Reviving Offtopic / General Chat?

[anonymous1337]

What are the current objections to doing so?

[badidea]

What are the current objections to doing so?

I cannot think of very good reasons. Now 'off-topic' discussions happen in 'on-topic' topics.
I the past it seemed that admins did not want to moderate these 'off-topic' discussions. This sill may be the case.
* Off-topic Forum Removed
Most members were not very happy it seems:
* What the heck happend to OffTopic?
If I read those old posts, I understand that it was mostly distracting nonsense.

[coderJeff]

It was horrendous trying to moderate the off-topic discussions. Some members arguing that if it's off-topic, then shouldn't be moderated at all. It was ugly. And there was still off-topic discussions in the 'on-topic' topics.

Main purpose of these forums is for FreeBASIC discussions and I think that's reasonable.

Yes, we see the off-topic chatter and petty disputes in the 'on-topic' topics. It's tolerated to a degree, hoping that members can work it out for themselves. For serious problems, I sometimes get a topic report or a personal message and will take a more direct role in the issue.

[anonymous1337]

It was horrendous trying to moderate the off-topic discussions. Some members arguing that if it's off-topic, then shouldn't be moderated at all. It was ugly. And there was still off-topic discussions in the 'on-topic' topics.

Understood... Well, I miss it is all. I met a lot of people through the coding community. It was 90% water cooler talk, 10% code. But I was motivated to code because we were all building and $%#@ together.

Now I post something and it's like "hey cool code" and that's it. I don't get to dig deep into the broader motivations for why we do what we do.

I'm more nostalgic than anything.

I remember being 9 - 13 years old, not even knowing how to use a forum properly, seeing relsoft, dr_d, lachie, etc. posting cool stuff. Reading the QB news magazine ran by Pete. Running examples. Playing people's games. Eventually meeting my heroes.

[coderJeff]

Maybe the feeling of nostalgia will fade if you get involved?...hint, hint. I have to try. :)

Seriously, what would pique your interest?

This little thread here kind of made me realize, just now, computers don't come with BASIC anymore. At least I don't think so. Like, every commodore, atari, tandy, pc, anything with a keyboard, came with BASIC, until what, early 2K?. I had a chance to talk to some youth, through volunteerism, and for some of them, their idea of programming was redstone and command blocks. And there's probably a so many more that never programmed, only hanging out on steam playing fortnight, I guess.

Yeah, it's not the wild wild west here or anything. But there are some very clever & smart new personalities since old days.

Lots of distractions, but my goal is to put out the next release, of course, don't know when.

Really, what would pique your interest?

[anonymous1337]

Maybe the feeling of nostalgia will fade if you get involved?...hint, hint. I have to try. :)

Even now, I probably wouldn't make the best mod, admin, or developer. Too sporadic. Professional career is going well, but I'm somehow still the useless "idea guy" when it comes to other things... :(

This little thread here kind of made me realize, just now, computers don't come with BASIC anymore. At least I don't think so. Like, every commodore, atari, tandy, pc, anything with a keyboard, came with BASIC, until what, early 2K?. I had a chance to talk to some youth, through volunteerism, and for some of them, their idea of programming was redstone and command blocks. And there's probably a so many more that never programmed, only hanging out on steam playing fortnight, I guess.

Yeah, there's no good equivalent. If all new computers came with that Turtle programming software, maybe we'd see the same thing but there instead of here. There may be no good "revival".

Really, what would pique your interest?

Well I thought it would be what I'm suggesting here :)

In my opinion, when forums lack a general chat area, you end up restricting conversation and thus thought. For example, there have been plenty of times I've wanted to post something but didn't know how to frame it in a context acceptable for Community News, Projects, Tips & Tricks, etc.

I understand that Offtopic / General Chat is a complete mess, but it's also where you get "beer and code" kind of things - a social space where people can bond over their shared interest in FreeBASIC, even if 90% of the time that's not what they're doing. Along with IRC, it's how I socialized with relsoft, dr_d, lachie, cha0s, and many others.

A lot of the time, it's also the only place truly disruptive or tangential ideas can actually go. I can make a post in Community Discussion to suggest such a space, but that doesn't mean it will exist. Not having a general chat implies all the subforums and categories cover everyone's needs, or that all ideas can somehow be expressed in the space provided. I just think that's a very difficult thing to do.

Case Study: The paradoxical drop in game dev activity after we opened the game dev subforum in an attempt to support it. I think part of the reason is that games are seen by many as art, and all of a sudden any thread concerning games had to be in that subforum, which perhaps didn't truly support the types of discussions that are had when talking about games, game philosophy, etc.

IMO, just things to ponder about.

[grindstone]

...but it's also where you get "beer and code" kind of things

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in my perception "Squares" is where this takes place.

[anonymous1337]

...but it's also where you get "beer and code" kind of things

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in my perception "Squares" is where this takes place.

Personally not a thread I would contribute to very frequently, but yeah that happened. Now imagine a whole subforum of cool stuff like that, and also a lot of trash, but also cool stuff like that!

[marcov]

In my opinion, when forums lack a general chat area, you end up restricting conversation and thus thought.

IMHO you save those thoughts for forums where they are actually thought about, rather than stuffing it into this forum's drain :-)

A lot of the time, it's also the only place truly disruptive or tangential ideas can actually go. I can make a post in Community Discussion to suggest such a space, but that doesn't mean it will exist. Not having a general chat implies all the subforums and categories cover everyone's needs, or that all ideas can somehow be expressed in the space provided. I just think that's a very difficult thing to do.

There are general ontopic subforums. So only offtopic, non programming, non FB stuff remain. Enabling that just leads to clique forming, a bunch of nonsense, and an immense polution of the what's new topic.

If it is enabled, then please have some option to exclude some forums from the new posts scan.

Case Study: The paradoxical drop in game dev activity after we opened the game dev subforum in an attempt to support it. I think part of the reason is that games are seen by many as art, and all of a sudden any thread concerning games had to be in that subforum, which perhaps didn't truly support the types of discussions that are had when talking about games, game philosophy, etc.

IMHO no causal connection. Just sign of the times and less activity from the first generation that was primarily into games.

[anonymous1337]

I have an idea. Bring back the Offtopic forum, but just link to Discord.
https://discord.gg/JbUdNSg