atmosphere of GWM.
If I don't allow political and controversial topics, what even is there to discuss that can't be currently? This seems like it would be (or, become) its main purpose. Most other topics can just go in the existing General section.
What else might be discussed in an "Other" subforum if politics is off limits?
No idea.
Best way to find out is to create the section and see what (if anything) is discussed. If it suffocates, put the section out of it's misery by locking it.
So I eventually (not sure when, maybe after a few years) deleted the aforementioned off-topic forum because it was getting very few worthwhile posts. Most of it was just spam and/or self-promotion.
I'm not too worried about those latter two these days because self-promotion is easy to delete or move to the correct section, and spam hasn't been a huge problem, so I have no reason to think that adding a new section would suddenly make it one. I also think it would see more activity because the forum as a whole is much busier these days than 2010 (~100 posts per day vs. less than 1).
What I am concerned about is the increased polarization of the internet, much more so now than in 2010, and whether to allow political topics on the new hypothetical off topic forum.
If I don't allow political and controversial topics, what even is there to discuss that can't be currently? This seems like it would be (or, become) its main purpose. Most other topics can just go in the existing General section.
If I do allow political topics, we run into the issue where some people will discover that their political opponents are right here browsing this site and will be unable to handle it. Currently we keep a lid on this by mostly not discussing it, which is fine because it's not like we need to do that for the site to function well. But if we allow it, suddenly now there's friction and conflict where there was no need for it, and we might lose people who are otherwise quality contributors to the site. At the very least it would require very strict moderation, and whoever is doing the moderating would be frequently accused of being unfair to some people, or sides of an argument.
I am open to being swayed here (let me know if there have been similar examples on similar sites, and how that went), or to ideas that would mitigate the conflict caused by choosing to allow political topics. One thing I've thought of is to make it opt-in only in some way rather than visible to everyone, but I haven't fully thought it through.
Hey Chainer
So I was thinking more along the lines of discussion of hobbies and interests that people here have outside of muscular women. For example, outside of my "preference" I am also into fitness, tabletop gaming and roleplaying, music, film and literature. I never really thought of it as a springboard for controversial topics like politics or other serious social issues. I personally think it would be a good forum for people to show more of who they are outside of the "fetish."
And while I could have discussions about, say, tabletop gaming on boards that are dedicated to that, I think it would be cool to share those interests with people who also are into buff women.
I think an off topic forum could be nice. since there are some things I want to say but they are only loosely related to strong women. and I can't think of a good place to post them
. politics should just be banned. I have a hard time imagining why someone would leave the entire site if they think members of their rival gang or tribe is on this site. but it's the way it is nowadays if only we could go back to 2010.
In a word: Don't.
There are plenty of other places on the Internet for people to talk politics. It will absolutely get out of hand, and that will be the rule, not the exception.
You and the Mods already have more than enough on your plates in maintaining GWM. Politics, if permitted, will suck too much time and energy from the Mods, result in countless user bans, and still get out of control.
I agree with phenoms about this.
I would be ok with an off topic forum that included politics if users were ok with and understood that stuff like repeated ad hominems and uncivil discussion were still liable for bans. Perhaps stricter in that way where you'd have a one strike or your out rule. Maybe people would learn to proofread their statements a bit.
Unfortunately, and predictably, it's two things: trans (and I guess LGBTQ in a wider sense but it's pretty rare) and the general AMerican conservative vs liberal area. Also predictably, most users won't even participate although they may lurk, and among the active users it'll be the usual suspects on each side of an argument.
If they weren't ok with formatting comments as an argument/discussion vs "you're a bigot" or "you're a commie" or whatever, then thney shouldn't dive in.
I think we've been plenty lenient elsewhere with deleting comments and only bans as a last resort for frequent flyers
Use it to post things that are not related to female muscle - including, for example, pictures of girls who aren't muscular (in fact, there's a thread in there just for that!)