# “Mundane, Pointless”, as in Beirut? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 5, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370 "2020-08-05T21:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/81 "2023-03-28T22:14:08Z")
How about “General Discussions”, or just “Discussions”. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/82 "2023-03-29T07:45:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > How about “General Discussions”, or just “Discussions” Spammer or just popped in your mind? I’m going to guess the answer is the same as it was two years ago. Everyone is too busy, nostalgia etc. Does anyone actually think of it by it’s actual name? To me it’s MPisms. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/83 "2023-03-29T12:36:20Z")
Em-Pee-Sims to me. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/84 "2023-03-29T15:00:31Z")
EMP Sims–Maxis kicks it up a notch. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/85 "2023-03-29T15:06:46Z")
Mup-Sims ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/86 "2023-03-29T15:53:29Z")
[Mister Mxyzptlk ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Mxyzptlk) ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/87 "2023-03-29T16:04:55Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > A lot of what ends up there is far too serious and doesn’t deserve that sort of flip, dismissive classification. I only feel that way when someone who is in grief posts about a terrible loss. I’ve seen that a few times, and my feeling is that nothing whatsoever could be farther from “mundane and pointles” than their broken hearts. Still, we have to remember that these are general categories, so it defeats the purpose if you create more and more of them based on perceived opinions about their contents. Also, I think a general category should encompass a considerable volume of posts. If the range is too narrow, this isn’t going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/88 "2023-03-30T15:27:17Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Still, we have to remember that these are general categories, so it defeats the purpose if you create more and more of them based on perceived opinions about their contents. We don’t need a new category, just rename the existing one. Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/89 "2023-03-30T15:52:07Z")
I bumped this thread and this specific suggestion up to the Modloop. I don’t actually expect a change as I remember this debate coming up at least 15 years ago. But who knows, we did change GQ to FQ and added forums. I think we’re more open to incremental changes than the SDMB was in the past. Tags went in with no problems. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/90 "2023-03-30T16:07:41Z")
Thank you @What_Exit. As you said, this has been proposed over and over. I cannot remember a single time a poster was against a name change. And I never really understood the distinction from IMHO, apart from breaking news. A name change should come with just a slight change in policy. My opinion is that personal stuff (Mom died, I failed the bar exam), MMP and badbad,bad threads should move to IMHO, leaving the re-furbished forum for current affairs, things in the headlines, topical items. It doesn’t have to be so strict, but even though I love puppies, maybe they shouldn’t share room with mass shootings and earthquake victims. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/91 "2023-03-30T16:12:10Z")
Hey, incremental changes. First let’s see if we can finally get a name change. MPSIMS is our loosest forum. The one that allows bloggish posts, even bare link OPs are tolerated more. I look at IMHO as kind of FQ-lite & GD-lite. The standard is still higher but not as strict as FQ & GD. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/92 "2023-03-30T17:13:23Z")
The suggestion just above @What_Exit’s comment about modloop was by @Irishman for MPSIMS to become “Miscellaneous and Personal …”. So it appears that was the idea @What_Exit was endorsing at least a bit. Which is the polar opposite of what I think @Charlie_Tan is thinking, a category devoted solely to current events and commentary thereon. But @Charlie_Tan was also expressing appreciation for @What_Exit’s plan. So IMO somebody is reading at cross-purposes with somebody else. But who? For _my_ part I’ll argue that creating a “Current _world_ events” category while retaining a slightly renamed MPSIMS as “Current _personal_ events and light random topics” is a way to square the circle of: 1. Not mixings shootings and wars in with graduation and promotion announcements 2. Not trivializing or disrespecting births, marriages, disease, infirmity, or death among our members’ circle with the epithets “mundane” and/or “pointless”. IMO we _don’t_ get there by pushing either of those halves of MPSIMS’ current content into IMHO and slightly relabeling MPSIMS for the other half. But if TPTB were to do that split, I’d sooner move current _world_ events to IMHO than move e.g. MMP or “My Mom’s got Alzhiemers” into IMHO. My two cents and worth what y’all paid for it. And upon review that’s substantially what I said 2-1/2 years ago in post #44. At least I’m consistent. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/93 "2023-03-30T19:00:43Z")
If you split forums/categories, you run the risk that each part won’t have enough posts to maintain the forum. MPSIMS currently gets roughly the same number of posts as FQ and IMHO. If you split MPSIMS into a bunch of smaller categories, then you could end up killing all of them since each of the smaller categories wouldn’t receive enough daily posts to catch everyone’s interests. TubaDiva was always adamant that splitting MPSIMS would be a bad thing for the SDMB, and after looking at the forum statistics I tend to agree with her. I am not opposed to renaming the forum Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/94 "2023-03-30T22:01:40Z")
Trump was just indicted in the NY case. Time to go to the Mundane forum to read about the first time an ex- President was charged with a crime. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/95 "2023-03-30T22:06:56Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > MPSIMS is our loosest forum. The one that allows bloggish posts, even bare link OPs are tolerated more. I look at IMHO as kind of FQ-lite & GD-lite. The standard is still higher but not as strict as FQ & GD. MPSIMS is also our gentlest forum. I tone-police there in a way that would cripple p&e, and put a damper on IMHO. MPSIMS is where you post for sympathy about your illness, not where you post to have your opinions challenged. I could get on board with moving the breaking news threads, but i don’t feel a need to do it. It’s a forum for stuff people care about, whether it’s the death of their aged cat or a mass shooting. I would favor a name change. It feels trivializing to call those posts mundane and pointless. And i don’t think the stuff that is actually mundane and pointless, like the MMP, is a problem. As I’m getting breakfast, i care about my coffee and cereal. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/96 "2023-03-30T23:37:56Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I could get on board with moving the breaking news threads, but i don’t feel a need to do it. It’s a forum for stuff people care about, whether it’s the death of their aged cat or a mass shooting. Where should we move the Breaking News? Should it have its own forum maybe? That might make the most sense. I don’t think it really fits anywhere better than MPSIMS, and it is out of step with MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/97 "2023-03-31T00:03:53Z")
It doesn’t seem like it would have enough traffic to be worth its own forum. Of course, QZ doesn’t have much traffic any more, either. We could re-brand it and move breaking news there. As I said, I don’t feel strongly that breaking news needs to be separated out. But if any changes were made, that’s the one that makes the most sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2023, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/98 "2023-03-31T00:35:38Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > As I said, I don’t feel strongly that breaking news needs to be separated out. But if any changes were made, that’s the one that makes the most sense to me. To me it seems like the fact that breaking news threads are moderated differently (by necessity) than other kinds of threads in the same forum warrants a spin-off into its own forum. Just my opinion. Obviously having different sets of rules for different kinds of threads has worked until now, but maybe it might prevent confusion to split them. And I think it has already been made clear that such threads are very different tonally than the other threads in that forum. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2023, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/99 "2023-03-31T01:02:11Z")
Yes, that’s why it’s the change that makes the most sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2023, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/100 "2023-03-31T01:07:32Z")
Agreed [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370.md?page=6)