Dakota
Junior Scholar
Breathe Deep, Read Fast
Posts: 363
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Post by Dakota on Apr 13, 2006 18:11:10 GMT -5
Hey Quickstride Just ignore the loonys there.
*Joins Barry in the corner*
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aric
demi-admin
I drink your milkshake!
Posts: 989
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Post by aric on Apr 14, 2006 2:37:11 GMT -5
I know you're taking a vacation from the boards atm, but if you're still reading (or if any other admins are) I think that a general "Other" board with a description that indicates it's for discussions that don't fall into the other categories would be fine. As for topics I'd discuss, personally, a lot of what I'm interested in deals with exploring pop culture and the deeper meanings it may have. I'd also be interested in subjects other people bring up, though- that's part of the fun of a "grab bag" category. If you check back to the earlier pages of Miscellany, you'll see that some people, including myself, did try to make some serious threads. In fact, I specifically remember putting up a couple of threads where I list movies and some short reviews of them. I also mentioned in those threads that people should feel free to post their own reviews of movies they've seen and such and such. Frankly, I think the problem is less that Miscellany is full of silly threads than it is about the fact that there just aren't enough people on these boards who can join in any particularly incisive subject. If you were to make a thread about some social issue, how many of us do you think will actually be able to contribute an informed opinion? For instance, I would have nothing to say about women's pay discrepancy compared to men's because I simply don't know enough about the subject. *shrug* I've seen boards with hundreds of people only dig up a dozen or two posts (if even that) for any particular thread. The ToP only has ~40 members, most of whom don't post regularly. I'd say the board really only has about ten or so regular members. That may be enough to provide the intellectual stimulation you want, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. - Aric
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Post by Quickstride on Apr 14, 2006 7:25:30 GMT -5
Frankly, I think the problem is less that Miscellany is full of silly threads than it is about the fact that there just aren't enough people on these boards who can join in any particularly incisive subject. If you were to make a thread about some social issue, how many of us do you think will actually be able to contribute an informed opinion? For instance, I would have nothing to say about women's pay discrepancy compared to men's because I simply don't know enough about the subject. - Aric See, I think part of the problem is that because of Miscellany's placement near the top (rather than with the other discussions) and the fact that it's a "dumping ground" for anything that doesn't fit into other categories is what hinders it- people are less likely to look there for thoughtful discussions, and silly posts will push them down out of sight. As for content, as I stated earlier I think reviews belong in Miscellany, and honestly, I'd consider female pay descrepencies more of a sociopolitical issue that could fit into the the Politics category. When I say "popular culture" I mean things like the portrayal of women in film- things that, because most of us interact with pop culture in some way, many people may be able to understand and contribute to the discussion of. I'm not looking for a jumping discussion all the time, and given that the current categories aren't exactly lively- the last post to any of them as I post this was April 9th, and very few of them even reach a dozen posts- I see no reason to expect such. I just don't see a place for people to discuss other topics without having to compete with the faster moving non-discussion threads of Miscellany.
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