Thread:User talk:GethN7/Post-TVT? & misc/reply (9)

I disagree that forums distract from the core purpose of the site. I believe that the purpose of the site is to analyze tropes and fiction in general. I believe there is room within this purpose for discussion. As I said, people can share opinions on works of fiction, discuss the real world origins and implications of tropes, or use the common language of tropes to better understand this crazy world we live in.

I can't say I've observed forum goers looking down on editors. In fact, I noticed quite a bit of overlap.

Please don't adopt the same attitude of contempt towards your community that the tvtropes mods show towards theirs, at least not before you actually build one. I agree that the tvtropes forums were pretty toxic, but a lot of that had to do with the moderation. If they had moderated people based on their behavior rather than their opinions, and if they hadn't set such a crappy example through their own behavior, then there would have been a much better atmosphere.

Still, I acknowledge that even competently moderated forums can develop toxic elements. But that's because communities have toxic elements. If you want to have any kind of community at all, and you need one for a site like this, you need to take that risk.

You may be right that integration isn't desirable, and it's not really necessary. It would be nice if the wiki and the forums could share user accounts, but we can always hyperlink tropes the old fasioned way. I suppose that this is a reason why the forums don't need to be on the site at all. Just out of curiosity, though, what's wrong with using Liquid Threads for forums?

I think that this site's biggest concern right now is population, and having active forums would help potential users get a "feel" for the place to help them decide if it's a community they want to be part of. It could also increase retention by providing a place for people to connect with each other.