What’s up today?
Watch this video! 
These threads are listed in the Community category. However their original posts state that people can post about anything in them. Doesn’t that mean that they belong in the Off-topic category?
I see them as relevant to the community, rather than specifically the project, and so not off-topic from the community. We all have multiple interests, with an overlap that focusses on the project and then spreads outwards. So I see the community’s interests as broader than the project, but focusses on it.
3 Likes
I sort of agree with both of you. Drawing the line is difficult.
I think the forum will become dull and stale if it were made clinical without any leeway for users to interact naturally. That to me means a balance of focusing on the project without stifling the atmosphere.
All users (almost all) know the boundaries even when they are sometimes crossed briefly, it is natural when folk are comfortable with each other and helps build community bonds.
If topics gain traction that I have no interest in I simply mute them, something any of
us can do.
3 Likes
This is my thought process about it:
- The original posts state any topic is allowed: “You can share here everything about crypto or anything else that attracts your attention.” and “You can share here everything about crypto, science, society or anything else that attracts your attention, and that you found worthwhile watching.”.
- The Community category does not state that any topic is allowed: “Topics relevant to the SAFE Network community.”.
- The Off-Topic category states that any topic is allowed: “Topics about politics, philosophy and anything else.”.
There is a clash here, where the original posts state “talk about anything”, while the category the threads are in state “don’t talk about anything”. So the original post and the thread category should be made to align with each other.
There are two obvious ways to fix this discrepancy:
- Edit the original posts to only allow for talking about stuff that’s related to the community category which they are in (or not state it at all since this is implied by the category).
- Move the topics to the Off-Topic category.
Why do you think that moving these topics to another category would make people unable to interact naturally on these forums? The topics are still there, just in the correct category.
To my understanding, currently there are no boundaries to the topics in these threads that people are able to cross (except for rules of course) since all topics are allowed, no?
The mute feature sure is useful, but probably not relevant to this discussion.
I think there is a fine line as @Sascha also said.
In my opinion something relevant to the safe network community (somewhat off-topic) and off-topic are different things but obviously very much open to interpretation.
I do see your point though.
2 Likes
Something relevant to the safe network community that is somewhat off topic is not off topic since it’s relevant to the safe network community. I would go so far as to say that this opinion you hold is fact!
There are simple logical reasons for why the threads are in the wrong categories, as I described above. So I don’t understand what the fine line is, can you specify?
To put it another way:
- The Off-Topic category contains the set of “all topics”, since it explicitly states you’re allowed to post about anything.
- Because of this, the Community category necessarily contains a subset of “all topics”, otherwise the Community and Off-Topic categories would contain the same set of topics—in which case one of the categories should be removed due to being redundant—so I’m assuming this isn’t the case.
- So if a thread states that you’re allowed to post about anything in it, the category that perfectly matches the set of topics allowed in that thread is the Off-Topic category. So logically, such a thread clearly belongs in Off-Topic.
If people are worried about changing how the threads work, I don’t understand what the issue would be with leaving the threads as they are, but moving them to the Off-Topic category where they seem to belong.
I like the idea of the “what’s up today” and “watch this video” threads, but with these bad vibes that keep coming up—seemingly almost always related to something other than the Safe Network—it makes me wonder why I even come here when it makes me feel like that. I’m worried others might feel the same, and I’m worried for how this might affect the long term health of these forums.
- The worst Off-Topic stuff has been moved from the threads, are those responsible for these moved posts getting warned then banned when repeatedly breaking the rules like the rules say they will?
- Should they be warned/banned considering the thread states any topic is allowed?
- Do rules stated in the original post of a thread override the rules of the forum?
- Are these threads with overriding local rules loopholes for people who want to push Off-Topic information to a wider audience?