re: An argument for a Technology board (8/1 update - a continuing trend)

Unsurprisingly, none of the admins have responded.

St. Patrick's day weekend update.

Below are the aggregates for this weekend, specifically, from 3/16/2012 (12:00AM) to 3/18/2012 (3:30 PM).

The trend, once again, has yet to vary. That is, the amount of threads discussed on topics involving science and technology significantly outnumber the amount of threads discussing topics on music, health, or fitness.

The totals for the weekend consisted of 38 threads created or discussed on topics involving science/technology, 27 threads created or discussed on topics involving music, and 15 threads created or discussed on topics involving health/fitness.

I also found 2 threads on Political Talk specifically discussing science topics. One, which was a climate change thread, discussed the science behind climate change, and did not contain any discussion on legislation. There was also 1 tech thread found on the Movie/TV board this weekend, which pertained to home media players.

As usual, the totals below reflect threads found exclusively on the OT, and not other boards.


Science and Technology (38 threads)




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(Science/Technology threads from PT this weekend)


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(Science/Technology threads from the Movie/TV board this weekend)



Music (27 threads)




Health and Fitness (15 threads)

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I suspect we would get a higher rate of quality posting on a sci/tech board than other boards

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It would probably be similar to the Political Talk board, but with less volatility.

I was referring to the quality of the posts. But yes, there wouldn't be a question as to which board would be more welcoming to general users.

It would be nice to have an evolution/creationism debate on the grounds of science and ideas, without the invariable interposition of politicized bias.

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Cs - i have a question for you..



if we had a music board, a science/tech board, and a workout/fitness board, what would the OT consist of??

14 WYHI threads? 64 guys hardlegging a new female poster?

it just seems like those new boards would eliminate the OT

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Well, I think the ultimate goal may indeed be to effectively shrink the OT.

If you go to page 2 of this thread, you can see that this has been taking place since ~2003. In 2002, the OT was truly "off topic", since the only other message board at the time was the Rant. However, with the gradual introduction of new boards, the range of topics suitable for the OT has diminished. Boards were being introduced that were dedicated to specific topics, thereby allowing more frequent and energized discussion on those topics.

Should this website ultimately see the introduction of those 3 boards, the OT would still likely have its role.

For example, I just collected threads on the first 1.5 pages of the OT that don't pertain to any of the aforementioned topics -




It's mostly just general discussion on random topics. So, the OT would likely subsist.

My argument in this thread, however, has not been for the introduction of all 3 boards. Rather, my thesis has been that if this site were to introduce one new board, a science and technology board should be at the top of the list. Whether that will actually happen, I don't know. The admins have their own personal interests, which indubitably plays a role in which boards are introduced.

But I think if one were to rationally assess the thread content on the OT, they would see that science/tech topics consistently rank as one of, if not the most discussed topic. And, it's not just the OT - evolution and climate change threads on PT, media players, HDTV, and home theater questions on the Movie/TV board...even the Help board receives an occasional thread asking for help with their iPhone. Science and technology topics are dispersed across numerous boards on this website, and there really needs to be a single, dedicated board to accommodate such discussion.

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Slow things down a bit, and posters who don't have constant free time on their hands might actually See more topics that interest them and participate.

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To add to this, I'm sure a lot of posters only view the first page of the OT, and rarely venture past that initial page. With respect to the amount of users online, it seems the most active hours are between ~11:00 AM and 10:00 PM. A new thread could fall off the first page within ~15 minutes with no responses. Even with a few responses, it could be on the second page within a half hour.

They meant to type Beneficial. And they are wrong, as the evidence shows

hmmm... is there a reason that ZERO admins have responded to this thread yet?