How to use this board

[big soft moose]

The Lounge is our off topic area for light hearted chat, banter, and exchange of ideas. While we want to be as light touch as possible recent events have shown that we need a few rules to keep it enjoyable for all ( these rules are additional to the site rules which also apply here)

1) No politics, no religion, no exceptions . Attempting to get round this rule by discussing them under the guise of other subjects will not end well,

2) other controversial subjects are also forbidden. This isn’t a definitive list but for example things like the trans debate, abortion rights, the war in Iran etc. in short if it’s likely to start an argument don’t post it here.

3) be excellent to each other: we don’t want to see cliques and dogpiling and all that, if you strike sparks with another member use the ignore function. Also be a grown up, don’t follow them around arguing like a rabid honey badger with everything they post.

4) the lounge is a perk for contributing members, it should not be the only reason you visit the site, we’re not going to be dogmatic about this but if you never post outside the lounge don’t be surprised when you one day lose access to it

5) and lastly don’t argue with staff decisions: this applies everywhere but it seems especially prevalent here so it bears repeating, if a member of staff tells you not to break the rules take it on the chin and move on, don’t argue about how you actually weren’t breaking them because xyz, Also don’t quote the rules back at us , we know what they say because we wrote them, Being a barrack room lawyer never ends well.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm. It's a pity the philosophy thread was closed for now; I know that I and other people found it an interesting way to share ideas and bounce ideas off each other. But that's neither here nor there.

Thank you, Moose and Homer, for your forbearance.

 

[big soft moose]

Hmm. It's a pity the philosophy thread was closed for now; I know that I and other people found it an interesting way to share ideas and bounce ideas off each other. But that's neither here nor there.

Refer to rule one. No religion, no politics, no exceptions.

If you want to discuss philosophy in general that’s fine but if you want to discuss the philosophy of politics, whether god exists etc and so forth, take it to a philosophy forum.

The debate room and the cliques it spawned nearly killed the OG and we aren’t having a replay here

 

[Rath Darkblade]

That's fair. As I said, thank you both for your forbearance. It's your forum, your rules, and that's clearly understood.

At the same time, some authors will probably write stories that mention either politics or religion (or both) - not as a debate topic, naturally, but as a background. (For instance, it's difficult to discuss, say, the ancient Greeks without mentioning Zeus and the gang, or the ancient Norse without Thor and Loki and all that crowd, etc.)

I write historical fiction, and from time to time need to ask questions. So ... is it permissible to questions about the religion or politics of people who lived hundreds (even thousands) of years ago? (For instance, what women were allowed and not allowed to do in Anglo-Saxon England, and why). That's not likely to lead to arguments. Or are those questions out of bounds, too? *shrug*

And If they are out of bounds ... well, there was a history subforum on the old writingforums.org I think. So ... perhaps it could be recreated, so I and others could discuss these kinds of specialized questions there, when we need to? It might also be easier to moderate these questions.

Just an idea. As I said: your forum, your rules. Thanks for reading!

 

[Homer Potvin]

Factual questions and discussions are fine if they pertain to writing. Asking about a political this or a political that as it pertains to writing is also fine. However, these discussions always devolve into a shit show. Give an inch, and somebody will take a mile. Religion, just stay away... they put that shit on the first page of the Constitution (see... how many political thoughts and Internet responses jumped into everyone's head when they read that sentence?). And by religion we're not talking about Greek and Roman gods or mythology or anything like that. That has about much to do with modern religion as a Las Vegas chapel.

(For instance, what women were allowed and not allowed to do in Anglo-Saxon England, and why). That's not likely to lead to arguments

That's a perfect example.... and it will absolutely lead to arguments. Most of them of the strawman variety. I could find a few of them on here already that begin just as innocently. It's the Internet, a perpetual dumpster fire that never runs out of fuel. You could still ask the question, but the thread probably wouldn't live very long. I would probably tell you to be more specific... or to read a book about women in Anglo-Saxon England.

And If they are out of bounds ... well, there was a history subforum on the old writingforums.org I think. So ... perhaps it could be recreated, so I and others could discuss these kinds of specialized questions there, when we need to? It might also be easier to moderate these questions.

No. That's what the research thread is for. If we had a history thread it would be filled with nothing by history that has nothing to do with writing at all. And with me having degrees in history and a classic historian background, I would be spending all day correcting the Internet historians.

As I said: your forum, your rules.

You're looking at it the wrong way. The forum belongs to the community in every sense of the word. Without the membership, it's an empty dining room. The rules are ours but they're there for a reason. Do you know the kind of people political and religious discussions attract on the Internet? Or websites that allow erotica and torture porn? Anybody want them hanging around here? We had grooming incidents with minors on the OG... guess which areas of the forum those offenders liked to frequent? Anybody want to wake up to a dick pic in their inbox? Or a manifesto from some Idaho survival group? And if God forbid something like that happened, guess who would be responsible for it, both ethically and potentially legally? I pay for the legal protection of an LLC, but that won't be worth oogatz if something serious were to happen. My fallback point would be that I could never be accused of negligence because of the rules and written evidence of them being enforced.