off topic posts

[Phantom]

Dear Hayley and Bill

I'd like to ask about the possiblility of an off-topic forum here at Splosh.

Many times I've thought of something I'd like to post (such as "What did you all think of ...bla bla bla? - new film or whatever), but I didn't want to get my knuckles rapped for posting off topic.

This is a WAM forum of course. But all the individuals that make up its regulars all have umpteen other interests, I'm sure. So I have 2 questions:

Are off topic posts ok in the main WAM banter forum?

Or ... is there any chance of an off-topic forum for us to share new jokes, discuss recent news, sports, movies, trivial crap etc...?

Cheers

Phantom

[Smiley]

Hi all,

Id have to agree with Phantom on this one, i think an off topic forum would be good for here.

I think it would be a good opportunity to talk about non wam related stuff such as news, jokes, discussions and other stuff like that.

Yours in hope

James

[Hayley]

Personally they don't appeal to me, but I will set one up if people like the idea.

However I DO want to keep this forum varied (as it is now) with its occasional tangents on the threads going off-topic. To my mind, that makes it more like a pub chat, which I like. So if we did set up an Off-Topic Forum, I wouldn't want it to affect the informal nature of this one.

But do tell me what you think.

Hayley

[messyterry]

An Off-Topic forum wouldn't really appeal to me either, but I'd have no objection to one being set up for those who wanted it. I personally probably wouldn't look at it myself as I like the forums as they stand and going off at a tangent in certain threads is great. It does bring in some slightly off-topic comments and views which really appeals to me .

[Phantom]

Hi Hayley

I wouldn't want it to have any affect on the main WAM forum. I like the way some of the threads here go off on tangents (about Douglas Adams, Viz, football or whatever). But those all begin as WAM-related threads.

I thought it might piss people off if there were threads started that were nothing to do with WAM whatsoever. People might argue "This is a place to discuss messy fun - if you want to talk about sport, movies, computer games or whatever, you should go to a more general forum elsewhere"

I like having these forum discussions with other mess lovers, and I think an off topic forum would allow us all to get to know each other better, without disrupting the messy nature of the main forum.

On UMD I always loved the inane miscillany that made up the posts on the off topic forum. The off topic forum on UMD always got a lot less traffic than the main messy forum - but it allowed people to post questions, squabble about politics, discuss current movies, sports etc and swap crap jokes.

If you feel that splitting the forum by separating 'off topic' and 'wam' would have a negative effect, then no problem. It's just a thought.

I wonder what others think? Post your thoughts on it here!

Phantom

ps - one idea might be to give it a test run. If after a few months, it seems like it's not taking off, it could be removed again.