I see that there is a new channels feature here (or at least, new to me). Maybe a compromise would be to have offtopic be pretty broad in scope, but have it be a channel instead of a category for indexed and searchable threads? That seems easier to effectively opt out of.
I guess another question that this raises to me is whether this forum serves a different purpose than the slack/zulip/etc. I think that posting neat links and chatting about them with whoever happens to be on the forum and interested to engage at that time is cool, but if the ambition for discourse posts is that they are (i) worth indexing for search in the future and (ii) potentially long-running and references for future users, then maybe most off-topic discussions belong on the platforms that are a bit more ephemeral by design.
To be clear though, I also say this meaning no disrespect at all to @PetrKryslUCSD.
Here’s a wild thought: what if we rebrand the current Community to a name like “organizing” and then use language like “community discussions” for what’s currently Offtopic?
Having some higher expectations of the content in off-topic makes sense, to avoid single link posts and some, even if minute, connection to Julia/programming as a whole is probably good to enforce. If a discussion turns “violent” or however to say it, perhaps quicker action taken to stop the thread, since it is “just” an offtopic post anyway.
The name offtopic is definitely a problem for me, because we ask folks to stay on-topic and explicitly ask for assistance flagging off-topic posts. It’s the first flag ‘reason’:
Surely it should still be possible to do thread-splits and the like if warranted in that category.
I’d like to bring my two cent in a (hopefully) positive way.
When a new thread is started with just a link, I (personal opinion) feel (subjective) as if someone is coming by with a magazine, without saying a word, putting it in front of me, still without a word, and leaving.
At the very least, that’s odd, and for sure won’t trigger in me the will to speak.
But something in the vein of “Hey, I came across this article, and I’ve been quite surprised, what are your thoughts on that?” has little to no context, but is much more likely to trigger a discussion, don’t you agree?
As a side note - please tell me if I’m reading too much into this - but you seems to act as with your students (if I remember correctly from another post), which people on this platform are not.
Don’t be afraid to share your opinions. I’m sure they are well thought-through. On the contrary, I’d say, we’re here for the very reason to share views and knowledge!
