# Protest against thread closing **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 28, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799 "2023-03-28T18:21:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/61 "2023-03-30T21:29:05Z")
I don’t disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/62 "2023-03-30T21:29:23Z")
That’s post #2. You get one more. ---
**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, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/63 "2023-03-30T21:31:56Z")
We’re not doing formal debates here on the SDMB. Great Debates I guess shouldn’t be taken so literally, however, we do hold a higher standard for threads in GD as outlined in the Forum rules. P&E has pretty close to the same rules. FQ also has higher standards as outlined in the FQ forum rules. Café, The Game Room and IMHO are pretty lax by comparison. It appears Cecil’s Column is also pretty lax. MPSIMS is the most lax except for the Breaking News threads. Then there is the Pit, that is something else entirely and won’t be changing any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/64 "2023-03-30T21:35:56Z")
There is no way we will ever move entertainment threads into their own forum. Then Cafe Society appeared. There is no way we will ever move game threads into their own fourm. Then we got _two_ Game forums. There was no way we will ever move political threads into their own forum. Then we got a temporary Elections forum, which would never be made permanent. Now we have a permanent Politics and Elections forum. Why do we go this this nonsense over and over again? The forums are not carved in marble. They can be split or merged. Their names can be changed. The five of us who are still here can figure out a new listing despite our ridiculously advanced ages and lack of technical skills. Do it now rather than the usual never never never … OK. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/65 "2023-03-30T21:36:25Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > We’re not doing formal debates here on the SDMB. Praise be the powers that be. Just so you know, I wasn’t making that post as a suggestion, more pointing out why it would be bad to make it into the formal debate room. That said, I don’t know that I would be against someone posting a thread intending it to be a formal debate, but I don’t know how well that would work. I would think it would require some prep work in ATMB before it could get off the ground. And then I think it would flop, as no one would be all that interested in participating. But _in principle_, I wouldn’t be against it, and it could _possibly_ even be interesting. ---
**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, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/66 "2023-03-30T21:38:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Why do we go this this nonsense over and over again? The forums are not carved in marble. They can be split or merged. Their names can be changed. The five of us who are still here can figure out a new listing despite our ridiculously advanced ages and lack of technical skills. Yes, just do this all at once. You have a forum that almost no one uses, and a forum that people want to be split up. Just do it rather than hanging on for reasons. ---
**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, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/67 "2023-03-30T21:41:37Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > That said, I don’t know that I would be against someone posting a thread intending it to be a formal debate, but I don’t know how well that would work. I would think it would require some prep work in ATMB before it could get off the ground. We would probably need some sort of Demi-Mod that only had mod powers in a special sub-forum of GD or something and very specific rules and set times the thread would be open and modded. All in all, I can’t imagine wanting to do it. vBulletin had forum leaders, I’m not sure there is an equivalent in Discourse. Forum leaders weren’t used on the SDMB but were easy to setup. As an example, the Game Masters on Mellophant were given extra editing powers in the RPG sub-forum on that board. * * * * * * > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Do it now rather than the usual never never never … OK. [We’re actually talking about finally changing the name of MPSIMS right now](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/89). This is being covered a little in a thread actually for it, rather than a hijack here. As to breaking out a topic into its own forum, that need seems to be diminished with the Tags. They can act as Sub-forums or cross-forum connectors. I’m not sure which post your post was in reference to though. * * * * * * As far as GD not getting used, it is fairly light. I would not object to it being recombined with P&E, except when we near Presidential election, than P&E gets really busy and it is nice not to have GD overwhelmed. As to actual numbers: We have 4 busy forums as far as new threads: [Cafe Society](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/cafe-society/15) 141 / month [In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/in-my-humble-opinion-imho/14) 129/month [Factual Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/factual-questions/9) 128/month [MPSIMS](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/mundane-pointless-stuff-i-must-share-mpsims/10) 105/month I found a way to get the posts per forum. **Posts in last month** : GD 1200 P&E 2500 Café 9100 FQ 3500 MPSIMS 8500 IMHO 6500 The Pit 4400 The Game Room 2400 Thread Games 7000 QZ 173, this was very high 3 years ago. 10,900 Mar 2020 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/68 "2023-03-30T22:00:40Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > [We’re actually talking about finally changing the name of MPSIMS right now](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-pointless-as-in-beirut/917370/89). This is being covered a little in a thread actually for it, rather than a hijack here. An old bumped thread I didn’t know existed. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > As to breaking out a topic into its own forum, that need seems to be diminished with the Tags. They can act as Sub-forums or cross-forum connectors. I’m not sure which post your post was in reference to though. As has been shown in other threads, many of use pay no attention at all to tags, or even think them a cluttering nuisance. My post was generally referring to GD. We’re talking about in this thread because the moderating revealed that nobody understands the forum except the mods. Maybe that’s why GD is a dying forum. Under the Activity column it shows 35 threads from the entire month of March. P&E had 59. MPSIMS shows 35 threads from yesterday and today. Changing MPSIMS’s name is 20 years overdue, true. But GD is the forum in crisis. ---
**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, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/69 "2023-03-30T22:09:26Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > As to actual numbers Do you have totals for views by the month? ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/70 "2023-03-30T22:14:23Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > But GD is the forum in crisis. …I suspect we have very different views on what is and isn’t a crisis. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/71 "2023-03-30T22:17:04Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > The Pit 4400 > The Game Room 2400 Woo! In your face, Game Room! ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/72 "2023-03-30T22:24:56Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > You have posted all of five times to GD this year. Which is a perfect example of people not using GD. I wouldn’t call 8% of my posts this year “not using.”Many posters have figured out how to contribute to and enjoy GD. No need to change it for those who haven’t. ---
**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, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/73 "2023-03-31T00:28:34Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Woo! In your face, Game Room! One might say the BBQ Pit is another kind of game room. (I mean, I’m not saying that, not really. [/deflect]) I’ll say that I like the idea of breaking forums apart, closing them, renaming them, merging them, changing rules, and so on as the need arises. I don’t know why they all need to be done at once. I liked how QZ was created when it was necessary. I assume it will eventually get sunsetted. (Knock on wood that we won’t need it for another pandemic soon.) To me that shows how this board can and has been responsive to change when it was really needed, and it didn’t take forever. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2023, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/74 "2023-03-31T03:50:44Z")
I remember that, when I first got here, I wanted GD to be more formalized in debates, like another forum I had frequented before. But it was made clear to me that this wasn’t really what GD was for. I can’t see a big audience for a proper formal debate forum here. There’s a certain level of detachment from what you are talking about that is necessary. But this board gets pretty emotionally involved. Maybe if there are enough posters who wish to have a formal debate on a particular topic, it would make sense to set up a single thread for that. But a whole forum seems overkill at best. It would either be empty, or people would want to go beyond what it allowed. Look at GD now, and how hard it can be to stay within the much less restricted rules. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2023, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799/75 "2023-03-31T16:33:56Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Woo! In your face, Game Room! Also, more posts in the Pit than GD and P&E combined. My two cents, I like GD as it is. I don’t think **Lumpy** ’s topic would have been up to par as it doesn’t state a clear question for debate. If I had to change one thing about GD it would be to loosen the hijack rules a little, but I very much like the rule on hyperspecific topics. ~Max [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protest-against-thread-closing/981799.md?page=3)