Roundtable (a proposal)

[Ser Clegane]

Personally I do not think that we need an additional Tavern-room for intellectual discussions, as I believe the Frontroom and the Backroom are perfectly fine for these.

OTOH I cannot help but be surprised what an uproar Pindar's suggestion caused

BTW, if you want to see a real "elitist" OT forum, just visit the TWC...

[Mouzafphaerre]

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The Frontroom is more than fit for such a purpose. If you want "heavier" discussions there, why don't you start some? (No f***bomb politics of course!) My "movie review" thread could be rolled down to increase in content for example but few chose to participate.

Oh btw, where is that CSL thread?
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[*Ringo*]

You could really break the forum up even futher into more & more sub-forums but i don't personally think it would make too much difference. People will always have their own opinions/beliefs it's just how they express them that can cause problems!

[sarcasm on]
Here's an idea why don't we all have our own sub-forum where we can discuss and not offend ourselves as much as we like!!
[/sarcasm off]

On a slight off topic but more serious note how about renewing the New Members only posting in the Entrance hall? That would restrict "New Posters" coming in with highly intelligent "i can see your point but your a d*ck" comments. Man that makes my blood boil, especially when directed at some of the more senior member whom obviously have more of a grip on the subject matter that some.

Man i had no intention of ranting on, perhaps my posts should be restricted?!?

[Adrian II]

On a slight off topic but more serious note how about renewing the New Members only posting in the Entrance hall? That would restrict "New Posters" coming in with highly intelligent "i can see your point but your a d*ck" comments. Man that makes my blood boil, especially when directed at some of the more senior member whom obviously have more of a grip on the subject matter that some.

I share your feelings, I share those of Pindar and I share those of Togakure Ojonin. I like a nice, scholarly exhange from time to time and guys like Pindar, Simon Appleton or Hurin Rules never disappoint me. At other times I wanna have fun and I look for people like Templar Knight, Tribesman or Goofball. I like a good bar fight too, in which case Dev Dave is always at hand. If it's that hard to be consistent in my own behaviour, it would be a bit rich for me to expect others to stick to certain rules.

At any rate I wouldn't want a new forum that excludes certain members from participating. Members should be allowed to join and leave a forum or thread at their discretion unless their behaviour is out of order.

Furthermore, the sort of prolonged discussion that Pindar proposes requires quite an attention span. This is the World Wide Web; most surfers are here to hit and run, only a minority is genuinely interested in a topic and very, very few are prepared to commit themselves for any length of time to their fellow surfers. I had to confront this unpleasant fact twice on totally different boards, and I have experienced it again at the .org when I offered to make a sticky for online history resources. Out of all the members who encouraged me, only four or five were willing to spend more than thirty seconds of their time and contribute to the thread.

Finally, if we are going to give it a try, I think the Monastery should be the place for this sort of discussion. Gregoshi is the strong and silent type of mod, he doesn't put his snout into every thread or discussion but he's there when you need him and I'm sure he would guarantee that such threads had the right 'feel' about them. Of course he and TosaInu would have to agree, it's their decision. But if we have their commitment, y'all have mine too. I'll be happy to participate in such threads and leave my Backroom manners at the door.

[doc_bean]

Personally, I would think the frontroom would suit just fine, it's underappreciated because most people like a good backroom find to unwind, but something like this could certainly increase its appeal again.

But if enough members are willing to participate I have no real 'objections' to the idea of a separate room. Seeing how the monastery is doing these days though, I'm not sure if an 'intellectual discussion room' will find much of an audience .