I post on a female-dominated board that has many sub-fora, and in the ones that are not specifically devoted to religion, politics, abortion, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, child discipline (which may include spanking), and a few other controversial topics, those issues are banned beyond their mention.
But what is the topic that creates the most vicious debate?
The minimum age for a child to have a cell phone.
Anyone have similar experiences?
On NFL/sports message boards: Tony Romo. He is fiercely defended by a few (including me) and fiercely ridiculed/attacked by many.
On military message boards: The F-35 fighter jet.
Is the topic of fire incendiary?
On a bicycle forum, the topics of chain maintenance and helmet use can go on for months. Nevermind Lance.
Other boards?
What?
On the Board Game Geek forums, it’s “Ameritrash: good or bad?” (Ameritrash is a broad category of game. People argue about whether the category exists, whether games in that category are good or bad, and whether the term itself is good or bad.)
One reason why I stopped reading a few food-related forums was because arguments would go on for pages about whether one should use X or Y as a particular ingredient in a particular dish.
I love discussing culinary stuff, but really.
Whether the Earth is flat. That’s always a good one.
There are other boards? Where?
Lumber yards. Lots of them.
Food topics can be unusually volatile. My ex-wife is a member of the Slow Food movement which sounds fairly sane and benign on the surface but it is anything but that when you meet the leaders. It is a strongly militant organization that outdoes even the craziest of the breastfeeders. I only spoke to the leadership of the Slow Food movement a couple of times in person before I refused to ever do it again for fear of all of our safety (I was going to hurt them as badly as possible if we ever crossed paths again). If you think I am some sort of an arrogant ass, try cranking that up x1000 and then you have a remote approximation of how bad they are.
Who thinks it isn’t? I can walk across my yard and tell you that. There are some small hills but those can be fixed.
Go on any car/motorcycle forum and ask about oil.
Pffftt!
Ask about oil filters.
Eeesh, those slow food people are nuts. No wonder you got divorced.
I bet you don’t even send your old oil in for analysis…
de-clawing cats
toilet paper orientation
Game of Thrones spoilers
Interesting pairing, there.
Whether or not bands like AC/DC, Van Halen, etc. are heavy metal.
Throw the topic of ebooks out to a group of archivists and the results will be similar to the Battle of Leningrad.