# What is a "child forum"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-child-forum/228767>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [February 12, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-child-forum/228767 "2004-02-12T01:41:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-child-forum/228767/1 "2004-02-12T01:41:44Z")

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I notice in the search there is a “search child forums”. What are they?

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**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-child-forum/228767/2 "2004-02-12T02:00:11Z")

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A child forum is one that branches off from a main forum.

A possible child forum for GQ might be CQ (computer questions). One for Great Debates might be Political Debates.

The SDMB doesn’t have any child forums (as far as I know)

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-child-forum/228767/3 "2004-02-12T03:18:56Z")

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**Lobsang** describes it precisely. Other boards I participate on have such forums. For example, on the Pizza Parlor any discussion that the OP wishes to be kept to members over 18 goes in “the Beverage Bar” – and there’s a child forum under that for sexual topics, called, amusingly, “Sex Talk with the Church Lady.”

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**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-child-forum/228767/4 "2004-02-12T04:10:51Z")

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So, sort of like a subdirectory, then?

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**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-child-forum/228767/5 "2004-02-12T04:57:00Z")

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> [@Ringo](#):
>
> So, sort of like a subdirectory, then?

Spot on.

(some more characters for the 10ch limit. When will that be sorted btw?)

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**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-child-forum/228767/6 "2004-02-12T13:40:29Z")

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> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> **Lobsang** describes it precisely. Other boards I participate on have such forums. For example, on the Pizza Parlor any discussion that the OP wishes to be kept to members over 18 goes in “the Beverage Bar” – and there’s a child forum under that for sexual topics, called, amusingly, “Sex Talk with the Church Lady.”

I know that it’s being used in a technical sense, and not a real one, but somehow having a sex discussion in a child forum just seems… wrong, somehow.

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**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-child-forum/228767/7 "2004-02-12T14:20:19Z")

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> [@NE Texan](#):
>
> I know that it’s being used in a technical sense, and not a real one, but somehow having a sex discussion in a child forum just seems… wrong, somehow.

With the church lady no less.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-child-forum/228767/8 "2004-02-12T14:40:11Z")

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> [@Lobsang](#):
>
> (some more characters for the 10ch limit. When will that be sorted btw?)

Type in a few extra spaces. They count as characters.