# I suggest a new Forum. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 19, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suggest-a-new-forum/245963 "2004-05-19T14:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suggest-a-new-forum/245963/1 "2004-05-19T14:18:22Z")
Military oriented questions are quite common on the SDMB. So much so, that I believe they would justify their own Forum. I suggest the name “Armchair Generals’ Barracks”. You input, please? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suggest-a-new-forum/245963/2 "2004-05-19T14:27:49Z")
Part of the reason military questions are so big right now is that we’re currently in the middle of a war. But when and if that’s ever over, you would see a significant drop in the number of military questions, leaving you with an orphaned forum. Besides, what’s wrong with putting military questions in GQ, GD, or IMHO, as appropriate? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suggest-a-new-forum/245963/3 "2004-05-19T22:34:27Z")
If military questions got a forum because of their frequency then computer questions certainly should. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suggest-a-new-forum/245963/4 "2004-05-22T21:56:45Z")
[ > [@](#): > > But when and if that’s ever over, you would see a significant drop in the number of military questions, Geez, can you ever see a time when POTUS **isn’t** sending kids to some far off land? When this current mess is over, there’ll be another… and another… and another. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suggest-a-new-forum/245963/5 "2004-05-23T12:49:03Z")
When we first set up the forums, beyond “Comments on Cecil’s Columns” and “Other”, we thought about setting up a number of categories – physics, sociology, entomology, etymology, electronics, etc. Or even broader, like science, art, history, etc. We rejected that approach, because so many of the posts we get don’t fit into standard academic classifications. So, we chose to use forums based on the type of discussion/question rather than the subject matter. Hence, GQ for questions that have specific (even if possibly disputed) answers; GD for questions that have no answers (so to speak); MPSIMS for personal gibberish, etc. So, our classification is by the type of thread (sharing personal information, asking opinions, stating facts, debating unresolvable thoughts, etc.) … and NOT by subject matter. The only exception is the Cafe Society forum, the last one to be created, because we found that there were a lot of arts-and-entertainment type of questions, and it seemed to make sense to separae them out. So, the Moderators will probably discuss this, since we discuss all ideas that y’all come up with, but my (almost certainly accurate) prediction is that we’ll say no. There’s not a special forum for computer questions, nor for science questions, nor for history questions, why would there be one for military questions? Keep the ideas coming, but I don’t think this one will fly.