On to a funny note. It should be good when Saturday nite live does there thing with it.

I completely support and agree with this decision. The 'debates' I saw happening were bigoted and targeted specific sexualities, genders, or groups. The OP's were really just validation posts where if you didn't agree with their statement you were brutally harassed and told your "opinion" didn't matter because they were correct. I'm glad to see them go.

People have been lukewarm on this forum for years, and considering how many people said that they didn't like the atmosphere it gave, it overstayed its welcome.

The forums were also not deleted because they didn't get traffic, or were not moderated. They were shut down because they ended up being less debates and more insultfest and the moderator's warnings were often ignored.

I feel this is a decision that was taken a long time ago, and that the thread that was made today was why it was closed.

no complaints from me about it going. Reading the topics in there always just made me cringe.

I really don't feel comfortable with this change. I've never even been into the debate forums--at least, not in a while--but it still seems like a "stepford wives" kind of move to me. Won't this cause drama to spill into other parts of the forums? Also, sexuality? So kids and adults who are questioning themselves can no longer talk about that here or is it just the kinds of debates, like whether it's natural or not? Could you please be more specific?

Shed a single tear for all the time I recieved shit and yet I stayed respectful RIP.

People use Issues and Advice subforum in Chit Chat for things like that, and unless someone was really going against the Community Rules, I think it's going to be fine for people to go and question themselves.

This is a really positive change for the site.

Anyone who's looking for the kind of discussion that went on there can post literally anywhere else on the internet where there are relevant forums and comment sections full of the like-minded instead of on a pet site.

This is why we can't have nice things. I think it could have been overhauled - for instance, the existence of a sexuality debate forum strikes me as more questionable than the existence of a debate forum on philosophy/ethics. It does however shut down a lot of topics which were, like others have said, an opportunity for a vocal minority to be loudly bigoted and make people feel unsafe and alienated, so, on balance, I agree with this step. Even though I love debating.

I totally get why. I visited that place this week for the first time years and I came to the conclusion that some people loved to talk shit about others and then said: IT IS MY OPINION AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH, DON'T YOU VIOLATE MY RIGHT TO FEEL THIS WAY AND SAY MY FEELINGS OUT LOUD. While they were talking pure discrimination.

There is no place for this kind of stuff on Subeta.

I just wish it had been moderated more heavily, some of the people who posted there could have used a nice reminder how you have to treat people. Of course, I can't see if those people did get warnings/cool down from the forums.

Mm, alright. Thanks for clearing that up.

If I went there it was usually only to watch trolls and/or to admire people with more patience than I. Due to that I won't miss this forum.

DARN I really liked reading everyone else's bickering! Buuut, it's not like I can't go elsewhere for that. ;) I support this decision, but I hope it doesn't lead to more removal of features/items/other etc. We can't please EVERYONE and make sure nobody is offended... I don't want subeta to become /completely/ sheltered, ya know?

(grumpy cat .gif)

Good.

Oh...I always loved seeing peoples' opinions being expressed. I would scroll down and yes, see some negativity, amidst a sea of positivity. It made me feel more positive about humanity in general, and let me know there were really lovely people on subeta.

I don't really make many friends on this site, everyone just seems so distant from me. That's my problem, but so you understand my point, it's because I find it hard to approach people on the forums. I feel intimidated, and the social pressures ('you ought to act a certain way' etc) really get to me; I worry so much that people will shun me if I say something honest, I frighten myself out of doing it at all.

While the debate forums, where people were free to ask questions and express themselves openly and honestly, were indeed a place that invited the worst - they were also an opportunity to see the very best of people. I felt closer to the community there, because everyone was invited to be honest. And if a viewpoint differed, you could challenge it constructively. You could even learn something new - I learned so much about other people in those forums, that I simply would never have experienced myself, and perhaps never come across otherwise. I am able to be a better, more considerate person for knowing the struggles of others. In life, we have to appreciate the good whilst acknowledging the bad. If the forums were closed only because 'heated debates lead to anger', then I believe we have chosen to submit to the bad, and lost the chance to see the good that came of it. I feel as though the celebration of individual differences was very much a part of subeta.

I do understand that, for many, I'm certain seeing some of the bigoted viewpoints again and again must have been very difficult. But, personally, I feel that my gain (learning tolerance, exploring issues I may not have come across, seeing others being understanding) was greater and more durable than my loss (momentary negativity). This isn't a plea to bring them back. I'm just throwing in my views, and those are: I'm going to miss those forums.

TL;DR I'm waaaaaay more of an optimist than I ever realised o-O

Tbh I hated the debate forums. I only ever expected there to be an option to hide them but removing them? Even better. This is a pet site-- I really don't want to come here to see people debate whether or not my sexuality or gender is valid or anything else like that. Every time I even saw the title of a topic in the debate forum, I cringed. Debate is a good thing and can honestly be eye-opening for some people, but Subeta is not a good place for it. The debate forums just allowed people who were spewing thinly veiled discrimination (and who would've been given a warning in any other section of the forums) to pull an "oh I thought we were supposed to debate here". Like I said, debate can be a wonderful and thought provoking thing, but not on a website like this. Thank you.

You can always just take to chatting in the chit chat forums and if someone brings something up, it's okay to talk about that stuff. The debate forums just bred a lot of hostility and a lot of people just used it as a breeding ground for spreading nastiness, which is really unfortunate because subeta is a place where we can all go to get away from that stuff.

Thanks! And you're right, I have seen hostility there in the past. I guess I didn't realize how prevalent it was because I usually skipped over those posts :x