Rhindle The Red Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 As AtariAge grows and all aspects of the world grow more complicated, the "Off Topic" forum is far too broad a description for all that is discussed there. I'd like to request that the Off Topic forum be removed from "General" (which should be just general gaming) and the creation of a new Heading for "Off Topic". Specific Off Topic Forums could then be created under it such as World Affairs, Movies, Television, Music, etc. There could also be an "Everything Else" forum for, well, everything else. I don't think we'd want too many, but just something to help sort out topics one might not want to read if you come to AtariAge to escape the troubles of the world, not confront them all over again (or if you do want to, either way it's too damn big, now). Anyway, just a thought. The records will tell the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 Maybe a good suggestion, though I'm afraid too many forums might dismember the community. And we should wait until the software allows displaying collapsed subforum trees. I guess a newbie to this board is already quite overwhelmed when entering this place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 I am ... oh wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 I'd like to request that the Off Topic forum be removed from "General" (which should be just general gaming) and the creation of a new Heading for "Off Topic". You bring up an interesting proposition. Certainly the Off-Topic forum gets a great deal of traffic and there are many concurrent discussions. For me personally it's not too bad to decide which topics I want to read and which to ignore. But I do agree that having *some* semblance of organization would be nice. However, as Thomas pointed out there are already a great number of forums and I'm sure it can be intimidating to people visiting the site for the first time. Right now I'm not sure what the best solution is, or if a "solution" is really needed just yet. An "Off-Topic" section is appealing in that it truly would keep the "Off-Topic" area separate from the rest of the forums. As the community grows and new members step into the brave world of "Off-Topic" discussions, the number of active threads will continue to increase. It's nice being able to discuss "non-videogame-related" topics with a large group of people who share at least that one common bond. You can't talk about videogames *all* the time. But it's a fine balance between keeping the forums organized and getting a bit too carried away. If the Off-Topic forum was to be split, deciding on how many forums to create and what the actual sub-topics would be is a challenge in its own right. Certainly "World Affairs and Politics" could be one. "Entertainment" (encompassing movies, music, television, etc.) could be another. Maybe a "Nightclub" or some type of social forum for discussing relationships and whatnot. Perhaps a "Humor" forum. And of course you'd still need a catch-all "Off-Topic" forum for everything that falls outside of those categories. Unfortunately "Sub-Forums" are not going to happen for a while. This feature *is* being actively developed right now for the next version of this forum software, but I most certainly would not hold your breath. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmi Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 it doesnt matter to me as i use the view topics since last visit, and no matter how many forums you make i see everything it took me awhile to notice that you added a hacks section as well as a few others Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy_Dude Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 it doesnt matter to me as i use the view topics since last visit, and no matter how many forums you make i see everything it took me awhile to notice that you added a hacks section as well as a few others Same here and the Development forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 it doesnt matter to me as i use the view topics since last visit, and no matter how many forums you make i see everything I don't want (and can't!) see everything, so this is not very helpful for me. But if I could select/deselect forums in my profile it might become useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 Maybe a good suggestion, though I'm afraid too many forums might dismember the community. I agree with Thomas. There’s already almost too many boards to keep track of. “Off Topic” is, well, off topic. The randomness of it appeals to me. I read some and I ignore some. It seems just right the way it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharky Posted February 15, 2003 Share Posted February 15, 2003 Sometimes it hard to decide where you should post your topic in.. Maybe just an extra forum called... PC HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE As this gets mixed up in the Off-Topic parts alot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted February 15, 2003 Share Posted February 15, 2003 Basicly, to paraphrase (I think), some of us don't want to read or see any discussions about war/death/or about things like a recent discussion about killing people in other countries. I'm all for free speech but on the other hand don't want to read about those topics when I come here if I can help it. I just want to have fun and talk about interesting stuff like video games, not get a more violent recap of the nightly news. Peace! Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted February 15, 2003 Share Posted February 15, 2003 Basicly, to paraphrase (I think), some of us don't want to read or see any discussions about war/death/or about things like a recent discussion about killing people in other countries. I'm all for free speech but on the other hand don't want to read about those topics when I come here if I can help it. I just want to have fun and talk about interesting stuff like video games, not get a more violent recap of the nightly news. Peace! Allan I agree 100% but you can solve that by not clicking on those topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted February 15, 2003 Share Posted February 15, 2003 Basicly, to paraphrase (I think), some of us don't want to read or see any discussions about war/death/or about things like a recent discussion about killing people in other countries. I'm all for free speech but on the other hand don't want to read about those topics when I come here if I can help it. I just want to have fun and talk about interesting stuff like video games, not get a more violent recap of the nightly news. Peace! Allan So what you're really saying is you want an "Off-Topic" forum and a "Politics" forum. All in all, not a bad idea.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhindle The Red Posted February 16, 2003 Author Share Posted February 16, 2003 I agree 100% but you can solve that by not clicking on those topics. And I'll agree with you if you can tell me (without reading them) what subject the following topics are discussing: "The Brutal Truth" "What does this mean?" "HELP ME!!!" "funny stuff" "And Now for Something Compleatly Different" "My process of thought" "Hey, it's actually good for you!" You see, with "Off Topic" being so wide open, I have absolutely no idea what these topics are discussing at all. I have no way of knowing if it's an area I'd be interested in joining in on or something that will annoy me. I know there's no way to prevent it completely, but now I just ignore Off-Topic altogether unless the title is perfectly clear. I just hope that something comes along eventually to help this problem. Sub-topics would be perfect. Excuse me, please. What do you want? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 I think having a forum for PC HW and SW discussion is a good idea, and te best solution otherwise would be for sub-forums, but that's a ways off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 And I'll agree with you if you can tell me (without reading them) what subject the following topics are discussing: "The Brutal Truth" "What does this mean?" "HELP ME!!!" "funny stuff" "And Now for Something Compleatly Different" "My process of thought" "Hey, it's actually good for you!" Rhindle, you hit on a pet peeve of mine, namely, bad topic headings. Way too many posters start topics without stating the subject in the title. The HELP ones are the worst offenders and ones like the above that say nothing. I suppose they think you will be curious and open the topic. Or maybe it is just sloppiness. Sometimes it is a topic I want to return to, but can't find it for the lack of a descriptive title. Short of the moderators renaming them ( not really practical), I don't have solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 I agree 100% but you can solve that by not clicking on those topics. And I'll agree with you if you can tell me (without reading them) what subject the following topics are discussing: Maybe getting less curious will help. Seriously: I guess that kind of political discussion will disappear as soon as the current crises is over (and come back with the next crises). If you want to separate your Atari part of your life from your real life, then I'd suggest to stay away from OT for a few days. And in the current situation it helps to look who started the topic and who was the last to reply. BTW: Why did you list "What does this mean?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 And I'll agree with you if you can tell me (without reading them) what subject the following topics are discussing: You read the first post and decide to not bother any longer. What do I want ? You don't have what I want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 And I'll agree with you if you can tell me (without reading them) what subject the following topics are discussing: You read the first post and decide to not bother any longer. Yeah but for a guy like Thomas where his connection allows him to pull up a thread in a whopping 8 minutes.. Even that could get tedious I'd imagine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 Bloody German phonelines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSmirk Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 Hmmmm this is a tough one for sure, one thing that you can appeal to the forum members, is to "self-police" their threads, ie. Make an "official" IRAQ thread, but that gets hairy when the thread gets long and noone wants to read thru all the messages anymore. A few sub-levels to off topic wouldn't be too bad either World Affairs PC talk Movies / Music Really Misc. would be good starts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 Bloody German phonelines. No, cheap Taiwanese(?) hardware. You can easily get 768kBit/s here, it just costs a bit more than I am willing to invest right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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