Why is the Philosophy Forum Closing?

[Drakkith]

Instate a rule that says in bold "comply to philosophy educational standards or risk being banned" and then simply ban people when they break the rules.

PEOPLE. DON'T. READ. THE. RULES.
EVER.
That is a problem with the whole forum, not just the Philosophy forum. I know I didn't even think to read the rules when I first started posting. I'm amazed by things I said back then before I learned about science. Evo, delete all my posts from before 2011!

Having this sub forum is likely a good thing, because while yes it might attract crackpot discussions, at least these discussions are limited to one place. Getting rid of this sub forum won't get rid of people's desires to ask these questions, they will just find somewhere else to ask them and the problem will become more wide spread across the entire forum.

The issue is that people who don't know anything about Philosophy don't desire to talk about philosophy until they see the big title of "Philosophy Forum". It invites them in. It coaxes them to it with warm scented candles and a prize at the bottom of the box.

This acts as a learning experience as well. If people want to learn/discuss philosophy they should read the stickies and read the rules and make an effort to comply to your standards. Giving them a temporary ban will likely encourage them to go elsewhere, think about the subject they're discussing and when they return make more effort to stay on topic and keep discussion educational.

The vast majority of people who post in the Philosophy forum do NOT want to learn Philosophy. They want to talk about their own little idea and nothing else.

Perhaps you've already tried this, in which case ignore what I've said, but I've been around on Internet forums for over a decade now and the one thing I've learned is that having strict rules and having these sort of dust bin sections are a good thing for the rest of the forum. They keep other sections clean and offer a place for people to vent, in this case you're filtering out undesirable posters who do no wish to learn philosophy, people who are likely to show the rest of the forum the same disrespect should this sub forum not be here.

The good thing is that people who know little about philosophy don't even associate it with science. The two aren't even related to them. So without a big glaring sign to tell them it's ok to discuss philosophy they won't do it.

 

[Vanadium 50]

The problem is that the majority of threads here just get locked because they don't fit the rules.

Ah...if it were only just a majority. I just counted. It's 82% that get locked or deleted. Eighty-two percent.

 

[Drakkith]

Ah...if it were only just a majority. I just counted. It's 82% that get locked or deleted. Eighty-two percent.

Like I said. Vast majority.

 

[Evo]

People don't read the rules.

 

[arildno]

Having this sub forum is likely a good thing, because while yes it might attract crackpot discussions, at least these discussions are limited to one place. Getting rid of this sub forum won't get rid of people's desires to ask these questions, they will just find somewhere else to ask them and the problem will become more wide spread across the entire forum.

That fear of oozing is misplaced.
Years ago, PF hosted the socalled "Theory Development" forum where people could discuss off beat ideas (typically their own pet theories).
TD was a terrible place, far worse than today's Philosophy forum, with a lot more people hanging out there with far more idiotic ideas.
I remember there was some apprehension that closing TD would lead to an ooze effect like you refer to, but that never happened.
Instead, those individuals left the whole place.
And, that was a good thing, because it dried up the trickle of ooze into the general forums already caused by the PRESENCE of TD.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Having this sub forum is likely a good thing, because while yes it might attract crackpot discussions, at least these discussions are limited to one place...having strict rules and having these sort of dust bin sections are a good thing for the rest of the forum.

Drakkith's already responded with most of what I was going to say so I'll just respond to these two points. It is not my experience that crackpots can be confined and even so we don't want them to be confined, we don't want them at all. We've had forums with less strict rules before where people could develop their own personal theories and what not and the crackpots they attract spread. The fact that we have such forums legitimises and attracts new members and posts that we really don't want. Another reason these dustbins as you call them aren't good is that they can give out such a negative image that guests to the site don't join or participate.

If something on the site is not working I don't see a reason to keep it. As for blowing off steam people can either chill out a bit by posting in GD or do something else other than this forum.

 

[wuliheron]

I applaud the efforts of the moderators here to make this philosophy forum work and completely understand if they feel it isn't worth the effort to keep open. Just as the sciences have had to struggle to distinguish and distance themselves from superstition and whatnot philosophy is currently struggling to establish a science of linguistics and the resulting confusion and chaos is understandable. I just want the moderators to know in my opinion they have done a super job of trying considering the difficulty of the task.