stompclapwhoosh Wrote:

lauramac Wrote:Thread unlocked & moved as (hopefully) a reasonable compromise.

I like the OT talk -- political or not -- and am thinking perhaps we could use a new "OT" board on here. That way, the sports-only people won't get irritated by the other stuff; and people who (like me) want more wide-ranging social interactions with other Rice folks can have that too.

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Now, back on topic... I don't really know enough about Palin to have an educated opinion, so will hold off on that for a bit. All I can say now is, I *really* hope SNL can sweet-talk Tina Fey into coming back to play her!

I'd really really like the OT threads to still at least start on the main board: I dunno if I can add another board to check/read to my life, but I love some of the OT stuff. Just my $0.02

To be honest with you, Stomp, I'd like that best too. :sorry: The trouble is -- this is, at least in some way, supposed to be a sports board. When we get a bunch of OT stuff on here, people get irritated at the loss of focus, and (from what I have come to understand) some of them even migrate away.

We don't even have that many OT threads, usually; I'm hoping (and really do think) an additional board wouldn't be *too* burdensome. If it sucks, we could always mothball it & merge stuff back into the main board. I just don't want to (a) drive hardcore sports people away, or (b) lose this as a place for people (like me) who enjoy the social interactions with other Rice folks. A separate board seems like a decent compromise.

Meh. All this "compromise" is making me itchy.

(I wish I could remember who said the quote I'm trying to remember -- something along the lines of, if everyone's a little bit P.O'ed, you know you've got a good compromise!)

thanks for your reply, lauramac--i understand the issues and i don't want to drive anyone away either. i just would like to think that Rice people of all people can combine sports fanaticism with healthy debate on other issues....

stompclapwhoosh Wrote:thanks for your reply, lauramac--i understand the issues and i don't want to drive anyone away either. i just would like to think that Rice people of all people can combine sports fanaticism with healthy debate on other issues....

Yeah, me too. *shrug*

Anyway, the request is in. We'll see how it works... and if the answer is "it works poorly", then we'll look at changing it back. Nothing is cast in stone -- this is the Interwebs!

69/70/75 said it well on the Palin thread:

Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:Memphis has a political-religious sub-forum. Lots of our people already post there. Maybe we could do the same thing.

I always like having a Rice political forum because the quality of the discussion, and usually the civility, is way above the norm at the Spin Room.

Hopefully this is how it works out for us as well.

The big thing that really bothers me is when an on-topic (i.e. Rice-related) thread gets hijacked into a political argument. I am generally fine with (and sometimes participate in) OT threads, especially if they are marked as such. I absolutely agree with 69/70/75 about the Spin Room. It tends to be very juvenile and hostile from both sides.

I'm rooting for the Rice OT subforum.