Why is the SDMB membership declining, and what's the best way to add younger members?

[kevlaw]

@codinghorror

What limit should there be on the velocity of a discussion?

I encountered this for the first time in the Rails forum on Discourse a little while ago. I found it a little bit disturbing, actually. I don’t think it solves the problem I’m describing anyway.

I’ll paraphrase:

1. Optimistic newbie starts a thread with an interesting new angle on gun control.
2. Within three posts, Old Timer A says “You liberals just want to ban guns” (the same as he said in the last gun control discussion and the one before that).
3. Old Timer B says * “You conservatives just don’t care about black people” (the same as he said in the last gun control discussion and the one before that).
4. Before you know it the interesting new angle is just Old Timer A and Old Timer B repeating the same lines they have rehearsed a thousand times before.
5. Everybody else just shuts up and goes down the pub.

I don’t know what the solution is to this problem. Maybe if you participated in one gun control debate, you have to sit the next one out.

** This argument is for illustrative purposes only. It’s not an actual argument that people have had.*

@codinghorror

Maybe take it as a challenge – can you start an interesting, unique discussion that avoids repeating all the standard arguments about hot button issues?

I started a conversation last year about whether a culture of safety (like the aviation and healthcare industries use) could help prevent accidental shootings by the police.

A Culture of Safety in the police

The aviation industry has reduced the number of fatalities in plane crashes from ~2400 in 1972 to ~60 in 2019 by treating every “accident” as a possible systemic problem that could be fixed by changes to the system. Other industries, such as the healthcare industry, foster a Culture of Safety where accidental deaths are investigated and recommendations are issued after every accident. Could a culture of safety work for the police force to reduce the horrific number of shootings by the police…

Within 4 posts, someone claimed, ignoring the OP entirely, that if law enforcement officers can’t draw their guns, they can’t do their job (the same as he has argued a thousand times before). Of course, then everyone has to argue with that person and the well-rehearsed dance resumes. This particular thread managed to get back on topic but, usually, they don’t.

@codinghorror

One thing Hacker News does that I find amusing: the more you reply, the longer it takes for the reply box to appear. It almost doubles every time you reply, so keep replying 4 or 5 times in sequence and you’re up to a good 60 second wait before you can reply again.

I Iike this.