Poll: What do you think of the OT forum?

[completely unmoderated]

I disagree.  I have been an active member of an overtly political and completely unmoderated forum for almost three years now.   It has an extremely active membership with very politically diverse ideas and membership on 3 continents.  Condering the purpose of the forum has always been cars, it would be difficult to call the political section as anything but off topic.  It is also the busiest section of the board.   The membership of this board is the tightest knit group I have ever been a part of and the reasons as to why completely fly in the face of the comments I just quoted.

Thank you - you've just made my point completely. There are plenty of places around where this sort of discussion can take place - so why do they have to be here?

To be honest I still haven't quite figured out why people who don't like the OT area can't just stay away from it and let the rest of us enjoy it. I mean, I never even glance at the Radio forum.

There is, for most people, a difference between knowing in advance that they have no interest in a specific subject area and looking in an OT section, where they will have absolutely no idea of what the content may be - and curiosity is a very natural thing. Sometimes, for some people, they may find things that they violently disagree with, and it becomes very difficult for them to dissociate those ideas from other things that person has said - you end up interpreting them in a way that you might not have otherwise done - and this can sometimes be completely inappropriate.

It has been suggested, and I certainly don't think that this is wrong, that AudioMasters should be a place where you can let your kids roam free, because it is a 'safe site'. This means, for instance, that most schools won't put it on their 'locked out sites' list. Oh yes, they do have them. If we allowed a completely unmoderated OT section, and word got around about it, then we would be jeapordising our status somewhat from this POV, and I think that our primary concern here would be better served if this did not happen. From my POV, restricting the activities of the OT section is better for the community, not me personally. I don't actually care what subjects get into it (within reason), but I fear that other people will - and I don't think that helps us serve our primary purpose at all.

[not]

There are plenty of places around where this sort of discussion can take place - so why do they have to be here?

Because it's as good a place as any, because I don't want to hang around anywhere else, because there's an interesting diversity of opinion between people who share common interests, because there's a community here of regulars, because it does no harm, because I don't want to go anywhere else, because I can disagree with a forum member on at OT thread while discussing amicably something on topic elsewhere, because we're all grown-ups here, because there's a good deal of intelligence here, and because our primary reason for being here is not to have political discussions and therefore they tend not to attract the obsessives and the nutcases you find in specifically political forums.

I usually find the OT discussions here - such as the current cartoons one - usually run more like a bunch of mates with differing opinions having a debate in the pub over a few beers. They don't turn into juvenile slanging matches, they do contain humour as well as insight, they do provide differing points of view, and they do allow us to see different sides of each other.

For me it's part of what makes this forum tick. I appreciate, having moderated a far less erudite and more antagonistic forum, that from SteveG's point of view (and probably that of the other moderators too) it's a PITA to have to keep an eye on the more robust comments - though Steve I must say you seem to like getting stuck in with the best of them, and good for you (and the forum)!

We don't have any genuine trouble-makers here, and because of the focus of the forum I don't see it as much of a magnet for anyone wishing primarily to grind a political or religious axe. If someone did turn up who fitted that description and had little or nothing to say on the main topics of conversation here I suspect they'd quickly be removed...

Keep OT going!

I voted that "I don't care", but that's not it.

I actually DO like the OT section, because though there are other places on the web for it, THIS forum has, on average, the highest intelligence and thoughtfulness of posters of those forums I frequent.  Those traits show up in OT as well (though perhaps less than in less "touchy" threads).

I stay out of such OT discussions on, say, guitar forums, which have significant numbers of young males still in "I wanna be Steve Vai" mode.  The range of opinions doesn't differ that much from here, but the reasoning & thought behind them do, as do the methods of expression.

So why vote "I don't care"?  Because the other side of it is that it IS distracting, and I spend/waste more time there than I should.  It's my personal crack pipe.  

[because]

I don't actually care what subjects get into it (within reason), but I fear that other people will - and I don't think that helps us serve our primary purpose at all.

Why fear it?  All people cannot be happy all the time.

You may have missed my point.  The community I reffered to is tight knit, because they are allowed to share their thoughts on all topics.  If you wish to destroy the tight knit "community" aspect of this site, limiting OT is a good place to start, IMHO.  

The poll would indicate most here see it my way.

OR  

This is a molehill being reshaped by others.

and because our primary reason for being here is not to have political discussions and therefore they tend not to attract the obsessives and the nutcases you find in specifically political forums.

An excellent point.

Whenever someone says "there are lots of other places for OT talk" I always find myself thinking: "have you seen those places? They're insufferable!"

I'm not saying that ALL our OT threads are exactly brilliant, but the quality of discussion there is - for the most part - pretty rare, IMO.

It's MUCH easier to find a place to peacefully discuss audio than it is to find a decent OT area.

On another subject: what in god's name has happened to Karl's avatar?

Chris

On another subject: what in god's name has happened to Karl's avatar?

you dont know chip?  

On another subject: what in god's name has happened to Karl's avatar?

you dont know chip?  

Is this a TV thing? Cause I haven't had a TV in about 3 years. I may be missing out on important cultural touchstones...

Chris

Napoleon Dynamite, a very dumb movie with an unwarranted cult following.

It does have its "moments", in an odd sort of way...

Ah... haven't seen it yet.

Chris

I didn't "get it" until about half way through the first time I saw the movie.  I've watched it a couple times since then - it's really a hoot - in a quirky way.

I didn't "get it" and don't know that I WANT to.  I suspect you just need to see it enough times to kill enough brain cells for it to become funny.

I'd rather watch Godzilla movies.  

Would you be upset if it (the OT area) vanished?

My sentiments match all of those posted on Page 1, particularly Andrew Rose's post.  But I would add this one comment.  The OT area creates extra work for the moderators.  If they were to decide that monitoring the OT area is more work than they want to handle, and wanted to close it for that reason, I would be OK with that.

But I would sorely miss the exchange of ideas from some demonstrably intelligent folks.

(Anybody ever thought about printing some of the better OT threads and making a book out of it?  Profits going to AudioMasters.  I'll bet such a book would sell.)

The OT area creates extra work for the moderators.

I wonder about that. The most contentious and disrespectful thread at the moment is happening in the AA 2.0 forum.

I wonder if there's a way to call up all the "locked" threads and sort them by which forum they were started in?

I wonder if the OT area really is disproportionately respresented in the "troublesome" category?

Chris

Music is art and art is a reflection of society.  I think it has value.  A lot of singer songwriters have made a carrer out of dabbling in politics with their music, and it helps everyone to have at least a general idea where society may be heading.

The OT area creates extra work for the moderators.

I wonder about that.

It does, but only in one sense, and that is that the posts in it tend to be longer, so it takes longer to read through them.

The most contentious and disrespectful thread at the moment is happening in the AA 2.0 forum.

'Disrespect' is a strange word to use - that thread doesn't appear to contain personal abuse, name-calling or anything like that - even though Adobe might not like the tone of some of it. There are some essentially uninformed opinions in it though - but to correct those would require me to break the terms of the Adobe NDA, so I'll just have to live with it. And it's not the only place they've been voiced either - there are similar comments on the Adobe forum. There are no corrections/explanations about them there either - for the same reason.