People are posting less, you're right. People are posting less because it's become somewhere for people to state their opinion and then argue. nobody EVER discusses anything in the 'debate' forum because there's nothing to discuss - people know what they think. AF handled 'debate' much better by having certain topics which resulted in nothing but arguments which could NOT be posted about, and that should be done here if people want ToS to survive any longer than another year.

If you think anyone EVER only keeps their problem with others in 'debates' (which is, to steal a metaphor from cracked, like calling a serial rapist a 'can do casanova') then they are being unbelievably naive.
'Debates' create resentment between people, and that stays with them in ALL their replies to each other on every thread. Nobody ever cares about what the other person says, they just want to counter them.

And here I though I was the one being a misanthropic cynic, but it sounds to me that somepony ought to lighten up a bit from all that doom and gloom. Then again I'm not a psychic, so I can't tell what others are doing or thinking, so maybe I'm just happily ignorant about all the drama that always goes around.

Anyhow, I'm more than willing to do my part, so I ask that if I happen to say something inappropriate, then I'd hope that someone would at least tell me about it.

I think the Debate board's best function is to declare that a topic will be a debate from the beginning so people are prepared for that type of exchange (not that that makes it any more enjoyable) rather than just having a previously light topic erupt into fights. When a debate starts somewhere other than Debate, I have a really strong urge to do anything I possibly can to lighten the mood, which sometimes includes jokes, sarcasm, or a very open ended question relating to the original topic. I'm starting to realize this doesn't actually help at all, so my apologies for keeping it up for so long.

I can't wait to see how lively the forums will become once Avatar 2 comes out.

I think this is a good idea, seeing how I don't really see us debating any topic so serious, that it wouldn't call for some sort of humour every now and then.

Why should debates even be serious, since they don't even work? As in people just have their opinions and lob them around and nothing changes, so might as well have some fun while at it.

Do you get infractions for that too??

Put it this way: Tree of Souls wasn't meant to be a debate forum. The only reason the debate sub-forum is there is to prevent any arguments from spiraling out of any control.

I've disagreed with HNM on MANY things in the past but in this I actually agree. Coming from the person who helped out making a lot of the AF rules, here's why a lot of subjects (religion, etc.) were prohibited.

People are set in their ways: No matter how important this forum is to you, someone on the internet is not going to convince you to shake views that are so important to you. Its easy once you log off to forget about the good points the other side made and go on arguing the next day.

Flaming: Some subjects just result in flaming. Period.

Future animosity: Some people may go into the debate forum objectively, expect a debate, and leave without any lasting anger. However, some people do take it personally and the animosity you feel at other members with opposing views carries over onto other sections of the forums, thus spreading the argument out of the debate section.

Just wanted to put that out there.

I actually feel like it's gotten a lot better lately. I feel a lot of the animosity has left, and that much of the anger I had towards other members I've forgotten about mostly.

I don't know, I just don't want to seem like I'm belittling someone's point of view :S

No I do not :xD: I think I'm a little more careful about it than you, although you've been a bad influence on me lately :P

Oh no need to be careful, I've recieved infractions for innocent puns. And I will not take responsibility for your misbehavior :P

Anyone who thinks their opinions are that important deserves to have them taken down a bit.

You feel quite strongly about that opinion, eh? :P

I agree with the second point to a degree although people can learn not to take replies personally.

Although it's strange, you were often saying that you wanted to remove the debate threads but then what alternative would you offer? Or if no alternative could be made would present animosities still fester but only be enacted between members in PMs?

I have to say though I found your reply confusing since I wasn't sure who you were replying to and what you were replying to..

So you are saying that my opinion about opinions being meaningless is a strong one? Wouldn't that be like having a contradiction inside contradiction? Queue yo dawg...

That right there, is the joke my good friend :3

I guess the problem is that these days, if you take away the (although sometimes somewhat heated) discussion involved, you take away about 90% of the content of this forum.

I'd say the debate forum is pretty deserted these days. I remember when we had huge racket going on there, especially when Woodsprite was still here. I miss those days, because I don't care if there are arguments and disagreements, because I still like talking with people on the net regardless of topic.

well i have say is i apologize to EVERYONE who i made upset or hurt their feelings and im very truly sorry for that.. im a new me now.. when i was gone i had to learn to accept who i am and to change my ways so i made an idea to change the things i said or did. i am a new me.... im not that meanie who i used to be. and lets be frank... we are a family brought to here for a reason. like a friend of mine said... "people meet for a reason. to teach each other something." -lisa jones- thanks guys

sincerely: jake o'connell corvinus

yup, that worked out great...i spent nearly 5 years there and over 14,000 posts and guess what that got me? debate forum closed no exceptions and AF shut down forever. we need debate. civilized debate. otherwise, everyone's putting trash in the dumpster and there's no one to haul it away.

I feel that the debate section of the forum was closed primarily due to my topics.

It def. got interesting in there, that's for sure.
And Kaltxì EE nice to see you again :)

hey Enigma, haven't seen you in forever, damn good to see you again! :)

It certainly did. It's good to see you too Wind. I'm glad to see some familiar faces. I'm going to try to be more active again. It's a shame about AF, but I predicted it would happen. I told everyone we must engage in debates and find other things to keep members around. The decline in active members began just as soon as the very popular debate threads were closed. It was something interesting that kept members logging in. If customers are coming to your restaurant for the #2 on the menu and you remove it those customers will go somewhere else.

Ja'k! Did you think I got lost in the woods?! :xD:

Last time I was active on AF was in 2012! :shock:

(I've always been around)

It's good to see you again too Ja'k. I'm really glad that both you and Wind are still active. After all this time I didn't figure anyone would remember me, but as I said to Wind I plan to be around again. A lot of things have changed in my life (not for the better), but I still love AVATAR and I'm still just as in love with Neytiri as always.

I'll see you guys around the forum. Let's see what topics we can dig up in these archives. :awesome:

^It will be nice to have you around again EE, sorry to hear that life has caused some issues, and I hope things get better ma tsmukan. I can't believe how fast the time has flown.

i wonder if a new debate topic could be started, since we're all older now lol and civility is the new retro fad. digital peace is all the rage.

What would be nice would be to see the IRC populated again, we need more activity again :D

Some fun regular group chat sessions like we had them in the past would be amazing again.

Hi ��

:hi:

Still remember buying a copy of Avatar in 3D from you back before I even had a 3D tv or player.

Hope you're well!

hi Wameyn :hi::)