Yawn, time to suggest one of my fanatical ideas...
Well, as you all know, we currently have, uhm... 12 different forums. All of them have a very good topic that allows many things to go inside (Except the Sonny 2 forum, which is special). But time to time I have wondered:
We don't have a Science Forum.
Why? I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen anyone suggest this before, for some reason. I know many people would down this suggestion with 'there are going to be no more forums' and 'there aren't enough people interested in that' (Which I frankly both disagree with), but think about it:
Many items of valuable interest (Astronomy, biology, geology, seismology etc...) are not discussed much. Why? Let me tell you why. They end up either in:
A. The Tavern
Or
B. World Events, Politics, Religion, Etc.
No offense to the many Tavern users, but it's kind of the place that doesn't belong goes to (That's sort of what it's for). Many topics are random and clearly have nothing in common with one another. Science on the other hand, is not random, and a very large, debatable forum theme.
World Events (A few Science things can land here) is to me the closest thing the Forum has to offer to a Science Forum. Many Science related threads are in there (Earthquake in Haiti is a good example) that could have an even lengthier and more depth discussion in a Science Forum (Why did the earthquake happen? How are these recorded? Can anything be done?). World Events talks about when things happen or what might happen, and many times it is a smooth discussion. A Science Forum would be a great place to debate things, take sides on conflicting theories and so forth.
there are enough topics to talk about, but there arent enough users to talk about them. most armorgamers are here because they want to escape their intelligence, not embrace it.
It matters what your question is. If its something like What do you think.... etc. it should go in the World Events forum. If its like talking about one thing, and does not need opinions, then Tavern.
If we didn't start a science forum it would pretty much be a slaughter forum. Going on a limb I'd say most of the armorgames users are less than 14 years olds. This directly correlates to the amount of education they have and their ability to carry out a scientific conservation. Sooner or later and older memory that believes they are smarter then everyone will begin posting and abusing the forum. Soon their will be huge divide in understanding and ability to understand. Since some people will post ridiculous topics and other overwhelming complex topics.
The best solution is find a forum on the internetz that has to do with science and join that if you want to.
I concur what everyone else is saying, especially Darkroot.
If we had a science forum, no matter how nice that would be, it would be swamped by people thinking that they know everything (darn teenagers) and would end up being filled with those topics we cringe at.
The comment of there not being enough people wanting to discuss science is a plausible one, however if there was a forum dedicated completely to Science it would probably attract scientific minds - but on a site aimed at teenagers and younger these people would be swamped.
Plus...Religious comments would get added in and then flamed...
could just Google to know everything about science. need philosophy. :I
Another category that could be used in the new forum!
Maybe not enough smart people? No offense to any one but most may not have an interest in that sort of thing...
Or the fact that most of us do not have the expertise to carry on a meaningful conversation on a scientific subject anyway.
Like I said to 'ulimitedpower', you never know untill you ask the question! So if there are enough people who want to talk about it, it will show on the support he will get through this thread... I am interested in this topic (astronomy) and would like to find out more and talk about it!
If we didn't start a science forum it would pretty much be a slaughter forum. Going on a limb I'd say most of the armorgames users are less than 14 years olds. This directly correlates to the amount of education they have and their ability to carry out a scientific conservation. Sooner or later and older memory that believes they are smarter then everyone will begin posting and abusing the forum. Soon their will be huge divide in understanding and ability to understand. Since some people will post ridiculous topics and other overwhelming complex topics.
Still I think we shouldn't underestimate the understanding and comprehension of the younger minds on Armor Games, let alone their eager to learn! I'm 34 (old, yes I know) and I've had my share of topics I joined the conversation on and got my b*tt kicked on things I thought I had pretty good background info on and still was waaaay behind on a 14 year-old! And if the forum will be flooded with useless topics over time (which happens to all forums to be honest) it can be moderated and 'cleaned'. I think that's more fear of the inevitable, than courage to start this forum when you talk like that... let's just try it and see what happens! If it's a huge mistake, it will show itself and can always be stopped by AG when needed...
That sounds so pessimistic, like nothing ever happens on AG.
oh youre completely wrong. science topics have no limits. its the smart people here who do.
You don't have to be all that smart to talk Science: You could just talk about things like 'Oh, the Hubble Space Telescope is being renewed' and 'What's an earthquake?'. And the Science Forum wouldn't only have to be answers, there would be a lot of wuestions too.
Then again, I can't really argue that there doesn't seem to be many smart people on AG (At least, that show it on a regular bases to help the Forums).
Not enough to talk about, and not enough people will have conversations.
I have the feeling the Science forum will be about as big as SS: About 50 regular users, and 150 other users. That would be enough to form good discussion I find.
No offense to any one but most may not have an interest in that sort of thing...
But many people can discuss Science: Come on people, unless you go to a special school, they basically teach you Science every single day all year long (Exceptions are older people). You can't say no one will talk about Science when they learn it all the time.
Sooner or later and older memory that believes they are smarter then everyone will begin posting and abusing the forum.
And then some other newbies come along, and tell them to shut up.
The best solution is find a forum on the internetz that has to do with science and join that if you want to.
That answer is basically the lame solution to everything on AG: Go somewhere else where they have it.
however if there was a forum dedicated completely to Science it would probably attract scientific minds - but on a site aimed at teenagers and younger these people would be swamped.
Again (And this especially points out at 14 year olds): We learn Science in school every day. And as the years go by, the stuff becomes harder and more complex (To me, more fun, but that's not the point), and we know more.
If it's a huge mistake, it will show itself and can always be stopped by AG when needed...
I like DayCee's reasoning... He's right: As this is simply a forum, it can be deleted if it gets out of hand (Though I don't see why they would delete it unless it were flamed and spammed).
Why not start the science forum first under the World Events section, that's been suggested already? I'm sure someone will splinter off and start another about science fiction? I agree with most of you who are concerned with "teenagers" mind-set.
If you'll read the religious posts I think you'll find a lot of science hungry folk that just need to know where in Google to go to answer the Big Bang Theory questions, evolution questions,etc. Oh, Unlimited Power brings up a good question with, "Why hasn't a science forum been started?"
I really think it has more to do with fear or, perhaps laziness. I'll start with the latter.
I'm a parent of a teen who perhaps is exposed to more data at school than I was at his age at school but I feed my mind and push myself mentally more and more often, than he.
No offense to teenagers, because I think the majority of the ones I've read behind at AG are "thinkers", but their grammar, phrasing could stand some polish. What I mean by fear is the fear of sounding foolish or getting swarmed by our neighborhood watch program. A polite way to say our pet ogres who really aren't trolls..., take care of the newbies in their own special way.
As for Philosophy, I think there's enough people to debate it too.
I'm a parent of a teen who perhaps is exposed to more data at school than I was at his age at school but I feed my mind and push myself mentally more and more often, than he.
Do you honestly want your teenager to learn science from a flash game forum? I've seen the results of misinformation and mis-education. My friend was on a forum where are person told him a perpetual motion devices that creates more energy that is put into it is possible. He ended up arguing and alienating the physics teacher in my school.
it would be swamped by people thinking that they know everything
Not only that, but it would attract idiots who give false information and claiming it's true. The only way to prevent this from happening would be to enforce citing sources, but that would just get annoying for the mods after a while to check out every single bit of information to see whether or not it's true.
Do you honestly want your teenager to learn science from a flash game forum? I've seen the results of misinformation and mis-education. My friend was on a forum where are person told him a perpetual motion devices that creates more energy that is put into it is possible. He ended up arguing and alienating the physics teacher in my school.
That's unfortunate and no I didn't mean for my statement to be taken the way you took it. My teen rarely uses the computer, when he does, I'm in the same room with a full view of the screen.
I've started a science thread called:"Global Warming or Climate Change? Come on and sound off.
Ernie, I see your point but why can't a few of us police the forum and just report to the mods when something happens? I for one don't mind taking the day shift, like 7am-7pm...
