Which sub-forums interest you the most? the least? requests?

[Charles Anthony]

This should probably be posted in the What do you all want? thread but I want us to be able to pay closer attention to your responses and it may just be easier to keep them focussed in a separate thread. There have been previous discussions like this. Feel free to refer to them if you want.

1) Which sub-forums interest you the most?

2) Which sub-forums interest you the least?

3) Make a request. Which sub-forums would you like to see added to the forums?

4) Would you recommend a different division of sub-forums among the entire forum?

I typed the list of headings below for those of you who may find it easier to copy and paste as you edit your list.

[b]Canadian Politics[/b]

Federal Politics

Provincial Politics

Local Politics


--


[b]International Politics[/b]

United States Politics

Canada / United States Relations

The Rest of the World


-- 


[b]Moral, Religious and Political Philosophy[/b]

Moral & Ethical Issues

Religion & Politics

Political Philosophy


-- 


[b]Off-Topic Discussions[/b]

Arts and Culture

Health, Science and Technology

Business and Economy

Travel, Leisure and Sports

Media and Broadcasting


--

[b]News and Help[/b]

Support and Questions

News and Announcements

Me first.

I want to accomodate folks who have a tendency to use the forum as a ticker-tape breaking news announcement site. I am thinking of Opening Posts or replies that are just links to outside sources and break the forum rules because the poster did not write any of his own commentary to accompany it. This old thread comes to mind. It had a lot of good discussion but it was filled with link-only posts which led to an eventual disorganized discussion towards the end. As a moderator, it is disappointing to have to delete a new thread that just has a link when my gut tells me that it could certainly stir a focussed discussion. However, I have to nix it and tell the Opening Poster to re-write it or add some commentary. I have to intervene to prevent it from becoming a habit.

I would like to see an extra sub-forum perhaps titled Breaking News, Unaccompanied Links and Outside Sources or some such. Members would be discouraged from discussing the links in any depth. However, members would be encouraged to post rejoinders links as replies. For example:

OPENING POST by Charming Anarchist: "Here is a link about the recent false flag event..... I started a thread about it there."

REPLY from L'Ol: "Yeah, well, here is a link to the official story for all those who want to know the truth...."

This discussion was inspired by:

How about a topic for political cartoons? A little politically oriented amusement couldn't hurt.

[WestCoastRunner]

Charles, I have a question regarding the search engines. How do they crawl these sub-forums and pick up key words? Do they pick up sub forum headings. For example, if we included a sub-forum under federal politics such as women in federal politics, would the search engines pick up on this heading in order to attract more women interested in 'women in politics'?

[WestCoastRunner]

What I mean is, 'if a woman types in 'federal politics in canada', would the search engines include this 'new sub forum' in their search results'?

[WWWTT]

Weather, climate and earthquakes (or something along those lines)

I'm surprised that a topic of so much interest does not have it's own category here?!?!?

I started a thread about the devastating ice storm that the residents of southern Ontario and Eastern Canada endured, and unfortunately there was no proper category to list it.

For me, the weather is of great interest, I always check the weather and it has a direct impact on all our daily lives.

Perhaps you can also start one about astronomy? Solar flares, lunar/solar eclipses, meteors/comets, etc.

Also a wildlife sub-forum.

Or maybe a general "Nature" forum with these sub-forums.

I find this of interest and I hope others here to. Or this category attracts new posters.

My interest in the other topics here change from time to time, so I will not say anything negative about them.

WWWTT

[WestCoastRunner]

I should have got my thoughts together before I responded.

What I am getting at is, I would like to see ways that could attract more women to this forum. It feels lonely to sometimes be one of the few women here. This forum needs more diversity and if we can add sub forums to attract this diversity, let's think of ways to do so.

[Charles Anthony]

What is wrong with attracting some of us men?

What I mean is, 'if a woman types in 'federal politics in canada', would the search engines include this 'new sub forum' in their search results'?

In short, yes. That is how the search engines work. Thus, your idea would likely attract more women. Great idea!!!

Here is some moderator bias: This is the best idea! Try to beat this one, guys!

[WestCoastRunner]

What is wrong with attracting some of us men?

In short, yes. That is how the search engines work. Thus, your idea would likely attract more women. Great idea!!!

Here is some moderator bias: This is the best idea! Try to beat this one, guys!

Well, we definitely need more men too!

Then, I would suggest:

Federal women in politics (or just 'women in politics')

Women in Science and Technology (lots of great success stories to cover here)

Start-Ups in Technology

[Moonlight Graham]

I'd like to see a couple of the off-topic sub-forums scrapped, like "arts and culture" and "travel, leisure, and sports" and then amalgamated into a general "Off-Topic" sub-forum. Tends to spur more off-topic threads that way. The other "off-topic" forums can be kept since they are politically related.

[Michael Hardner]

I should have got my thoughts together before I responded.

What I am getting at is, I would like to see ways that could attract more women to this forum. It feels lonely to sometimes be one of the few women here. This forum needs more diversity and if we can add sub forums to attract this diversity, let's think of ways to do so.

I don't know... "Gender Issues" "LGBT Forum" ... social issues, though, tend to get the males yelling...

[Michael Hardner]

"The Digital Revolution" or something like that... separate from "tech"

[WestCoastRunner]

I don't know... "Gender Issues" "LGBT Forum" ... social issues, though, tend to get the males yelling...

So this place is more suited for men, is what you are saying and will continue to be. Is that what you are saying?

[Argus]

Municipal politics. Unless it's about your city why would anyone care? The only things which seem to get posted there are about Toronto, simply because a lot of members come from there, or they're agitated about Rob Ford. Also, almost anything posted in Political Philosophy can be posted elsewhere.

To attract more interest I'd like to see a political cartoon folder (links only), or how about a Photos topic where people could post links to interesting pictures and discuss them? I.e,http://www.fakeposters.com/posters/feminism-not-everyone-can-be-beautiful/

[WWWTT]

Municipal politics. Unless it's about your city why would anyone care? The only things which seem to get posted there are about Toronto, simply because a lot of members come from there, or they're agitated about Rob Ford. Also, almost anything posted in Political Philosophy can be posted elsewhere.

Yes it ticks me off incredibly that the rest of the GTA outside Toronto gets no attention at all!

But I prefer the option be there for future debates.

Not just that, the Ford fiasco thread I started, since being merged with the other Ford threads is on/off one of the more popular single threads here. It should remain categorized as is.

WWWTT

[socialist]

I would like to see a sub form on public education. A vital component to a healthy democracy should have it's own category.

[Michael Hardner]

So this place is more suited for men, is what you are saying and will continue to be. Is that what you are saying?

"More suited" ? No. That's not true - in any sense of 'suited' that I can imagine: it's not designed for men, there is nothing inherent about politics, about a web forum, about a political web forum that appeals to men that I can see, there isn't and shouldn't be any conscious effort here to dissuade women from coming, and any other sense you can think of.

What I do mean is: several have pointed out that there aren't many women here. I think some forums that appeal to different subjects might change that - but historically the men get hysterical when issues of gender equality are brought up, to my experience. That's not right or wrong, it's just my perspective on what happens. That reaction wouldn't necessarily help things but maybe there are ways we can anticipate the reaction to mitigate the effect.

[bleeding heart]

Good points; I remain a little baffled about the palpable outrage so many men, including ostensible liberals, seem to exhibit whenever a transgender subject is introduced.

Rape, too, is never a subject of much interest unless the (admittedly horrible enough) spectre of false rape allegations are the subject...or unless maybe it's Islamists doing the deed, in which case "we're all feminists now!"

At any rate, I think WestCoastRunner misinterpreted your remark.

Edited May 1, 2014 by bleeding heart

[GostHacked]

What I mean is, 'if a woman types in 'federal politics in canada', would the search engines include this 'new sub forum' in their search results'?

Anything posted on this site would be archived by Google and Bing somehow. So yes. I have done searches on some topics and MLW comes up in the list as a hit. And it was a sub forum item.

If it's on this site, it is searchable.

[Argus]

I would like to see a sub form on public education. A vital component to a healthy democracy should have it's own category.

I would like to not see a forum on public education, which is unlikely to produce anything but trolling and flames.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Argus

[Argus]

I think some forums that appeal to different subjects might change that - but historically the men get hysterical when issues of gender equality are brought up, to my experience.

Examples would be nice, cites even better.

Suffice to say your experience seems to differ WIDELY from mine.

[Argus]

Good points; I remain a little baffled about the palpable outrage so many men, including ostensible liberals, seem to exhibit whenever a transgender subject is introduced.

Examples?

Rape, too, is never a subject of much interest unless the (admittedly horrible enough) spectre of false rape allegations are the subject...or unless maybe it's Islamists doing the deed, in which case "we're all feminists now!"

Rape is never a subject of much interest? In my experience, a topic which draws a lot of replies would be one where people had different viewpoints. I don't know anyone who has a different viewpoint on rape than the standard, ie, it's terrible and those who do it need to be severely punished. So why would the subject draw much interest?

False rape at least allows feminists to argue with anti-feminists (if there is such a thing) and the prospect of 'foreigners' raping women from your own culture will always draw an instinctive knee-jerk reaction.

[Michael Hardner]

Examples would be nice, cites even better.

Suffice to say your experience seems to differ WIDELY from mine.

It's simply a recollection. I don't have a desire to look at every thread where women's issues were brought up - so it's ok with me if you disagree.

[Argus]

It's simply a recollection. I don't have a desire to look at every thread where women's issues were brought up - so it's ok with me if you disagree.

Aren't you the guy who'se always saying we need to back up what we say?

[Michael Hardner]

Aren't you the guy who'se always saying we need to back up what we say?

There are limits on what can be backed up... I have qualified my statements on this by saying "as I recall" and "in my experience" with both means:

1 ) It's an impression, an opinion and not a fact

2 ) It could very easily just be wrong

That's why I can't really push back when you say "it ain't so"...

Of course, these things could be verified but I'm not willing to do the work to do that, so I'm standing back from saying it's a "fact". If you verify that I'm full of it, then I would appreciate the lesson.

[socialist]

I would like to not see a forum on public education, which is unlikely to produce anything but trolling and flames.

Without proper funding for public education, democracy will cease to exist. That is why it is an important topic deserving of a solo thread. Public education affects us all and is needed for the betterment of society and a promoter of social justice, tolerance, diversity, and multi-culturalism. Seems to me that you don't know much about public education, Argus. That is a shame but it's not too late for you to educate yourself.

[The_Squid]

I suggest keeping the Canadian politics forums the same but merging the US Politics, Canadian/US Relations and the Rest of the World into a single forum.