Off Topic

[Beach Girl]

Is "Off Topic" going to be reinstated? Thanks.

[hednic]

Is "Off Topic" going to be reinstated? Thanks.

From Danielle's post in Forum News and Announcements:


"We are bringing the community back to its original purpose - the discussion of fragrance. Therefore you may notice a few changes on the boards, for example the absence of off-topic. We were and are primarily a site for the discussion of the fragrance industry. This is such a wide and fascinating area, we would like to concentrate solely on this."

[lpp]

This question was asked yesterday in this thread
http://www.basenotes.net/threads/370...fourms-removed

[kalli]

No off topic?

Meh..............................................o k. That's pretty silly. It probably just clogs the site more? Which can make it slower? Silly. No off topic? Silly. Really don't like that....not liking this move at all so far.

[tdwctdwc]

I just don't understand why did you wipe off-topic?

Every forum in existence has an 'off topic' section, one way or another.

Even schools have activities and it's not all about academics.
Your move does not make sense at all.

Two big thumbs down. Sorry.

Sent from Galaxy Note 3

[kalli]

Agree, +1

[Beach Girl]

Ok, Thanks Hednic and lpp, I was afraid of that. Too bad, I really enjoyed the camaraderie there.

[kalli]

Me too. Please bring it back.

Probably won't be spending as much time here.

[del]

Not a fan of the removal of Off-Topic as well. Every forum I joined in has OT section, and I don't get why BN would be different. Is it really overloading the site? I have something else in my mind -- an observation -- but I prefer not to say it.

Hoping for the return of the Off-Topic board.


5113

[rubegon]

I don't want to argue this point really, but just wish to make it clear that we don't all feel the same way.

I for one am happy to see OT go. The growth in traffic on off topic recently has overwhelmed fragrance discussion. I don't know if other forums that have OT have this problem, but for me it has diminished BN greatly in the past year.

I would often scan the "recent posts" and have to scroll down through 15-20 posts before I find one that says anything interesting about fragrance. That kills the flow of the forum, and drives away people that actually want to read about and discuss perfume. I know some will miss it and may spend more time elsewhere, but I for one see the elimination of OT as a move that will cause me to want to spend more time here.

I was beginning to lose interest in this place as a forum for fragrance-related discussion, but this is a move in the right direction as far as I'm concerned.

[JiveHippo]

I'll echo what others have said here. Really disappointed to see the ot go. Although some of the threads in that section were a bit futile, It's nice to see what other kinds of art our Basenotes friends are enjoying ie movies, music etc. Bring it back please!

- - - Updated - - -

Lie don't want to argue this point really, but just wish to make it clear that we don't all feel the same way.

I for one am happy to see OT go. The growth in traffic on off topic recently has overwhelmed fragrance discussion. I don't know if other forums that have OT have this problem, but for me it has diminished BN greatly in the past year.

I would often scan the "recent posts" and have to scroll down through 15-20 posts before I find one that says anything interesting about fragrance. That kills the flow of the forum, and drives away people that actually want to read about and discuss perfume. I know some will miss it and may spend more time elsewhere, but I for one see the elimination of OT as a move that will cause me to want to spenid more time here.

I was beginning to lose interest in this place as a forum for fragrance-related discussion, but this is a move in the right direction as far as I'm concerned.

If you click on a specific forum, any recent post pushes the thread to the top. Furthermore, I'm sure there's a way they could make the recent posts button scan only the fragrance related forums. I don't think completely removing a board that many people here enjoyed was the only option. Like I said above, sometimes it's nice to discuss things other than fragrance once in a while.

[zatarain]

...I'm sure there's a way they could make the recent posts button scan only the fragrance related forums.

I think this is very likely to be true. I know it's possible to set indexing on a per-forum basis.

I personally don't mind the elimination of OT forum, but it is clearly popular and if the main objection is the interference with the recent posts listings, I think it's worth looking into.

[DanielleCooper]

This is a decision taken for reasons mentioned by Rubegon above. The off-topic was taking up a lot of time, was nothing to do with the purpose of the site and was diluting the impact of this unique hobbyist's/obsessive's(!) haven. We love fragrance. That's it.

There are forums for movies, music, cooking... the web isn't the same as it was in Basenotes early days when there were very few online communities. There are other places to discuss other hobbies and interests - this will be where people come for their fragrance fix.

Who knows if off-topic is permanently gone? This little corner of the internet is constantly evolving and changing. But for now we are focusing on fragrance.

[rubegon]

There are forums for movies, music, cooking... the web isn't the same as it was in Basenotes early days when there were very few online communities. There are other places to discuss other hobbies and interests - this will be where people come for their fragrance fix.

That's exactly right. We all have countless outlets for social media interaction - other forums, facebook, twitter, etc. I liked coming to Basenotes when I joined because it's a place that lets me explore my interest in fragrance. There will always be some off topic chat in the fragrance threads anyway - SotD threads are much more about social interaction that deep discussion about fragrance. But it's still relevant.

When a fragrance forum becomes 95% chat about sports, movies, food, jokes, etc. it stops being a good outlet for me to discuss fragrance. And I 'm not alone.

Many long time members have lamented the departure of others - former posters that elevated the level of discussion about fragrance helped us relative newbies learn. If Basenotes continues to lose those people it will become a general discussion forum where some members happen to post their SotD or what perfume they bought today, and that's not much else.

Basenotes is going niche, and that's perfectly fine with me.

[hednic]

This is a decision taken for reasons mentioned by Rubegon above. The off-topic was taking up a lot of time, was nothing to do with the purpose of the site and was diluting the impact of this unique hobbyist's/obsessive's(!) haven. We love fragrance. That's it.

There are forums for movies, music, cooking... the web isn't the same as it was in Basenotes early days when there were very few online communities. There are other places to discuss other hobbies and interests - this will be where people come for their fragrance fix.

Who knows if off-topic is permanently gone? This little corner of the internet is constantly evolving and changing. But for now we are focusing on fragrance.

I applaud the change in focus. I personally think it was a gutsy move, but a correct and necessary one.

[JiveHippo]

Go and join another forum, that's the solution? If I want to see what movies, music etc my basenotes friends are watching/listening to, I have to organize a mass exodus to various other online forums? I don't see the problem in having a few off topic threads hidden away somewhere in the forum. We have the fashion, beauty, and grooming boards, what do they have to do with fragrance?

@hednic: a necessary move? You posted there more than anyone with your incessant need to post every morsel of food or drink that goes into your mouth, or every song that came on Sirius radio! Fluff posts that only served to raise your post count.

Edit: agree with Sam Walton. (Yes Sam, it's a first)

[Fleurine]

I applaud the change in focus. I personally think it was a gutsy move, but a correct and necessary one.

I agree. There are so many places on the internet to go off on tangents; it shows good taste and focus that BN would direct that type of thing elsewhere. Bravo.

[Tristram]

...

[DanielleCooper]

I would just like to clarify that no individual member is behind any move we make, ever. Basenotes has never positioned itself to compete or imitate where social networking is concerned. It is not even what I would call a shift in focus - just reaffirming what the focus was always intended to be.

I understand that with any change there will be those for and against, and I empathise with those currently feeling the loss of off-topic, I really do. Every time I go through a system update on my mobile phone I could cry... But I always get my head round the changes and then can't even remember what the last operating system was like.

Frankly off-topic was a lot of effort without being remotely connected to our raison d'être. We need to focus on doing fragrance as well as possible before we worry about the extraneous.

[Evangeline]

hednic,you absolutely amaze me,you as far as I can see you were one of the biggest contributers to the "off topic" thread,how you can say "it was a correct and necessary move" to cease it is honestly beyond me.I don't understand your logic at all.?

Maybe he's finally acknowledging that it's okay to just step away from the computer once in a while.

Seriously, I enjoyed some of the OT threads myself and would often try to engage others, but even within those few threads most of the meaningful content was being quickly buried by trash posts clearly intended to boost post-count. I was actually about to give up on OT, so I agree that it's a good decision whose time has come.

Keep a journal if you need to keep track of everything you're eating/thinking/doing minute-by-minute, 24-7 ...or get a Twitter account. This is not the sort of info that needs constant sharing and updating.

[insomniac]

I've been on enough boards where the moderators/admins spend more time handling "the off-topic, anything goes forum" than anything else, and it becomes a time sink. I've no problem with removing an OT forum.

[furrypine]

I've been on enough boards where the moderators/admins spend more time handling "the off-topic, anything goes forum" than anything else, and it becomes a time sink. I've no problem with removing an OT forum.

The stories I could tell...

[rubegon]

Granted, I could just ignore the OT forums, and I generally did. However, the enormous amount of traffic they generated has secondary effects.

Danielle points out a big one - the fact that our mods have to spend most of their time policing the vast numbers of OT posts. Mods volunteer their time, presumably because they love fragrance and want to help this be a better place to discuss it. But their time is a limited resource. Insufficient moderation resources has been a issue for BN in the past and has been a factor in many important members leaving the site for good.

I think we have a great team of mods in place now and - more importantly - enough of them. Let's not waste most of their precious time on this site policing chatter that is completely irrelevant to fragrance. I'm sure most of the mods were spending a large majority of their time scanning the constant torrent of OT posts.

I get that people want to discuss other interests, but that has it's downsides as well. What we have in common is fragrance. Discussion of OT interests and ideas can get ugly when we run into people that have very different values and beliefs. I think anyone who has spent some time in the OT threads knows it can get ugly, and does with some regularity. I'll be happy to see that stuff go elsewhere.

[JiveHippo]

image.jpg
Not one thread pertaining to fragrance. There are hundreds of fashion forums where these topics can be discussed. Are these boards also going to be removed?

[TLS]

hednic,you absolutely amaze me,you as far as I can see were one of the biggest contributers to the "off topic" thread,how you can say "it was a correct and necessary move" to cease it is honestly beyond me.I don't understand your logic at all.?

+100

- - - Updated - - -

@hednic: a necessary move? You posted there more than anyone with your incessant need to post every morsel of food or drink that goes into your mouth, or every song that came on Sirius radio! Fluff posts that only served to raise your post count.

+1000

[rubegon]

Not one thread pertaining to fragrance. There are hundreds of fashion forums where these topics can be discussed. Are these boards also going to be removed?

Read the posts above - this is not the issue. The fashion forum has very low traffic. You want a screen shot? Take a look at this:

Clip_3.jpg

The same screen shot when the OT forum was active would often show literally 18 out of 20 posts in the OT forum.

[DanielleCooper]

image.jpg
Not one thread pertaining to fragrance. There are hundreds of fashion forums where these topics can be discussed. Are these boards also going to be removed?

Just want to comment on this as I can understand the confusion. The decision was taken to keep these boards because fashion, cosmetics and grooming have huge cross overs with fragrance - same houses, complimentary products (lotions, shower gels etc), models, ad campaigns etc. Off-topic did not have this overlap.

[TLS]

Just want to comment on this as I can understand the confusion. The decision was taken to keep these boards because fashion, cosmetics and grooming have huge cross overs with fragrance - same houses, complimentary products (lotions, shower gels etc), models, ad campaigns etc. Off-topic did not have this overlap.

[BrothaG]

I haven't been on here in a long time, but am sad to see Off-topic go. I believe offering members a chance to discuss other topics is actually a good way to keep them interested in coming back and to get to know each other on a more personal level. I don't see how that would overshadow the "true meaning" of Basenotes, as there's a large number of sub-forums all related to fragrance and nothing but fragrance. The fact that it's time-consuming to maintain such threads makes sense, but perhaps its value has been misjudged.

What makes me sad most of all, though, is the fact that the "Guess the Fragrance by the Picture"- game threads are now permanently gone, which brought a large group of members together to create challenging, fun and intelligent puzzles based on fragrance names. Quite disappointing as the "father" of said game, even if it hadn't been active for some time.

Just my two cents.

[JiveHippo]

@rubegon: So if traffic to those forums increases, you're in favor of shutting them down? I listed ways to avoid clogging up the new post search in post 12.

@Danielle: Fair enough, thanks for clarifying that.

Perhaps the solution is to have an off topic thread. One single thread where members can post the latest album/movie/tv show they really enjoyed, what they're eating/drinking, or anything else they feel like talking about. Just a thought.