New forum section that's not the lounge

[desertgrandma]

How much for tickets?

[GeoffC]

How many does madam require?

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

How many does madam require?

Well, lets see. The entire population of Mobilica Republica for starts......put in on our amex card, please.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

which goes to show that silly and serious discussions can harmoniously co-exist in the lounge, which is after all why it is there.

Not really to be honest. It's easier to just have a seperate forum for the silly where we can ignore it if we want.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

actually this has already been discussed among the moderators quite a while ago, and it's been agreed that it's not necessary, and would not go towards simplifying the use of the forum for all members, which is the overreaching goal. there are many ways to filter content, and it's easy enough to skip over the silly threads in the lounge if you aren't interested in them ; the "silliness" prefix makes that even easier. among other things, the lounge often serves as a less intimidating entry point to the forum for new or inexperienced members while they are learning about the technical questions, and we want new members to feel welcome and comfortable here.

there are plenty of different forums here for all ebook related topics ; anything not concerned with ebooks that you would like to discuss can find a home in the lounge, including serious discussion about not specifically ebook-related topics. everyone is welcome to start a discussion there on any topic.

serious discussions about books can be had in the reading recommendations forum, about writing in the writers' forum, about formats, devices, conversion etc. in their respective forums.

there is plenty of room in all the forums here for discussions about any topic you are interested in. conversely, there are plenty of ways to avoid topics which don't interest you. please feel free to join in or not join in any discussion, and to start your own threads about any topics you'd like to discuss, including in the lounge.

The thing is, I want to ignore most of the silly and I cannot do that if it's mixed in with non-silly. This is for when I am looking at the list of new posts. So is there a way to ignore the silly and not the rest of the lounge?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

What do people think of the idea of changing the description of the lounge to something like:

General discussions and friendly banter unrelated to e-books and mobile devices


???

BOb

But the problem is that we need a place where we can have discussions that do not fit into the current forum sections and are not silly. So just relabeling the Lounge won't cut it. A new forum section is what's needed.

[astra]

I believe this topic is a very good example why lounge should be separated to a different sub-forum where people may hijack any threads and post any number of meaningless posts while in other sub-forums certain rules about off-topics etc., might actually be respected.

IMO naturally.

[Marysart]

Originally Posted by astra

I believe this topic is a very good example why lounge should be separated to a different sub-forum where people may hijack any threads and post any number of meaningless posts while in other sub-forums certain rules about off-topics etc., might actually be respected.

IMO naturally.

Agreed. This topic does illustrate the problem. The way I navigate the board is through clicking new posts.
Maybe there could be a new posts search without the lounge, such as the new posts without the ebook uploads search?

On another board I belong to there is a forum section called miscellaneous.
There, you can search for new posts since your last visit with ,or without
miscellaneous.
Thus enabling you to ignore this section if you want to.

In the miscellaneous section people can slow chat etc. to their harts contend and anything not pertaining to the subject of the board can be discussed.

[JSWolf]

I agree completely. I started this thread as a serious topic and it gets hijacked and turned into something silly. The who issue is to get away from the silly and let those that want ti have it. But those that don't should not have to have it. The lounge has been hijacked and now there is no proper place to post messages not meant to be made silly. We have to wade through lots of silly threads to find the lounge messages that are not silly. There is another option. Do away with the silly message threads if we cannot have them separated.

And we have moderators participating in trying to derail this thread (yes, you know who you are). So why not do your moderator duties and keep this thread on track since it's not supported to be silly. I hate to say this, but all the silly messages in the thread really should be deleted.

[ProfJulie]

I agree, I really get tired of reading through all the silliness in posts that start out honestly wanting a discussion. This thread is a good example of why I don't spend much time in these forums any more...as soon as the posts get hijacked, I stop visiting.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Please re-read the explanation i gave previously in this thread :

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

actually this has already been discussed among the moderators quite a while ago, and it's been agreed that it's not necessary, and would not go towards simplifying the use of the forum for all members, which is the overreaching goal. there are many ways to filter content, and it's easy enough to skip over the silly threads in the lounge if you aren't interested in them ; the "silliness" prefix makes that even easier. among other things, the lounge often serves as a less intimidating entry point to the forum for new or inexperienced members while they are learning about the technical questions, and we want new members to feel welcome and comfortable here.

there are plenty of different forums here for all ebook related topics ; anything not concerned with ebooks that you would like to discuss can find a home in the lounge, including serious discussion about not specifically ebook-related topics. everyone is welcome to start a discussion there on any topic.

serious discussions about books can be had in the reading recommendations forum, about writing in the writers' forum, about formats, devices, conversion etc. in their respective forums.

there is plenty of room in all the forums here for discussions about any topic you are interested in. conversely, there are plenty of ways to avoid topics which don't interest you. please feel free to join in or not join in any discussion, and to start your own threads about any topics you'd like to discuss, including in the lounge.

This topic has already been discussed previously at length and Alex has decided that it is not a good idea.

ANY topic which does not obviously belong in one of the other forums can be discussed in the lounge ; please feel free to start a thread there any time. If you would like to have a serious discussion, do not add the "Silliness" thread prefix.

Regarding filtering content, this is what Alex said about that in the original discussion :

We have so many ways to filter out content we don't like to deal with. We can hide entire sections from appearing in New Posts; we can ignore individual users and the threads started by them; we can guide our reading by thread prefixes. I don't find it difficult to jump over threads containing content I don't feel like spending my time with.

if you navigate the site by looking at the "new threads" and want to exclude a particular sub-forum, you can simply double-click on the small arrow icon in front of its name in the forum listing to mark all threads as read ; then, they will not appear in the "new posts" list.

You can also create your own personal filter to display only the forums which interest you.

You can easily skip over threads that you do not want to read and guide yourself by prefixes.

I do not think there is anything more productive to say about this topic, since a decision has already been made by Alex, who is the owner of the site and therefore has the final say.

If you have any questions about how to filter content by hiding specific sub forums, please take a look at the forum FAQ. If you don't find the answer you are looking for there, please feel free to start a new thread to ask.

This thread is closed.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Marysart

Agreed. This topic does illustrate the problem. The way I navigate the board is through clicking new posts.

You can go into your profile and set up forums exclusions. This will only exclude it from the new posts search/display. It does not ignore them 100%. for example, you can still see them if you have subscribed to the threads when you go to your CP.

I have the lounge, the foreign language, and several other threads ignored for new search.

I usually start at my CP, and read the threads I have subscribed to with new posts in them. I remove the subscription to the thread if the thread has gone where I don't care about. I have my settings set to subscribe (no notification) to any thread I post into.

Next I will go to the "new posts" and go through all those threads. If there are alot only those that interest me.

Then, if I have time I will go to the Lounge and see if there are any new posts/threads that interest me. If not, I mark all read in the Lounge.

BOb

BTW: Actually the above is a bit wrong. I usually start with a search for new messages in the reported posts thread. Of course, only a moderator can do this. We like to catch reports and deal with them ASAP.

[Nate the great]

I opened the thread again. I didn't think it should be closed. Harry didn't think it should be closed.

Continuing the discussion, Harry and I are both in favor of a new subforum.

This thread should have given you a hint of why that wouldn't work. his was a serious thread in a serious forum, and it still got "hijacked". I hope everyone realizes that this would happen in the new forum as well.

[HarryT]

Nobody is suggesting that anything be done to the Lounge forum - clearly there are many people who enjoy the atmosphere of that forum.

However, with all due respect to the people who enjoy the Lounge, it is pretty much impossible to have a "serious" discussion there without it being "hijacked" by off-topic remarks, etc.

I firmly believe that there is a need for a "general discussion" forum which is not the Lounge, for those of us (and I believe there are quite a few of us) whose idea of a good time is not a "wild party" but a "peaceful chat".

[zelda_pinwheel]

i closed the thread because the topic had already been discussed at length, and Alex had made a decision about it, and i felt we should respect his decision as it is his site. Hoever, if you feel there is more to discuss i will respect that as well.