Forums / Maintenance / Suggest Ideas

If you want to make a thread about something, it does not have to be subtitled "general."

We do not need a "general" thread for every single topic. They always seem to piddle out within a month only to be bumped a few months later when something happens within the specific fandom/movement/whatever.

If you want to make a thread about something, just use that thing as the title. It's pretty simple.

Just my two cents.

We should have a "I'd Like To Make A Suggestion General".

Complaining about people's use of the word "General" in their thread titles is a little trivial, don't you think?

I'm not sure if this thread needs to stay open…

I suppose we could discuss the usage of the term "general" in every thread that arises…

For that matter, does THIS thread belong in General?

@Bob I don't think so. It's specific to the site here and the culture of "General" threads.

As for it staying open, it could be locked, and I wouldn't mind. This seems to be a matter of annoyance than of threatening the forum.

If a General thread gets bumped with no content, then a mod will come and lock it. Same for invisibumps.

But it a user waits 29 days to comment in a thread, and the post provides on-topic content, then so be it. I'd rather that user bump that thread than to not have a thread to talk about the topic (or worse, making another thread on the same topic.)

And I'm OK with the General discussion. However, I am moving it to Site-Related.

You're correct, it is very much a matter of annoyance.

My complaint here is that there have been a lot of "general" threads for seemingly insignificant topics, and the title has become incredibly overused. General threads, in my view, should be used exclusively for topics that will have constant, varied conversation. The first "General" we had on this site, obviously, was the first Pony General, and it was created because the users here were getting sick of every other thread being about ponies; there was a need for one, so it was made. Next came Homestuck General, which was also made because there seemed at the time to be a need of one.

My point is this: general threads around here seem to be made with the intention of making them staples of this forum, such as Pony General, which leads to the creation of such threads on insignificant topics. We can simply create titles that do not include "general," and add the subtitle later. A perfect example of this would be the thread on Legend of Korra

TL;DR: we can just start a thread on a topic without "general" so there aren't 15 different small-time general threads, and add it in later if the topic inspires more dialogue, so the designation retains its value.

Crimson: yeah, maybe a little.

Bob: I considered posting this in Site-Related, but defaulted to the General section because of increased visibility.

I feel like Crimson. Adding "General" to the end of a thread isn't going to kill anyone. I know it's annoying, but does it really matter? People are going to keep making them, and it's not so big that mods should go through and change the titles of those threads.

The issue of having "General" in the title is a trivial issue, and more a case of annoyance than an actual issue. But that has already been confirmed, so moving on.

What bothers me is that people use "General" in the title as an excuse to post pointless/trivial threads in the General section of the forum. Just because your thread is called "Favorite Pizza Flavor General", doesn't mean it no longer is a JFF-type thread.

What a person calls his thread doesn't really bother me, it's a trivial issue and if users get confused he's only hurting the potential of his own thread. But when they post it in the incorrect section, then it needs to be moved by me (or another mod) while you should've been perfectly capable of knowing it wasn't supposed to go in that section.

What bothers me is that people use “General” in the title as an excuse to post pointless/trivial threads in the General section of the forum. Just because your thread is called “Favorite Pizza Flavor General”, doesn’t mean it no longer is a JFF-type thread.

I know what you mean, but on occasion, there'll be a topic that can go both ways, adding 'general' on the end will state that the OP would prefer more serious discussion.

But I'm sure you know that, anyway.

We do have a suggestion thread. It's not titled that.

Overall, general threads just seem a bit… lazy to me. I know it's attempting to gather a single topic and contain it into one thread, but beyond that it just makes it seem like a dumping ground of content to me instead of a discussion spark. For the most part anyways, there is some legitimate discussion in General Threads, but it doesn't stop the content dump.

That's just my take on it.