POLL: Members are complaining about the off-topics, how should it be changed?

[jackelope]

Dale knows where I stand in regard to the off topics board. I don't like it. I'm against a bunch  of political crap on the forum. Back in the day when Ray was still the owner of Hunt Wa I got really vocal with him about politics to the point I was going to cease being a part of the forum. I wasn't alone. To quell those concerns, Ray created the OT. I still disliked it but once I figured out I could ignore it, I no longer had an argument.
We try to be pretty heavy handed about OT crap flowing out into the main forum. One of the big concerns we had/have is that all the crap talk in there doesn't spill over onto the main forum. Some of you have mentioned seeing the spill over. Please point it out if it's happening. We will address it directly.
As much as I openly dislike all the stuff we have to deal with in the OT, I don't have a legit argument for getting rid of it. There are only a few regular posters there(some of which literally never post anything hunting/outdoors related. I don't get it). If they vanished, the popularity would crap out and the board would likely die off in a hurry.

[WAcoyotehunter]

It is a mistake, because bemoaning people who do not share success pics or provide tips on areas and/or tactics comes across as elitist, it is repulsive to me as a novice hunter and a relative noob to WA hunting and fishing and to the notion of hunting and fishing as an everyman's sport, and it is counter to hunter and fisherman recruitment, generally, and to hunt-wa member recruitment in particular. 

No one is "bemoaning the people who do not share success pictures".  The bemoaning has to do with all the garbage being posted and the members that seem to be here only for those off topic conversations.  You are one of those folks, in case it seemed like I was dancing around the issue.

[bobcat]

Could we change the default settings to "opt-in" instead of "opt-out" for the off topics board? That one small change can go a long way towards decreasing traffic unless people really want in...

I know I've been much happier on the site since opting out of the "off topics" section!

Is it not already that way? It used to be, if it changed I am unaware of it.

[Seahawk12]

I voted to just leave it be.
First, the reason I believe it is good to have OTs as a part of the forum is that those who choose to can talk about current events and politics with other people from our state who at least share one common love. The love of the outdoors, hunting and fishing.
It gets heated sometimes and that is natural. As adults we should be able to handle that. I've had my hackles raised a few times in there, but that happens with the free exchange of opinions and ideas. I would prefer to deal with a little bit of frustration than to live in a safe space bubble.
Second, there are easy to use options on this site available to those who do not wish to discuss current events and politics here. Opting out and ignoring the OT board is a very simple process. Ignoring individual threads and even individual members is also a very easy thing to do. Honestly though, I have only ever put one member on my ignore list and that was not even prompted by an OT thread. He was just an obvious troll and I refuse to feed trolls.
Finally, if some people feel that the site has changed too much for their liking I would suggest that they become part of the solution. Rather than complaining about a thing and demanding someone else fix it, become part of the solution. Become more active outside of the OT area. Start more threads about the activities you love. Make positive comments on other peoples threads. If a troll bothers you then put them on the ignore list.
Hope you all have a great day.

[hunter399]

So my question is if there's no off topics section ,is mods just gonna delete any topic they feel is off topic from hunting.

[bobcat]

Finally, if some people feel that the site has changed too much for their liking I would suggest that they become part of the solution. Rather than complaining about a thing and demanding someone else fix it, become part of the solution. Become more active outside of the OT area. Start more threads about the activities you love. Make positive comments on other peoples threads. If a troll bothers you then put them on the ignore list.

    Best comment of the day!

[bobcat]

So my question is if there's no off topics section ,is mods just gonna delete any topic they feel is off topic from hunting.

Yes.

[npaull]

Is it not already that way? It used to be, if it changed I am unaware of it.

I could be wrong. Thought you had to opt-out. If it's already that way, I don't see a big problem.

[Holg3107]

In all honesty if you wanted to clean up off topics all you have to do is get rid of 5 or 6 people and the post count in off topics would be almost non existent. There are a half a dozen people that are not on this site for anything but the off topics section and contribute little to nothing to the rest of the site.

Not to name names but if you eliminated a "Bigfish Floundering in a Roundheaded pool of Phills" you would see a drastic difference on the site overall. 

[bearpaw]

I voted to just leave it be.
First, the reason I believe it is good to have OTs as a part of the forum is that those who choose to can talk about current events and politics with other people from our state who at least share one common love. The love of the outdoors, hunting and fishing.
It gets heated sometimes and that is natural. As adults we should be able to handle that. I've had my hackles raised a few times in there, but that happens with the free exchange of opinions and ideas. I would prefer to deal with a little bit of frustration than to live in a safe space bubble.
Second, there are easy to use options on this site available to those who do not wish to discuss current events and politics here. Opting out and ignoring the OT board is a very simple process. Ignoring individual threads and even individual members is also a very easy thing to do. Honestly though, I have only ever put one member on my ignore list and that was not even prompted by an OT thread. He was just an obvious troll and I refuse to feed trolls.
Finally, if some people feel that the site has changed too much for their liking I would suggest that they become part of the solution. Rather than complaining about a thing and demanding someone else fix it, become part of the solution. Become more active outside of the OT area. Start more threads about the activities you love. Make positive comments on other peoples threads. If a troll bothers you then put them on the ignore list.
Hope you all have a great day.

Thanks for trying to offer solutions! 

[bearpaw]

I've had some pm's from members with good input, if you have some constructive thoughts but don't want to post them openly in this topic, please send them to me via pm. THANKS

[hunter399]

I think it should stay the way it is ,that's how I voted.
I see off topics as away to get rid of some topics from virtual campfire .There is a lot of off topics in virtual campfire,i think what's in off topics will spill into virtual campfire,then members will be on mods all the time to delete topics ,that are off topics from hunting.

Anyway just keep the way it is,might be more trouble,to try and fix it,or change it.

[hunter399]

If your gonna delete topics for being off topic , that rule would have to apply for everybody ,not just a few people from the off topics section.

[Evil_EdwardO]

The problem I see is that someone starts a subject not in the OT section then someone else post/trolls and it ends up in the OT. When this happens then it seems that the OP was punished and the subject was moved to appease the trolls. If the OP is not opted in OT then their thread just got hijacked from them.

[pianoman9701]

If your gonna delete topics for being off topic , that rule would have to apply for everybody ,not just a few people from the off topics section.

Some people tend to be more outspoken and confrontational than others. It's not the mods as much as it's the poster.