An open discussion on what constitutes "goof-off material" from "general material".

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Get your gunz on, b/c the Doctor is about the throw out some criteria (i.e. a bundle of prime candidates for everyone to shoot all kinds of holes in!)

What we have now:
General | Goof Off

Possibility?
General Discussion | Jokes, Games and Randomness

Such a division both emphasizes the (not humorless) discussion-oriented nature of general posts while leaving a clearly defined space for word games, image threads, joke threads, and threads not otherwise bound by traditional rules of discussion.

[Tsukuyomi]

So, are you suggesting that everything be under General? Or, did you mean Jokes, Games, and Randomness all be together?

General (8 Viewing)
Talk about anything in here.

Goof Off (12 Viewing)
Spawned by the randomness of the general board, here are the threads where you can do fun, pointless things. Posts made here do not go towards your post count.

I agree, a redefinition would be nice. We see what is in the descriptions, but there's more to it.. There's lots of in betweens.

[ich1990]

And debates have no place on CAA at all.

Would it be possible to get clarification on this point? I was under the impression that only theological and cosmological debate was prohibited on CAA threads, and that both of these could be discussed via CAA PM's.

If this isn't the case, then what is the difference between debate and discussion (such as that which we are currently participating in)?

[goldenspines]

But will they? How could they after the context of the thread is already lost?



Let's make one thing clear: we're not letting threads go out of control either. Like I say, if people dislike this, they need to police themselves better. People are complaining that Goof Off is becoming a second-class forum, but that's no excuse for messing around. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not letting the rest of the forums become a content-free zone because no one wants their thread in Goof Off but isn't willing to behave.

That said, I agree with you that there is no hard and guiding line, and that's why I proposed (and Mith concurred) with warning before making sudden moves and to have two eyes on it before hand. I won't dispute that moving a thread to Goof Off is less likely to let it get back on track, but I do dispute that moving it to Goof Off is the only reason it wouldn't. If people disagree, prove me wrong and do it right.

For the record, as far as I'm concerned, any explicit or overt joke thread can always go in Goof Off. This is only about threads that get moved there.

I agree with this completely.
I can't really imagine a joke thread going anywhere but Goof off, unless one was discussing the history of jokes or something.

I like the warning and two eyes solution, at the very least, but I'm still also concerned about the Goof Off as a whole. As a lot of people have mentioned, it needs a redefinition and clarification of purpose, because it's not just acting as the catch all for silly and random threads, but also the catch all for threads that people are unsure about, like the one CK mentioned. New members tend to post there because they're unsure of the definitions of the subforums, relegating activity and posts that belong in anime, RP or general to what is essentially the wrong location.

I agree with this, but I also think that members could ask if they are confused. I never really thought that any part of the forum had a description that was confusing (aside from Goof Off and maybe the RPG section). Therefore, yes, Goof Off does need a clearer definition besides "this is where stuff goes when you don't know where it goes", cause it's not meant for that, I don't think.

Get your gunz on, b/c the Doctor is about the throw out some criteria (i.e. a bundle of prime candidates for everyone to shoot all kinds of holes in!)

What we have now:
General - Goof Off

Possibility?
General Discussion - Jokes, Games and Randomness

Such a division both emphasizes the (not humorless) discussion-oriented nature of general posts while leaving a clearly defined space for word games, image threads, joke threads, and threads not otherwise bound by traditional rules of discussion.

General already seems to be more focused than Goof Off, I'm not sure the name change would help. :\

"Randomness" is a word that covers a lot of space and it's not really narrowed down. I mean, there's the obvious posts that say, "lol im being randum!" but then some picture threads (with lolcats or whatnot) could also be seen as randomness or simply spam. (the recent thread with the user created pics would be an exception because people didn't pull them off some random site and stick them here, hence it was not random nor spamming). Though, that leads to another question, is spamming okay? Or, what would be considered spam?

[LadyRushia]

Would it be possible to get clarification on this point? I was under the impression that only theological and cosmological debate was prohibited on CAA threads, and that both of these could be discussed via CAA PM's.

That's pretty much what I meant, XD. Discussions are fine and dandy, but if people start lashing out at each other and the like then we have a problem. And yes, anything can be discussed via PM. Sorry for not making myself clearer.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Forgive me if this point has already been raised (I didn't feel like slogging it through the entire thread), but Rushia mentioned the "nihilexistentialism" thrread I made in Goof Off early last month. I was thinking of it, too.

It was, as she said, created as a joke. But then of course, people came in all "Blah blah blah, srs bsns" and it went irreversibly in precisely the direction I didn't want it to. Now, in retrospect, that was probably the funniest joke in the whole thread.

But my question is, if a thread in General that gets too silly is moved to Goof Off, why is a thread in Goof Off that gets too serious locked instead of being moved to General? There didn't seem to be a debate going on.

[Fish and Chips]

But my question is, if a thread in General that gets too silly is moved to Goof Off, why is a thread in Goof Off that gets too serious locked instead of being moved to General? There didn't seem to be a debate going on.

Probably for the same reason all I Return threads are immediately locked and redirected to the Official Leaving/Coming Back thread except Yuki-Anne's.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

General already seems to be more focused than Goof Off, I'm not sure the name change would help. :\

But isn't the whole discussion focused on obtaining clear demarcation between General and Goof Off? Narrowing the scope of general, or at least emphasizing its intended purpose, can only aid such a task. Also, the description "Talk about anything in here" seems, well, decidedly unfocused. So, I have to disagree.

"Randomness" is a word that covers a lot of space and it's not really narrowed down. I mean, there's the obvious posts that say, "lol im being randum!" but then some picture threads (with lolcats or whatnot) could also be seen as randomness or simply spam. (the recent thread with the user created pics would be an exception because people didn't pull them off some random site and stick them here, hence it was not random nor spamming).

Certainly this is a fair point; however, a solution's being imperfect is no reason to keep a broken status quo. I think I can help narrow the scope of "randomness," or at least I can try. Perhaps the burden should be placed on the intention of the post: Does the post set out clear and definite parameters of discussion and appear to be working toward a certain end, say garnering opinions on cats? If a post seems to invite a haphazard line of responses, or a post that formerly had a clear idea of its boundaries and its goals demonstrates that it no longer does, then it is therefore a random post. Are these subjective criteria? Yes. But, I think that is what we are stuck with, and, in the end, the decision is always going to be a judgment call from a mod.

[goldenspines]

But isn't the whole discussion focused on obtaining clear demarcation between General and Goof Off? Narrowing the scope of general, or at least emphasizing its intended purpose, can only aid such a task. Also, the description "Talk about anything in here" seems, well, decidedly unfocused. So, I have to disagree.

Oh, sorry. D: I knew i wasn't being clear enough. I agree that the description should be changed because, yes, it is very vague. But, I didn't see the need for the name of that part of the forum to be changed.
[quote] Certainly this is a fair point]
Ah, I see what you mean, there. But, it brings up the question on how strict we should be in the criteria. We will have to think a bit on that one, but we can probably come to something concrete. ^_^

[Yamamaya]

Goof off should be limited to games or purely, "post funny pics." This does not mean that a general thread can't have funny pics but it shouldn't be the main focus of the thread.

Goof off should be the things that truly are pointless or nothing more than a game that doesn't fit into the RP area.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

I bump this thread. It shall not end with a whimper.

I hope this discussion proves fruitful and that some concrete changes or at least restatements of purpose are being discussed. Any updates from the mods on this score?

[Furen]

So to sum it all up

if it's serious and not a game or related to any other subtopic it's for General?

if its' to be silly it's in goof off?

[ShiroiHikari]

A decision on this matter would be nice.

[Mithrandir]

I think part of the problem we're dragging our heals on this - and other stuff - stems from that fact that I'm incredibly busy this week. (I only have one week when I'm allowed to bring our main server cluster down for maintenance where I work, and that's this week. I have all of *last* year's bug fixes and *next* year's performance upgrades that are being crammed into this one week.)

Next week will be a LOT less stressful for me. Well, at least less busy. XD

Thanks!