I am thinking of creating a sub-forum in which someone can open with a position statement, whether they actually hold that position or not, and then defend it from people who are in the mood to take an oppositional position, again whether they actually hold that position or not. I used to do this often in BBS forums, and in AOL chat rooms in the early days of my Internet activities. Defending positions that I didn't actually hold was often fun, and it was even more interesting when people didn't know whether I actually held that position or not. This was also something that we would be asked to do when I was in Bible college, which I found interesting. We would be assigned a position, whether we held that position or not, and would have to learn enough about the position to defend it in class. In that way, it was educational, and I could sometimes learn to appreciate other points of view. This would be a debate venue, but without having to understand or appreciate the formal rules of debate. An additional advantage is that it gives cover for those who might want to discuss something but are afraid to take a position that others might disagree with. I could call the sub-forum Convince Me Otherwise. Given that I create these things in pairs, I wouldn't be creating it until I could come up with a second one to add to the same category. Since it would be a debate forum, it might seem that it should be in the Hot Button Issues category, but I'm inclined to put it elsewhere. Since we'd be defending positions that we may not even hold, there would be little reason for anyone to get angry about it. It could go in the Education & Entertainment category, since it could be both entertaining and educational. In fact, other than Hot Button Issues, I can't think of another category where it would fit. Your thoughts?
An exercise such as that might actually bring in some of the folks who are here more for the games and the onlookers who haven’t joined yet. I’m sure you have already thought of it but I’ll suggest anyway that you provide an ample preamble to the topic. A good explanation might prevent a potential member from thinking us to be absolute monsters especially when I think of some of the topics we can get really involved in.
Each forum has a description that can be seen through a mouseover, or directly on the page, depending on which browser you're using. Plus there would be an introductory thread stickied to the top.
That might make for a good name for it, too. I think there are enough people here for it to work. Even a few active participants will get it going, and others will follow.
My opinion? . It won't work here. It will just boil down to... He said; she said... and will go nowhere, except one side will overwhelm with "saying." Even if you are required to document your position, each will just claim "Fake news," or "Alternative facts." That's the world we live in now. {sigh}
There's only one side who claims Fake News or Alternative Facts. To say "each" do is a false equivalence.
I'm sure @Lulu Moppet will be an excellent and prolific poster in that sub forum if you do decide to create it @Ken Anderson . She has strong opinions and no hesitation about expressing them. Too bad she is on the wrong side, though. Maybe if we are patient and explain things to her often enough, she will come around to the right side.
Ken... There has been some interest in opening up a new thread called ....... Low Carb ... We are several people that are on a Low Carb food Plan and we would like to have some sort of a site where we can help each other on the system.. Personally, I have lost about 135 pounds on Low Carb and I am still on it.. I will be on it for the rest of my life in order to maintain the weight loss.. We would be encouraging each other to keep on the Low Carb system as well as suggestions on how to eat properly, especially what NOT to eat... I was on a Low Carb Forum for years but it just folded due to the lack of interest.. A few other members on here were also members on there.. It would keep us from going to another forum to discuss what we can do on here.. If you can see your way clear to do something for us, it would be greatly appreciated and hopefully there would be others join in on the weight loss program which works.. I am NOT a person of authority to give advice on the way of life, but after going from a weight of 358 pounds down to 215 pounds, I certainly can help and suggest some ideas that work......................
There is a section on diets and dieting, and we do have some threads there about low-carb, and I think that starting one for food accountability or just sharing information and even recipes would be easy to do in that section. We can add new threads and also write more on the threads already started. I think that I put some recipes there, and I know that I added some low carb recipes to the recipe part of the Food section of this forum. I think that Ken was talking about opening up a new section for something else, and maybe the diet sub-section can also be expanded.
Sorry but I just can't find a thread exclusively for Low Carb.. Actually, I can't see any Low Carb thread....
Wouldn't the Diets & Dieting sub-forum be a good place for that? Anyone can start a new thread, and that would be a good place for it. There is a thread there for Low Carb Diet Plans but if what you want to discuss has to do with something else relating to low carb, feel free to start another thread.
We do already have several threads about low carb diet, as you have mentioned, @Ken Anderson . I think that what @Steve North would like is a dedicated area just for low carb followers. Can you make another little sub-section either under the health and wellness, or under the dieting section that will be called “low carb diet”, and it will be exclusively for that, and then threads about Atkins, keto, or low carb can be added into that sub-section ? Especially with the diabetes epidemic, many people are turning to low carb diets, even if weight loss is not the only goal, and I do think that a section for low carb would be useful.
The Diets & Dieting sub-forum only has nineteen threads. It doesn't make sense to subdivide a sub-forum with only nineteen threads.