"Off Topic" Section?

[Pete]

I don't know if it's just me getting old, but I seem to be seeing more and more threads started up in the "General" section that have absolutely nothing to do with photography.

The description says:-

An area for subjects not appropriate for the other forums. Keep it related in some way to photography even if only in the abstract. Political and religious discussions are absolutely prohibited.

I guess there's going to be no way that we can stop these random threads from being created (and deleting them for being off topic seems overly harsh). Can we not make a dedicated "Off Topic" section?

That way at least I can safely ignore it.

[gjl711]

But you can ignore them now. Actually, in many of the off topic threads, there is a hint of something photographic in there somewhere. Is it really a problem?

[Pete]

Just a little old-age tetchiness at having to sort out which threads might be interesting and which are plainly non-sensical. Sometimes hard to decide simply based on the thread titles.

[Scottes]

I don't even bother visiting the General Chat section any more. Too much cruft to wade through.

[Pete]

Exactly... There's plenty of scope for a general photography section that takes the strain away from other parts of the forum. The problem is that there's so much noise in there that it becomes a pain to sift through.

POTN forums has always wanted to be about photography and pure off-topic threads shouldn't really be here. If there was an Off Topic section, then things would be tidier.

[EOSAddict]

Perhaps better separatin between 'General Chat' and 'Talk about Photography' forums would help?

[fraggle_rock]

An off topic section would be great especialy if posts in it don't add to postcount (for those that get an ePeen about such things) and don't appear in the "New Posts" general search.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

I just want to take a moment to make everyone aware that fraggle rock was the !@#$ when I was a kid. Loved that show.

[kevin_c]

I just want to take a moment to make everyone aware that fraggle rock was the !@#$ when I was a kid. Loved that show.

Is that 'off-topic' ? ;) :):) - Yeh, loved that program myself... :cool:

[In2Photos]

I don't even bother visiting the General Chat section any more. Too much cruft to wade through.
Ditto. I wander in for a moment but that is all I can take. Some members seem to think it is their own personal blog. :confused:

[ssim]

Ditto. I wander in for a moment but that is all I can take. Some members seem to think it is their own personal blog. :confused:

I agree wholeheartedly. There was a time when you could look up to people that had a higher post count here. It gave the impression that they had spent some quality time participating in the discussion surrounding photography (I've seen the veiled attempt at keeping something photographic in most of these threads) and that they were knowledgeable in this area. This is no longer the case. I hardly ever go to General Chat. The thing that concerns me is that if someone does post something in this forum that is of interest, there are alot of people going to miss it.

I really do wonder how many would continue to participate if the posts in an off topic area did not contribute to their post count. This subject has been brought up before and it seems to always die on the vine.

[EOSAddict]

Sheldon,

I for one always go to Subscribed then New Posts when I check into POTN so I don't think I miss too many new threads.. I like the idea of a non-post count non-photo chat section. I think those who worry about it, worry about it (post counts) and the rest of us just get on with things!

[Pete]

I really do wonder how many would continue to participate if the posts in an off topic area did not contribute to their post count. This subject has been brought up before and it seems to always die on the vine.

I've seen this implemented before and I completely support this. If we could have an off-topic section with no post count, that would solve 90% of the noise in the General section. It would also imply that actual post-count is photography related.

[DAMphyne]

If a thread has more than 5 pages, I ignore it. I assume that it's way off topic by then.