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To throw my 2 cents in, I don't spend too much time in the Lounge. I agree that most of the threads seem overly silly to me. Absolutely fine for those who do participate, just not of interest to me.
Besides, I come here to read about the latest ebook news, technology, rumors...and hacks! (I admit it, I want to read my ebooks for longer than the lifespan of my current gadget!)
When the new Conservatory forum was voted on, I had no real opinion, since I don't hang out much in the Lounge anyway, but I watched the "New Threads" topics when it was first opened. Instead of being a forum where people just "stayed on-topic for non-silly threads", it quickly seemed to become a place to discuss "deep things". Again, fine for those who want to participate, but of even less interest to me than the silly forum.
But I've been waiting for the explosion ever since.
I don't think I've been in any online community or face-to-face discussion where those topics didn't eventually devolve into name-calling and arguing.
Some people enjoy the argument - my mom's husband like that. He loves "vigorous debate". When my mother first started dated him, I was convinced he thought I was an idiot. We didn't agree on anything. We "vigorously debated" all the time. I would walk away from the "discussions" shaking from adrenaline overload, and he'd be chuckling.
Years later mom tells me he just "loves arguing" with me. That he absolutely loves that I'm not afraid to speak up for myself and he enjoys the discussions. You could have blown me over with a feather.
How much easier is it to have those kinds of misunderstandings when there are few visual cues (just the little animated smilies)? Where people don't have any reason to assume good will or even simple respect, because it's all behind the "glass wall" of the computer screen?
This website didn't really seem to be a place for those inflammatory topics. But I'll admit I view it from within the confines of why I come here. Books. EBooks. Geek toys, uh, I mean "ebook readers". YMMV.
If there are enough members who really want to discuss the heavy-topics of the day, and Alex is willing, he could always create an "enter-at-your-own-risk, no-holds-barred" forum with a big warning on the front page that brawls have been known to break out. But it seems that Zelda offered a similar suggestion - make a "heavy thoughts" social group and have those same discussions over there.
Ultimately, I guess it comes down to the fact I don't have any problem with Alex and the moderators deciding how they run this forum. It's theirs to run as they see fit. If I don't like it, there are plenty of other places to hang out on the web. Maybe I feel that way because I - like some of the other posters here - have assisted in moderating before (a couple of Yahoo groups, rather than a forum like this). I've seen first hand that sometimes you just have to make a decision and stick with it. There will always be someone unhappy about the results, and often someone obnoxiously pleased (as if they'd "won" some kind of contest).
IMHO
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