# Suggestion for new forum: Current Affairs. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 28, 2007, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536 "2007-07-28T22:47:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [July 29, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/21 "2007-07-29T18:09:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Having said that, if it kept all the political discussion out of the other forums, I’d see that a net benefit for everyone. Isn’t that a large part of the purpose of GD, already? I’m always baffled when someone says we should have a forum for political discussions, because it looks to me like we already do. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/22 "2007-07-29T18:51:39Z")
If you wanted to really clean up GD, you could make an “American Politics” forum, because quite honestly most of the partisan sniping doesn’t make for very “Great” “Debates”. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/23 "2007-07-29T23:16:43Z")
Color me surprised, but I think it’s not a bad idea either. In an ideal world, Great Debates could indeed be about debating the great questions of our time. But most of the political stuff that’s in there doesn’t even rise to the ‘mediocre, predictable, and boring questions of our time’. So I wouldn’t mind a forum that pulled from ‘Today’s Headlines!’. In fact, that’s what I’d suggest it be named: Today’s Headlines! or somesuch. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/24 "2007-07-29T23:42:53Z")
I think it would be a great idea. **C K Dexter Haven** , I think the reason there won’t be many examples to pull from the existing forums is because there is currently no place to post them. I frequently read things that I would like to discuss but don’t because they just don’t seem to fit our current forums. ---
**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:** [July 30, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/25 "2007-07-30T01:55:14Z")
On the other hand, “Bush is an idiot” isn’t any more at home with “Grim reaper kitty” than it is with “Does God exist?”. If we did have a current events forum, pretty soon, folks would be complaining that American politics is crowding out all the threads about omenic cats. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/26 "2007-07-30T02:43:02Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] I’m in favour of it, but my concern is that it would turn into the **American Politics** forum. Having said that, if it kept all the political discussion out of the other forums, I’d see that a net benefit for everyone. [/QUOTE] Same thing here … and I’m American, too. Even if it doesn’t relate to the US, I fear seeing the same “turn _everything_ into an anti-America thread” phenomenon happen here as it does on Metafilter. ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/27 "2007-07-30T04:02:13Z")
Assuming this forum came to exist, would it become home to recreational outrage posts from the BBQ Pit? Assuming they weren’t so outraged that they had to be in the pit for swearing purposes? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/28 "2007-07-30T11:10:15Z")
I think a “Ripped from the Headlines” forum would be a good idea. For one small example, it could be used for death announcements for the non-Cafe-Society types. (I’d argue, for instance, that Tammy Faye wasn’t entirely a CS type.) As to whether or not such a forum would be redundant to GD: There are some people, myself among them, who never set foot in GD, because my impression is that it’s all the frothing ideologues going after each other. I don’t want to argue about God or Dubya – but occasionally something comes up in the news that I’d like to get some Doper commentary on. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/29 "2007-07-30T13:01:34Z")
[QUOTE=jacquilynne] Assuming this forum came to exist, would it become home to recreational outrage posts from the BBQ Pit? Assuming they weren’t so outraged that they had to be in the pit for swearing purposes? [/QUOTE] What about the “Bush is the anti-christ” threads? Would they go in there, too? ---
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/30 "2007-07-30T14:00:16Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] I think a “Ripped from the Headlines” forum would be a good idea. For one small example, it could be used for death announcements for the non-Cafe-Society types. (I’d argue, for instance, that Tammy Faye wasn’t entirely a CS type.) As to whether or not such a forum would be redundant to GD: There are some people, myself among them, who never set foot in GD, because my impression is that it’s all the frothing ideologues going after each other. I don’t want to argue about God or Dubya – but occasionally something comes up in the news that I’d like to get some Doper commentary on. [/QUOTE] But isn’t that what IMHO is for? Discussing things you’d like feedback on? If the discussion involves obscenity, take it to the pit, if it involves asking for objective and/or factual information, take it to GQ. GD is for lengthy debates on big issues. MPSIMS is when you just want to share things about you or your life. CS is for discussion of arts and entertainment (and sports, kind of). Pretty easy, no? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/31 "2007-07-30T14:38:26Z")
IMHO tends to be more (for lack of a better word) personal questions – should I call this girl, what’s it like to do X job, which type of gadget Y should I get, etc. I guess you could do “what’s your take on Tammy Faye and her death” there, but it’s not the standard usage. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/32 "2007-07-30T15:00:40Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] There are some people, myself among them, who never set foot in GD, because my impression is that it’s all the frothing ideologues going after each other. I don’t want to argue about God or Dubya – but occasionally something comes up in the news that I’d like to get some Doper commentary on. [/QUOTE] But what about those Great Debate people who would want to comment on your news item, but are too snooty to go into the new forum? What are _they_ supposed to do if they want to talk to you? ---
**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:** [July 30, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/33 "2007-07-30T15:10:23Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] But what about those Great Debate people who would want to comment on your news item, but are too snooty to go into the new forum? What are _they_ supposed to do if they want to talk to you? [/QUOTE] “The Lowells speak only to Cabots, the Cabots only to God.” If they want to talk to us, then they can just go through the Cabots. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/34 "2007-07-30T15:10:45Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] But what about those Great Debate people who would want to comment on your news item, but are too snooty to go into the new forum? What are _they_ supposed to do if they want to talk to you? [/QUOTE] Take a number? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/35 "2007-07-31T16:25:41Z")
I think the SDMB has reached the peak of perfection, and any possible change could only be for the worse. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/36 "2007-07-31T16:43:56Z")
The feeling of the moderators at this point, with the acquisition of the READER, is that we should hold off on changes until we have a better idea of what’s what and what the future holds. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/37 "2007-07-31T17:32:16Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] I think the SDMB has reached the peak of perfection [/QUOTE] Peak sounds inadequate. Pinnacle? Acme? ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/38 "2007-08-01T08:25:21Z")
We could call it the BrainGlutton forum. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/39 "2007-08-01T14:53:23Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] I think a “Ripped from the Headlines” forum would be a good idea. [/QUOTE] Only if it’s called “Ripped from the Headlines (Bonk Bonggk).” ---
**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:** [August 1, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536/40 "2007-08-01T16:02:25Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] Peak sounds inadequate. Pinnacle? Acme? [/QUOTE] In its present less-than-perfect state it’s more like the acne. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-new-forum-current-affairs/413536.md?page=3)