Thank you. I started visiting that forum earlier this summer, and since then I'd been wearing myself out posting/worrying about responses to my posts while people were fighting things like my existence and rights. I'm glad that that's over and done with.

I didn't even think this was an option. I like it :)

Great change :)

So because some people can't manage to avoid a forum they don't like, people like me who enjoy debating get to have the main place on this site they participate in removed. Great.

the issue isn't "some people didn't like it but went there anyway," the issue is that the debate forum was frequently used as an excuse for people to voice their bigoted viewpoints and have those viewpoints validated by other users, which, as keith mentioned, goes against the new community guidelines and made many users feel unsafe. i'll quote what i said earlier:

good riddance to bad garbage

I haven't been there in years, because so much of it seemed so... asinine and bait laden. I'm glad to see them gone.

I never participated in those kinds of topics because they aren't really debates. In fact, most topics posted there were not debates at all. Just people asking for opinions. However, there were sometimes interesting topics that were opportunities to learn something new from another person's standpoint. Which is what a debate is really for.

I'm not sure I like the direction things are going here. I left Neopets 9 years ago because of the overly Draconian moderation, and now things are starting to head to be just as censored here too. While I don't want people to feel like crap, just silencing everything is not the answer.

What was needed here was closer control of what is or isn't a debate. There was a sticky about how to start a topic, but when this wasn't followed nothing was really done about it; until it reached a boiling point.

I just think it is completely unfair that it has just been removed because a 'super serious' forum doesn't belong here. Or because people can't handle someone being a dick. Nobody is going to remove people like this from you irl, so you're going to have to learn to handle it at some point.

This is just saying introverted people are not really welcome here because they don't fit in here for wanting to talk about issues rather than fluff. What should have happened is that the moderation should have been reminding people of what a debate really is, and the toxic people removed. Removing the forum doesn't remove the toxic people. They will just be assholes somewhere else. Just look at that horrid cesspool Subeta Speaks on Tumblr. None of that stuff happened on the debating forum. Guarantee the other forums will remain though. Seems to me this sounded like a good excuse to just get rid of a less-popular forum to me.

I have tried to talk in other forums on the site, but it's just full of cliques. Nobody even bothers to respond. The debating forum was the only place I could get a response. Now that's gone.

Good!

Yea,what said,not that I ever went there even once : / which by the way,the people who didn't like it could have avoided it just as easy as I did,But it's unfair to the people that liked it,Well that my story and I'm sticking to it. and I see now that has made a decision,was it a good one..I don't know,but it's his site..

Well... good riddance to that forum section. I've never visited that section anyway and definitely wouldn't mind being it gone.

Thanks for closing it down.

, If you never been there,why do you care ? and how are you ❤️

thanx Keith <3

The funny thing is I've seen people get pretty vicious on forums like site feedback and suggestions/ideas (and I can argue equally as much since they were more frequently posted in forums than debates was) and yet those aren't being shut down. xD I totally agree with you. It's like... don't like the forum? Don't use it? Most of the posts on here basically said they avoided the debates forum anyway. Not everyone posting on the debates forum was a troll and not everyone was out to verbally attack one another. It's not nearly as bad as people made it out to be. How can they know it was so bad if they avoided it in the first place?

"Don't like bullying? Ignore it!" This is the logic that gets thrown around. This is not how things are handled. The debate forums didn't make Subeta any better, they only created a bad atmosphere most of the time. And for many it's so easy to insult others because internet! Don't have to take responsibility of your actions and stuff because you're doing it (sort of) anonymously!

And it's not like there aren't any other places to debate at! Try doing it in real life and suddenly it isn't so easy to be an a-hole to others about their opinions!

Thank you Keith, for once again making Subeta a bit more hostility-free environment!

EDIT: And just because there are rude people and bullying in real life doesn't mean Subeta should let those things happen! Bullying isn't allowed in real life, either. And rudeness is just lack of basic manners. And there will always be people who disagree with YOU! The word 'debate' was used mostly as an excuse to people's crappy behaviour. !Because y'know, I'm allowed to throw crap at you because I don't like your opinion! How dare you think differently than I do?!?! And I need to insult others and put them down so that I would feel better about myself! If they get offended by my bullcrap, they should just grow up!!!"

Subeta is supposed to be fun and safe for everybody. "Have a nice time" and "Don't be that guy!"

IKR! A few months ago or so, I read a post in the suggestion forum where this girl made a suggestion that people didn't like. They were absolutely horrible to her. Barely stopped short of suggesting she should kill herself for daring to make a bad suggestion. Wasn't anything like "I think your idea wouldn't work because <insert reasons here>" it was just disgusting personal abuse. That's ok though, it wasn't in the debate forum so it's fine.

As for the suggestions from people that debate is not appropriate for here; well then nothing outside of Subeta related topics is appropriate either. If there are better outside sites for debate, then there are better outside sites for roleplaying, writing, art, entertainment, chit-chat etc... I would have thought the site would want to keep more users here rather than telling them to essentially go somewhere else.

I know me saying this stuff isn't going to bring the forum back; but if people who don't even use the debate forum get to choose its fate, then I'm sure as heck going to have my say at least!

Thanks for the update (:

Of course, it's not about subeta. It's the debates forum. There are many forums not related to subeta, so that point doesn't hold much water. People are easily just as petty in site feedback and suggestions, so the whole "doesn't conform to new subeta forum guidelines" doesn't make sense either. Just because someone has a different viewpoint from you doesn't mean they were automatically trolling.

But clearly I'm in the minority here who believe people can disagree while remaining civil. I guess subeta doesn't have the same faith as I do. Were things heated? Yes. But then moderate, don't just delete an entire forum because it's easier.

Was debates awkward? Sure. It was a place for a multitude of opinions and that makes people feel uncomfortable. differing opinions =/= bullying

I don't debate irl because guess what? People usually don't like debating irl either. I wonder why... I don't see why those who actually WANTED to debate aren't getting that option because some people are overly sensitive to differing opinions.

I don't like to roleplay. I don't go into the roleplay forum. I don't suggest other people to move roleplaying elsewhere (because surely there are much better places to roleplay than on subeta).

Don't like to debate with others? Don't go into the debate forum? How was that so hard to do?

This was just deleted because deleting an entire forum is far easier than moderating and we all know how badly some subeta forums need mods around.

lol right? I saw much more trolling outside of the debates forum. It's just more scattered and not as noticeable. Deleting an entire forum was such a cop out. This 100% positivity is nauseating. We shouldn't by that token have any tributes to irl events anymore. Forget it when someone dies or bad things happen. That's too sad. Let's keep things super light and fun all the time. :'D (let's also ban sarcasm in general and then I won't be able to post anymore X'))