Do we really need a General forum?
 

OK, this is just an opinion.

But of late, I have seen a lot of wasteful arguments and useless discussions going on in this forum and I just cannot for the life of me imagine what these people would gain by this exercise.

I just thought that I would put up a poll here and see how many of us really want a general forum.

I think that this forum should be renamed:

"General Questions"

and all the silly discussions on politics and philosophical Windows vs. Linux questions should be stopped from now on.

Again. Just an opinion. Discuss...

It's necessary to have a general forum, otherwise, peoples start to put off-topic stuff on the other forums.

Also, you are kind of... well, how can I put this, you have posted 266 times in the general forum, so General is actually your favorite forum...

If you got bored, simply don't post on the General :). There're plenty of users here who stick only in the General.

Some (won't give names) has like 7-10 posts on the "real" forums and like 300 times _only_ on the General (which does not count as a post, but it does, appears on the user's profile).

Generals is just a need, on every forum out there...

Yes. :D :D

General was my favourite forum and that's what really got me worried!!

Maybe 'Non-controversial General' forum?

I have seen a lot of other forums where the General-type forums are a very nice place, more because probably they have fewer members than LQ.

I just thought that all these repeated Linux vs. Windows threads and political threads (who'll be the next president? and so on) were taking up too much importance on the agenda out here.

I'm totally with you on this one though, since it's General, I've no need (or care to) to know about American politics :). And Windows Vs Linux, Mortal Kombat Vs Street Fighter, Sonic Vs Mario, Xbox Vs PS2 are kinda of boring... endless lines of personal opinions :).

I do though, think that the name should be changed to Off-Topic, ratter then General. That would reduce the number of users posting on "Linux - General" threads that should fit into "General" and vice-versa instead :)

Good point. Actually we don't have that many Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter threads out here... :)

And off-topic is a much better sounding title than general.

I think a general forum is a great forum in which to 'just hang out' - you don't have to visit it if you don't want to but it's free from any distro-specific bias and can be a good way of getting to know other Linux users from around the world without actually having to post specifically about Linux :)

edit: another vote for 'off-topic' as a better alternative to 'general'

I think that we are agreed that a General-type forum may be a need here. But I still stick to my original point about controversial topics.

And an enormous amount of time and energy is wasted by members on controversial and totally non-productive topics/issues.

And controversial topics get the maximum number of replies....

Like this one ;)
:D

I think there should be a general forum, but posts older than 1 month (say) get automatically deleted

One could argue that posting ANYTHING not directly related to solving a Linux problem is non-productive and a waste of time and energy (including this thread). However, each person has individual opinions and beliefs, which most like to share with others. There are many people who make a comfortable living doing nothing but discussing and arguing politics. The only time I think it's non-productive is when the discussion becomes repetative and/or abusive.

Yes. Theoritically speaking you are right.

But look at what happens. Most threads become nasty and unproductive even without becoming flame wars.

There's a qualititative difference between "ANY non-linux question" and a "DELIBERATELY provocative topic".

So where would you draw the line? That's what I would like to know.

But if there was no general forum Harishankar and I would have no where to debate :-p

:D :D
Right!

I think that we are now discussing whether to call this forum 'Off-topic' or 'General'. ;)

OFF-TOPIC I SAY! Hyphens are cooler!

Off topic from what? Linux non-technical threads go here as well as Windows questions, etc.

I say stop worrying about it and leave it as it is as its not going to go away. Cause I certainly don't want to wake up to a dozen reported posts a day in Linux - General that have nothing to do with Linux.

Regards.

1. 'Linux - General'
and
2. 'General'

forums seems to be more confusing than

1. 'Linux - Other' (which can include both Linux technical and non-technical questions).
and
2. 'Off-topic'

Again, just an opinion. My real question is not about technical or non-technical, but the deliberately controversy seeking posts being made in 'General'.

Can I just point out that this sort of thing belongs in Website Questions and Suggestions?

Harishankar - you say that "of late" there have been some questionable posts. I'd suggest you read back over the early posts on this forum - Mods were having to step in on a regular basis.

The General forum is part of what makes this board a community - it's a place to put up silly questions, start a debate on a non-technical subject or just to post a thought. It should be noted that this is still a moderated forum and we will step in and/or close threads if necessary. Especially religious threads because they turn nasty very quickly.

I like General, it's a good place where one can discuss, for example, books ;). And you could name it "The Please Don't Post Linux Technical Questions Forum" and people would still mispost. It's human nature.

XavierP,

I just saw that you moved one thread from 'Linux General' to 'General' and even admonished the person because he had 300-odd posts.

What I ask is that this forum be renamed to 'Off-topic'

and the 'Linux - General' be renamed to 'Linux - Other' which can include both Linux technical and Linux non-technical questions.

But the only person who can rename a forum is jeremy - and he tends to hang out mostly in WQ&S. And this thread is a Suggestion about the Website.

Anyhoo, pedanticism aside, this suggestion has been made before and Jeremy has said that He is happy with Linux-General and General. Frankly, I am surprised at how many people get it wrong - each forum has a clear description and one of the skills that is essential for using Linux is to read and understand instructions. True, no?

where else would we get advice on picking up hot chicks? My dating has increased since visiting the general forum. LOL!!!

So far by the poll, most think we need a General forum. If you want to ask for it to be renamed, by all means post this as a suggestion in Website Questions and Suggestions but lets keep this "on-topic" with your original question. ;)

Personally I say lets do away with General altogether.. and just stay technical. If people rely on this forum for a social life, that's just plain sad. ;)

well harishankar u should look at your previous postings in the general forum before asking this question...if i m not wrong you posted something like "what books do you all read?" ..where i am concerned i find the question quite okay in the G forum....thats what makes this forum exciting..else theres nothing but techie talks....and if anyone doesnt like the G forum well he is free to be in any of the 1001 forums that this place has ..its like censorship if you try to stop people from posting their comments...however absurd they are and being connected to the software freedom movement i think that will go against the spirit of LQ.

we need one to discuss topics like this thread

I look at the General forum as a place where, if you want, you can get an idea of what the people on LQ are like, however much that's possible on an electronic board - the human side of a technical forum.

I personally don't use General very much, but I think an "off-topic" type section is important for any established forum. Often it's just a dumping ground, but sometimes there are interesting posts, there are funny posts and there are helpful posts on other topics.

As to what it should be called, I think it's really irrelevant

I doubt there are people here who rely on the General forum for their social life, but if there are, well, whatever works for you...;)

I have absolutely no problem with the General forum or its the name it has. This kind of forum needs a General forum due to the great number of people that are members. Where else are you going to learn about your fellow Linux users across the globe? The main problem I see with the political stuff is that people tend to take the debates to be a personal attack against them. People need to be able to differentiate between debate and personal attacks and that goes for both sides the attacker and the rebutter. Just my $.02

I enjoy reading the posts in General ---- I know that I don't have to read them but I do. I often get a good laugh out of the posts and they often make me think. That's my choice, isn't it? The threads are not "off-topic" : they are on-topic because they are general in nature. Perhaps it would be better if LQ users such as Harishankar were given the option to not see posts in this forum --- a choice in their profile, perhaps? That would remove the immediate temptation to hang around here and allow everyone else to enjoy "wasting *their own* time".

Other unnamed Linux forums had the same debate, and a few decided to remove the General forum or make it strictly on-topic. They lost countless members due to the loss of the community feel of the place. Even the most helpful people need a place to unwind or shoot the breeze, well except Trickykid, he lives technical support. :-)

Renaming it is not such a bad idea, but that is Jeremy's call. I have learned so much about the personalities behind the posts in General I could not advocate its removal.

thing i dont get is, im able to find most of my answers without posting in the other forums(via searching ;)) general is a great place to get perspective on things from people that dont live near me. of course, this isnt the goal or objective of the site and i realize that, but while im about the site learning its interesting to stop by this forum and read the latest flamebait or whatever might be posted.

Re: Do we really need a General forum?
 

No, it's several opinions and a poll.



Everyone is different. Once you learn this fact and move on life will flow much smoother. Because people are different, they enjoy different things, especially when it comes to forums. No one is forcing you to read the "wasteful arguments and useless discussions" and who made you the Pope of discussions? If you feel a discussion is useless then by all means, don't read it. This is why the topics are displayed so we may click on a topic to read that interests us. Try reading the topics before opening the threads.



Poll or troll? :P There are plenty of forums on the web, if you feel this General forum is useless, then by all means stop reading and posting in the General forum here.

Speaking of useless discussions. I should've taken my own advice and skipped posting/reading this thread. I think it should be renamed "magical flowers dance with pretty unicorns under a chocolate waterfall of happiness" forum. How's that sound?



Who died and made you dictator? LOL.

for once, i agree with you. ever since i switched to yoper not only have i been needing hte forum less, but i now use the yoper forum for questions cause, lets face it, the other devs know better than a suse user.

Edit: i htink hes talking aobut me...:(

yay!! we agree on something. most of my questions have been answered.

? by flamebait i was referencing anything that is, well thats flamebait. like xavierP said, religion = flamebait a lot of the time, politics is right behind. and the obvious, microsoft pwnz linux thread.

Everybody has been commenting about my original post without reading the subsequent posts I made.

Yes. I agree that a General-type forum is a must. I quickly changed my mind on that one.

The question now is:

"Do Linux non-technical questions deserve the same focus as non-Linux questions?"

I think that there should be another forum for Linux non-technical threads, because they are superior to Windows questions (at least in LQ), in my humble opinion.

P.S. Can a moderator please change the title of this thread to 'Wanted - Linux non-technical questions forum'?

not you, someone else was talking about how the majority of my posts were in here.

Instead of General there should be Political Discussion forum , Iraq war forum, Anti-Bush forum, Anti-Kerry forum, Who all hates America forum, and how to take down MS forum, LMAO. But I am sure there are many of those all over the internet somewhere.:p Wait, How about a Flambait forum? :p

Here the reason why I started this thread.

Perhaps I didn't ask the right question in the beginning.

My intention was as follows:

A lot of things have been dumped into 'General' forum like genuine Linux questions which are not necessarily technical in nature. To club those threads with threads that discuss politics and 'Linux vs. Windows' and so on is not the right thing in my opinion.

Maybe 'Linux - Non-technical' forum is the way to go. The general forum can be more like a socialising place than a miscellaneous mix-up of Linux, Windows and other threads like politics and so on.

The general thread has become too big and unwieldy because genuine questins are being buried under a lot of opinion threads and other discussions. Probably time to give 'Linux - Non-technical' questions a more place of importance than General.

Harishankar, mods can't change thread titles. Jeremy can. I can ask him to do it, but he's on LWE and rather hard to contact.

General is great. Just spicy enough to keep me awake. If all of LQ was technical, I'd probably never visit. Also, I don't mind answering the occasional tech question here.. the misplaced ones are usually at about my level of expertise anyway :D

The Linux-Technical questions that are in this forum are there because the original poster put it in the wrong place. If you, or anyone else, see any thread in the wrong forum, click "Report this post to a moderator" and report the post. We will then move it.

And, ladies and gennelmen, for your delight and delectation, I present the descripyion of the General forum: General lives!

Hoo-rah!!

I love the general forum
and most of the time post in it (though I had joined LQ to get help with my linux installation)

General rocks the house... It's somewhere to post when you've already answered all the questions that you know how. Or when you're waiting for people to reply to posts it's fun to go to general and look at what people are thinking. If general goes away it will be sad. and it's not like posting here counts towards your posts.

But I agree with whoever first talked about how flamewars suck