# Should the SBMB have a (hopefully) temporary Coronavirus forum? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 15, 2020, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578 "2020-03-15T23:23:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/21 "2020-03-16T23:24:28Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > . . . politics figures heavily in the response to, or lack of response to, or aggrivation of the pandemic. This. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/22 "2020-03-16T23:55:54Z")
Put it all in one place that I can then avoid. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/23 "2020-03-17T00:48:34Z")
How then would we separate factual questions about Corona vs speculative questions about Corona vs debates about how politicians are handling Corona all of which have different rules? Best to keep things as they are. If we must have a separate forum, all OPs will need to be tagged with GQ, IMHO, GD, etc first. GQ: How does Corona differ from SARS? MPSIMS: What are fun things to do when you are quarantined? GD: Did Trump get it right earlier today? IMHO: When do you think it will be safe to go to a bar again? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/24 "2020-03-17T01:24:06Z")
I vote no. All you have to do is subscribe to the threads you want to follow and then unsubscribe when you lose interest. Maybe people don’t know about the “subscribe” option under “thread tools.” I was here for a few months before I discovered it. Makes it easy to keep up with stuff you’re interested in. ---
**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 17, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/25 "2020-03-17T02:04:31Z")
No, because right now it tends to inject itself into most everything we talk about so it would make the forum lopsided. Then once the urgent crisis passes it would be dead and redundant. It’s just not a good idea either now or later. ---
**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 17, 2020, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/26 "2020-03-17T02:05:39Z")
Double post (and no, I didn’t try posting it a second time after a timeout, it just went twice). ---
**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 17, 2020, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/27 "2020-03-17T02:14:30Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > We could call it the “Quarantine” section. Posts should be six feet apart, and anyone posting feverishly should be quarantined. ---
**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 17, 2020, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/28 "2020-03-17T02:36:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > anyone posting feverishly should be quarantined. That sounds like the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/29 "2020-03-17T02:44:54Z")
If you wash your hands for 30 seconds before posting, that might help with the timeouts. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/30 "2020-03-17T03:39:29Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Then they’d better not all be “Breaking News” threads, because politics figures heavily in the response to, or lack of response to, or aggrivation of the pandemic. I was referring only to the one that has BN in the title. Not really sure how a thread achieves BN status…apparently it doesn’t really matter with regard to Coronavirus. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/31 "2020-03-17T04:44:02Z")
I came to ATMB to suggest the opposite: a new forum that would be **free** of Corona virus news and discussion. A place to escape the constant drumbeat. Perhaps, as **hajario** suggested, each non-virus thread would have a prefix identifying the post type: GQ, GD, IMHO, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/32 "2020-03-17T05:28:25Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I came to ATMB to suggest the opposite: a new forum that would be **free** of Corona virus news and discussion. A place to escape the constant drumbeat. But under the proposed Covid-19 forum idea being suggested in this thread, you would have the _vast majority_ of forums be free of the “constant drumbeat.” Under your proposed plan, only \*one \*of our many forums would be free of the virus topic. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/33 "2020-03-17T07:51:55Z")
I say no. It’s still got that “new crisis smell,” and by May, it might be consigned to the same dustbin as SARS and the Mexican killer bees. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/34 "2020-03-17T14:17:34Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But under the proposed Covid-19 forum idea being suggested in this thread, you would have the _vast majority_ of forums be free of the “constant drumbeat.” > > Under your proposed plan, only \*one \*of our many forums would be free of the virus topic. Exactly. I figured that the virus news was too important, and affecting too many aspects of life, to banish to a single forum (an idea that hadn’t occurred to me). Assuming that it would remain a topic of discussion everywhere, and since TPTB seem to be opposed to a new forum just for the virus, I was hoping to have one small oasis on the SDMB (apart from the Marketplace :D) where I could escape it. I thought that might be an easy and simple option. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/35 "2020-03-17T14:57:02Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Exactly. I figured that the virus news was too important, and affecting too many aspects of life, to banish to a single forum (an idea that hadn’t occurred to me). Assuming that it would remain a topic of discussion everywhere, and since TPTB seem to be opposed to a new forum just for the virus, I was hoping to have one small oasis on the SDMB (apart from the Marketplace :D) where I could escape it. I thought that might be an easy and simple option. But it is better to congregate all the Covid threads together. Right now, if you want to see the Covid virus threads, you have to check out the ones in IMHO, the ones in Great Debates, the ones in GQ, the ones in MPSIMS, etc. and it’s exhausting, clicking in and out and all around like that. A Coronavirus forum would consolidate all that. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/36 "2020-03-17T15:29:37Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But it is better to congregate all the Covid threads together. Right now, if you want to see the Covid virus threads, you have to check out the ones in IMHO, the ones in Great Debates, the ones in GQ, the ones in MPSIMS, etc. and it’s exhausting, clicking in and out and all around like that. > > A Coronavirus forum would consolidate all that. Just subscribe to the threads you want to follow. No “checking all around.” VERY SIMPLE. [ol] [li]In any thread, go to “thread tools” and in the drop-down menu, you will see “subscribe to this thread.”[/li][li]Another window will open and click on “add subscription.” (Don’t skip this step.)[/li][li]Then when you check into the Dope, go to “Quick Links,” and in that drop down menu, you will see (near the bottom), “subscribed threads.” Click on that and Voila! A new window will open with all of your subscribed threads.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/37 "2020-03-17T18:06:59Z")
We have it now, thanks mods! ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/38 "2020-03-17T18:23:41Z")
The announcement says “make it what you will” The forum description says “NO POLITICS” … so which is it? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/39 "2020-03-17T18:35:20Z")
And here you go. [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=41](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=41) Jenny your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578/40 "2020-03-17T18:35:23Z")
And here you go. [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=41](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=41) Jenny your humble TubaDiva Administrator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-sbmb-have-a-hopefully-temporary-coronavirus-forum/849578.md?page=3)