I’m sure this had been brought up countless times before, but I just have to chime in to say that “Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)” is a terrible title for that forum.
Basically, I have to point out that many of the discussions that go on in that forum are far from mundane and/or pointless to a lot of posters. So, I’ll cut right to the chase with my suggestion for a better title for the forum…
“Everyday Life”
Short, yet concise. While everyday life is full of “mundane, pointless stuff”, it is also full of more meaningful “stuff”, all of which people like to share. IMO, “Everyday Life” would be a very appropriate title for the forum.
And, for those who might complain that such a title might confuse posters and visitors, there are descriptions beneath the titles of all the forums, and the one for the forum in question…
“For general discussion: from frivolous chatter to deep thoughts; from harmless diversions to life-changing announcements.”
…is more than adequate in explaining the purpose of the forum. And also backs up my contention that the current forum title is terrible, in that the title and the description are contradictory. IMO, “life-changing announcements” doesn’t jive with “mundane” and/or “pointless”.
MPSIMS has historical significance to the Dope. It was the title of an extremely long and popular thread on the original boards which got turned into a new forum. I doubt the admin will change it.
As Exgineer mentioned, the description for MPSIMS is brand new. See this thread from this past weekend when the change was made.
[shameless bragging]
It could be noted that my suggestion was accepted as the change.
[/shameless bragging]
It was made very clear over the past year or so that the Mods and Admins have no desire to change the actual names of the forums themselves (or to add new ones), but they are willing to consider minor changes to the forum descriptions. Hence, the new MPSIMS description.
(Hmmm… a pirate who is beauty personified… sounds good to me!)
It helps to have a certain apathetic acceptance of these sorts of things. One could think of it simply as evolving word meaning. Sure, the threads in MPSIMS are usually neither pointless nor mundane. It matters not.
Once you’re here long enough, the word(s) of the forum description tend to be thought of as representing the kinds of things that are posted there. It’s almost as if “mundane” and “pointless” have lost their original meaning in this context.
This happens in language all the time. There can be a disconnect between the word (symbol) and the thing to which it refers (referent). A good example perhaps is the word “gay”. The relationship between the word meaning and the real-world application of that word has changed over time.
If this post isn’t pointless, it is certainly mundane in the normal sense of the word. It might even be irritating.
Well, we figured that “Mundane Pointless” would probably scare away the newbies, and we wanted to protect them. If we’d just called it, “DO NOT READ THIS FORUM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES (DNRTFUC)” they’d all flock over to read it. And, of couse, DNRTFUC has awkward pronunciation. Unlike MPSIMS.
How about a compromise, and we cut the “Mundane Pointless” part out of the title. Then it would just be “Stuff I Must Share”. Of course, the abbreviation - SIMS - might confuse those with only virtual lives. (Not that a lot of Dopers don’t live virtually and precariously through the SDMB. )
Or the EA people might send their lawyers after us. Wouldn’t want that, would we. How about “Things I Must Share” then? TIMS? Wait. Then we might have Canadian lawyers chasing us, in the service of Canada’s donut empire. :eek:
No, that wouldn’t do at all. IMO, The Straight Dope’s “ordinary stuff” would be all the questions that get answered. Such a title would be more representative of the three forums most representative of The Straight Dope’s cause (i.e. “fighting ignorance”) - “Comments on Cecil’s Columns”, “Comments on Staff Reports”, and “General Questions”.
