Off-topic sections

[Mr. Ignorant]

I was surprised to see that this forum almost has a total lack of off-topic sections. One may wonder: what would we gain from off-topic sections? In my experience it contributes to the sense of community. There are things that people want to talk about, but can't talk about because there's no place for them to post about it.

I think every forum needs a (decent) community to function properly as it draws people. Forums are dependent on people. Most people have some off-topic stuff on their minds which they need to get rid of verbally. Why not create this opportunity for them? It will make the forum more appealing to them. This may (and in my experience will) lead to more posts in the main sections.

Just some thoughts from a newbie.

[austintorn@aol.com]

The Public Square is such a place.

[Mr. Ignorant]

Haha, I feel stupid. I didn't see it.

Perhaps make it a 'real' forum instead of a sub-forum?

[austintorn@aol.com]

Yeah, everyone forgets about it, I guess, even me, as I had stories in 'Norm' and in another place at around that time.

[labelwench]

Threads in the Public Square do not show in the recent forum post windows on the Home and Forum pages but they do show in the links under today's and new posts. The other way to find out if there has been any activity on those threads is to go to the sub-forum on the forums page. If you are posting on one of the threads and have enabled e-mail notification, then you will receive e-mail updates of new posts to threads you are subscribed to.

Likely you have more experience of forums than I did when I tripped over this place, lol. Information offered in aid of navigation.

[Mr. Ignorant]

There should be a forum or section dedicated to the personal problems of its members. I want to start a thread for a specific problem of mine, because I figured it could also benefit others. However I couldn't find a good place to do this. Also I believe that many of the members of TOE Quest aren't normal people so life could be harder for them because they can't rely on the majority of the people. So they might have some more personal problems than others. So I believe a forum or section dedicated to personal problems could be a real addition to the forum.