For a while now I thought it'd be brilliant to have a History section here on DS, loads of people talk about events, people etc in the TV forum (particularly 'the white queen' thread of late) and it'd be really handy to have it's own forum for debates and questions and discussions etc.
Quite a few have said the same, would you like the idea of a History forum?
Unfortunately - see my point above about where most of the perceived history threads appear from...as that particular thread progressed, it's title certainly belies what the thread content became
Which was a bummer, 'cos it was going quite well up until then!
Which is the problem with threads - if left too "freeform", they wander. They can't not, given the number of personalities and views that choose to input to them....
For instance - we're doing it right now! See how easy it is?
Let's face it - most of the "perceived" history threads on here are the result of Godwin's Law! Sometimes well-delayed....but it still hits in the end!!!
Sorry No idea what you are getting at.
BTW I am a great admirer of your posts but your habit of stripping the source from your quotes is not just very irritating but academically questionable. It also makes it very difficult to respond to you and i would ask as a personal courtesy that you do not quote me in future without the correct reference to my post. No other poster strips out the attribution on here; why do you?
I mean that a lot of threads that BECOME the best history threads on DS I.E. ones that end up generating a lot of discussion about historical matters...don't necessarily START on that particular subject...
...so the initial thread TITLE isn't necessarily any indicator of the historical discussion going on inside its pages!
Look how many political or politically-veering threads for instance have ended up with SOMEONE posting the old canard "yeah, but just look didn't the Germans elect Hitler???"...and off we go!
From post 103...
"No other poster strips out the attribution on here; why do you?"
Because I grew up over the last 20+ years finding it personally far faster to cut&paste exactly what I want from a quote then wrapping quotes round it
And I would hope posters would at least recognise their own material and know I was replying to them...? :eek:
I loved the 90s, it was great, best telly, like Neighbours and The Wonder Years! Best music, Britpop was cool. And the games were ace.
I hated the 90s.
I thought they were okay.
The 80s was the best!
Played out in the street till it was dark. No mobile phones. Best telly - Jimll Fix It. Hey, look at this (insert cut and paste meme from 5 years ago about climbing trees and collecting insects here)
The 80s was shit. I hate Thatcher.
The 80s was okay.
70s was COOOOOL!
Okay, I wasn't born till 1990, but it was still cool! All those hippies!
Because I grew up over the last 20+ years finding it personally far faster to cut&paste exactly what I want from a quote then wrapping quotes round it
And I would hope posters would at least recognise their own material and know I was replying to them...? :eek:
Every other poster on here manages to find the quote button which automatically provides a reference and a link to the post referenced. I am sure if you try it you will find it is actually quicker than cutting and pasting and then finding the quote button.
Regardless; I have always been taught (and taught) that it is courtesy to reference sources in the appropriate manner even if it does involve a little effort.
BTW you have quoted my entire post and still cut and pasted it.
I'd be really surprised if a history forum got more than 15 new posts a day. It just seems a bit pointless if that's all it is gonna get.
From my experience - as someone who has been a member of probably 50+ forums, as well as a moderator/admin on two, people will often vote in favour of things that they won't actually ever use themselves just because they think other people might. This usually leads to things being added that never get used, because actually, when you ask people why they aren't using it, 80% of the people who voted in favour of it admit to only saying yes because they thought someone else might like it/they had no objections to it - but not because they'd actually use it themselves. So even if 100 people vote yes - potentially only 20 people who vote yes would actually use it with the rest just saying yes out of politeness for others/having no real objections.
I voted no, because although I have no major objections, I doubt I'd ever use it. There is no point people voting yes and then not using it. DS doesn't need any more slow forums/sub-forums that hardly ever get posted in - there are too many/lots already. Adding more only makes sense if they're going to get used at least moderately (if not more).
(As an example to illustrate my point, one of the forums I was on used to have a number of different color schemes and styles. People would create new color schemes and vote on which color schemes they wanted adding to the site, and polls would usually show 75%+ of people voting yes for a color scheme. Yet you'd look in the admin panel and find that 94% of people were using the default color scheme/skin. It was frustrating.)
If its a question of taking up space, or the popularity of sub-forums, there's a good case for dropping the Comics forum. On the first page, several of the threads haven't received a post since May !
I voted "yes", though I can't see myself using it very often. History is a kind of cross-over subject, it touches so many other subjects, but the purpose of the thread may be entirely different. Politics is similar I suppose. Doesn't practically every social issue have something to do with politics and history if you dig deep enough ?
My real vote would be for a a very general science forum, to include astronomy, the formal sciences, the natural and social sciences. All aspects really. There appears to be a fair amount of interest whenever a thread is started, particularly about the origins of the universe etc.
I agree with some of the above. Science and nature, astronomy does seem to have a lot of posts. Hence my suggestion for a Forum of knowledge which people can discuss anything such science, history, archaeology but also link with travelling and reading.
I agree with some of the above. Science and nature, astronomy does seem to have a lot of posts. Hence my suggestion for a Forum of knowledge which people can discuss anything such science, history, archaeology but also link with travelling and reading.
Sounds like a good idea. I would probably put travel in with food and drink, they seem kind of compatible ? We already have books, so I'm not sure we need another forum for reading.
But science, history, archaeology would be a good fit.
Ps..Actually I'm surprised there's no separate travel forum, it would be extremely popular. Perhaps they consider there's just too many other sites covering the subject ?
Comments
Voted yes ~ good idea
Sorry No idea what you are getting at.
BTW I am a great admirer of your posts but your habit of stripping the source from your quotes is not just very irritating but academically questionable. It also makes it very difficult to respond to you and i would ask as a personal courtesy that you do not quote me in future without the correct reference to my post. No other poster strips out the attribution on here; why do you?
...so the initial thread TITLE isn't necessarily any indicator of the historical discussion going on inside its pages!
Look how many political or politically-veering threads for instance have ended up with SOMEONE posting the old canard "yeah, but just look didn't the Germans elect Hitler???"...and off we go!
From post 103...
Because I grew up over the last 20+ years finding it personally far faster to cut&paste exactly what I want from a quote then wrapping quotes round it
And I would hope posters would at least recognise their own material and know I was replying to them...? :eek:
The 80s was the best!
70s was COOOOOL!
Every other poster on here manages to find the quote button which automatically provides a reference and a link to the post referenced. I am sure if you try it you will find it is actually quicker than cutting and pasting and then finding the quote button.
Regardless; I have always been taught (and taught) that it is courtesy to reference sources in the appropriate manner even if it does involve a little effort.
BTW you have quoted my entire post and still cut and pasted it.
From my experience - as someone who has been a member of probably 50+ forums, as well as a moderator/admin on two, people will often vote in favour of things that they won't actually ever use themselves just because they think other people might. This usually leads to things being added that never get used, because actually, when you ask people why they aren't using it, 80% of the people who voted in favour of it admit to only saying yes because they thought someone else might like it/they had no objections to it - but not because they'd actually use it themselves. So even if 100 people vote yes - potentially only 20 people who vote yes would actually use it with the rest just saying yes out of politeness for others/having no real objections.
I voted no, because although I have no major objections, I doubt I'd ever use it. There is no point people voting yes and then not using it. DS doesn't need any more slow forums/sub-forums that hardly ever get posted in - there are too many/lots already. Adding more only makes sense if they're going to get used at least moderately (if not more).
(As an example to illustrate my point, one of the forums I was on used to have a number of different color schemes and styles. People would create new color schemes and vote on which color schemes they wanted adding to the site, and polls would usually show 75%+ of people voting yes for a color scheme. Yet you'd look in the admin panel and find that 94% of people were using the default color scheme/skin. It was frustrating.)
I voted "yes", though I can't see myself using it very often. History is a kind of cross-over subject, it touches so many other subjects, but the purpose of the thread may be entirely different. Politics is similar I suppose. Doesn't practically every social issue have something to do with politics and history if you dig deep enough ?
My real vote would be for a a very general science forum, to include astronomy, the formal sciences, the natural and social sciences. All aspects really. There appears to be a fair amount of interest whenever a thread is started, particularly about the origins of the universe etc.
Sounds like a good idea. I would probably put travel in with food and drink, they seem kind of compatible ? We already have books, so I'm not sure we need another forum for reading.
But science, history, archaeology would be a good fit.
Ps..Actually I'm surprised there's no separate travel forum, it would be extremely popular. Perhaps they consider there's just too many other sites covering the subject ?