So-and-so has [died/gotten sick/gotten divorced/grown a hangnail] posts

[PowerWordDumb]

This has probably been moaned-and-groaned about ad infinitum already, but it's really started to bug me, so here goes:

Far be it from me to attempt to water down the community aspect of ENWorld. I value it as much as the rest of you folks do, believe me. It means something that one can develop an impression of posters and have an impression of their personality and likes/dislikes to help understand their position on any given discussion. Obviously some form of interaction beyond the strictest game-related discussion goes into building that community feeling, I recognize. OT threads are a fact of life, and as long as they're somewhat related - stories of how you grew up with D&D, how it affected your life, etc - that's cool.

But the General RPG Discussions forum is filling up more and more with completely irrelevant threads about pretty much any topic that means anything to any of the members. Posts about a member's health like Angelsboi I can understand - he's one of us and we care how he's doing. Posts about somebody's country being attacked by terrorists I can also understand, because they're events of large magnitude that touch many people.

But how many posts do we need about entertainer X who's died, or politician Y who got stabbed, or friend-of-a-friend Z who got sick and had to blow his nose? The way we're going, soon we'll have threads cluttering the forum whenever someone's dog does something cute, or their cat uses the litterbox, or their kid wins a spelling bee, or Ben and J-Lo get a divorce. Yay for community.

Sure that stuff may be relevant to some members, but the General RPG Discussions forum isn't the right place for it. It is after all about RPG discussions. I realize there isn't any place better right now, and Meta isn't it either, so it's a tough thing - Can we get a "Yak Yak" forum thrown together for this? Coming in every day and having to weed through the OT threads to find something of interest on what is primarily a gaming site is a little ridiculous. Obviously the warning to hold off on OT posting if there were already a few on the front page has flown completely over peoples' heads.

Okay, rant over. Thanks for listening!

 

[PowerWordDumb]

I'll just add that I fully expect some "If you don't like it, don't read it" responses, and while they're at least half-valid, it's quite difficult sometimes tiptoeing around the OT threads to find the ones of value to me.

Yes, that's right - of value to me. I grant completely they may be of value to others, but the part of my brain that wants things neat and tidy and sorted into their appropriate bins is holding sway today, hence the post.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I feel your pain, at least you know where to put the post (no pun) and use the right tag.

As a member I do post somethings that should not be posted but feel the need to get it off my chest, see my info highway post, the trick is posting to the right forum.

People like to share with those they are closes too and if someone post something they feel is important I am honored they feel they can come to us. I may not read every post but I will not turn my back to those that have something to say.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I'd like to agree with you man (and on most other days I'd agree) but I just posted to the Johnny Cash thread

I could do without all of the WTC post, but as you pointed out in your post, I just don't read them.

 

[Henry]

I don't mean to offend, PWD, but at last count, out of the first two pages in General Discussion, I see four OT unclosed posts of the type you described (the johnny cash/john ritter one, the Swedish FM stabbing, someone turning 30, and the WTC thread); the other posts I saw marked OT were pertaining directly to members of the forums. It can certainly seem like the boards are getting overrun, especially if a group of these threads hit at one time, but overall, 4 out of 50 aren't too bad.

Even still, we'll keep an eye on OT threads the next few days, because there is a LOT of stuff going on right now in the news (I'm surprised not to see a thread on Hurricane Isabel yet. ) If we get more than what we have now, we'll have to start reducing the amount of OT stuff coming up.

 

[pogre]

I can dodge off-topic threads if they are labelled as such. The ones that get me are those with titles like Did Anyone Notice...

I open it assuming it to be an observation about gaming only to find it off-topic. I used a hypothetical title, because I am not here to offend anyone. I just want the OT tags please.

 

[PowerWordDumb]

I don't mean to offend, PWD, but at last count, out of the first two pages in General Discussion, I see four OT unclosed posts of the type you

It may very well be my imagination Henry, but I'll swear that yesterday afternoon there were at least six or seven OT threads on the front page - and some of them were waaaaaaay OT. At times this morning I've counted either four or five. Seeing new ones about Johnny Cash/Ritter this morning just made me blow a gasket.

Yeah, it happens, and I'm not calling for a revolution or a jihad or executions or anything - just wanted to moan and groan uselessly without adding to the clutter in the General forum.

There's good people here, and I'm interested in what they've got going on in their lives, but only to a point. Ultimately I'm here to read and post about gaming. If there were a place for this stuff that'd be great, if not - I'll just try to turn a blind eye to some of the more understandable stuff.

 

[Desdichado]

Keep in mind, too, that a lot fewer threads per page are viewable now. Four or five OT threads on the first page, when there's only 20-30 threads visible at a time, is quite a few.

 

[Darkness]

someone turning 30

Ah, thanks for reminding me, mate. I meant to move that thread to Meta, where birthday threads (even self-started ones) ought to go...
*swoosh* There - better.

 

[Teflon Billy]

....Seeing new ones about Johnny Cash...this morning just made me blow a gasket...

might want to avoid that one then, cause I posted an epic