Splitting General Chat?

[Ric]

Ney from me.

There are plenty of other forums out there to cater for every taste and whim.

Cheers

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

I said no as well. Like Ron indicated, if you don't like the topic, don't read it, don't post in it, it will die quick enough.

Plus, if we got rid of all the non-astro topics in the general section, it will be a very boring place.

Look at the current diversity

High Pressure Water Washers
what are you drinking right now
Any Paleontologist/geologist here?
Is this true
iPhone battery life??
Paypal
Amusing Signs
I DETEST false/misleading advertising
Inside AE2 4,30 today abc24

I think 15 of the current threads, including this one, on the first page are non-astronomy related.

We come here as we gather under a common interest and discuss topics of interest to us. I love reading all the chit chat. I though, like others, do not like the personal negativity that people show when they don't agree with an opinion. As soon as you make the negativity against someone personal, you belittle only yourself.

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by mental4astro

Ney from me.

in other fora..... specialized fora

Wait....what? Fora?

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Geoff, have you already forgotten your year 7 latin? Tch, tch, tch...

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

less common latin loanwords will no doubt be rendered with an 's' in the plural form, latin in school went the way of the dodo in what the 1970s 1980s? You can kiss your cacti good bye! Actually typing in cactuses and funguses doesn't register as spelling mistakes. forums also appears to be acceptable.

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Originally Posted by thunderchildobs

Is it possible to split the General Chat forum into "General Astromony" and "Social Chat"?

Where General Astromony is anything (vaguely)related to some aspect of Astromny and Social Chat is for everything else.

I pretty much thought that was what "General Chat" was for!

It doesn't worry me if there are some astronomy-related posts in "General Chat" - and if someone does post something that really belongs in a more specialised sub-forum, the poster is usually advised to post there anyway.

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by mental4astro

Geoff, have you already forgotten your year 7 latin? Tch, tch, tch...

I got 30% in Latin. The teacher used to say

"White, I wish I had a stone bow to shoot you with"

I still don't know what he was talking about

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Originally Posted by GeoffW1

I got 30% in Latin. The teacher used to say

"White, I wish I had a stone bow to shoot you with"

I still don't know what he was talking about

He ended a sentence with a preposition. Clearly he wasn't an English teacher!

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

He ended a sentence with a preposition. Clearly he wasn't an English teacher!

I think you'll find that rule in the English language is a myth.

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

He ended a sentence with a preposition. Clearly he wasn't an English teacher!

He was at the time with me quite upset

If any of you were at North Sydney Boys' High in the 60's or later on at Peakhurst High, this was 'Eric' Baume.

Cheers

[AstralTraveller (David)]

I'd never heard of a stone-bow either but a bit of research suggests the situation is worse than you feared. Apparently he thought you were a bird or perhaps a small furry animal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet-shooting_crossbow
http://www.todsstuff.co.uk/crossbows...-crossbows.htm
http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_...bulletbow.html

___________

BTW I'd also think we shouldn't split general chat. The 'problem' threads can be easily ignored. Or secretly watched ... if you like blood sports .

[OzStarGazer]

Originally Posted by GeoffW1

He was at the time with me quite upset

If any of you were at North Sydney Boys' High in the 60's or later on at Peakhurst High, this was 'Eric' Baume.

Cheers

I thought his name was Orion!

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

How about out a weekly word & post limit?

[el_draco (Rom)]

Originally Posted by graham.hobart

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum!!

What bloody Polar bears ????

Shhhhhh! Renato may hear you

Eh, you get someone trying to push the point to much and the mods do their job.... (I don't have an issue with that). It goes quiet for a while then the same guff starts up again. Generally, I ignore it, but I'll stand up to tripe every time. Not doing so, leads to a dark age.

I vote No

[Hagar (Doug)]

I'm a no.... Another sub group will only be somewhere else to hide peoples real thoughts. If you don't like a thread after the first visit don't come back to it. Funny those who ***** the most have the highest post count in the thread. It is easy to get engrossed in a discussion but that just makes it interesting. If everyone behaved it would be boring.

[rally]

No from me too.
Limiting any forum exclusively to one theme tends to make it less vibrant - yes there are problems from time to time with some feathers ruffled, members expelled, misunderstandings created and offence taken - but thats all part of it really.
We have moderators to manage that with checks and balances.

I actually enjoy reading the occasional few off axis rants and even find some of the insults and sarcasm entertaining !! - it usually all gets sorted out in the wash. ie to say that the offenders are generally held accountable one way or another.

What I don't like or don't agree with, I dont have to open or at least arent forced to continue reading, I certainly dont need to post or get involved and if I feel strongy enough I can simply remove those from my viewing access.
If I feel even more strongly I can always send the moderators a message expressing my concerns.
Thats about 5 or 6 levels of choice or management prior to total censorship !

Anyway - we already have first hand experience with an IIS offshoot that created the South Celestial Pole forum for this exact stated reason - to be able to freely express themselves - in ways that would not have been permitted here.

Their public forum was all of that, but the secret clique/s in hidden password protected subforum/s where anything could be said and anyone could be slandered to their hearts content were apparently something else.

It essentially self destructed.
No need for us to do that.

[RAJAH235]

Another No vote.
Being a moderator on the mozillaZine fora, I/we find that most of the friendly
discussion is not too bad but we do get the occasional "nutter" who likes to stir-the-pot.
They are usually dealt with very quickly & if they persist, can end up out of the sand pit with a week off.

Regs, L..

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

No.
There are plenty of sections of Astro topics here, and one general forum.
There would be very few astro topics that don’t fit into one of them.
As has been said repeatedly, if you aren't interested in a topic on the general forums, don't post in it.

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by astroron

@ Graham
Now, about them polar bears..
Do you mean the ones from Antartica
Cheers

Haha,

I recall a Biggles adventure (from about Yr 3) which had polar bears in Antarctica.

Cheers

[speach (Simon)]

It's already split general chat and all the rest.