The Most Useless Forum on Sci-Forums

[zinjanthropos]

What Forum category should go?

For me it's Religion. Ya, I know, I post there a lot. Never intended to, mind you. Before I got here I was interested in just about anything scientific. Somehow I managed to get involved in the Religion forum. I found it strangely addictive, like a bad drug. Can't explain why, I have no religious inclination one way or the other. I guess I enjoyed it because the subject of God is touchy and people argue incessantly about related stuff that none of them can possibly know about. Plus I know I can piss people off...not sure if that might be the attractive part, especially on an anonymous discussion forum where I can make anything up. I'm glad my friends never knew about this.

That brings me to this moment, my epiphany so to speak. Arguing about religion is like arguing about nothing and has to be one of the most useless endeavors ever pursued by man. Not only is it a testament to our stupidity but when you add up all the threads and posts you will find a grand total of zero for anything useful.

I feel like I just went through rehab and I am free once again. I'm done with religion and I hope other addicts can do the same. Besides, religion is not science. It's untestable theory and belongs in the trash. Christ Almighty(I feel good saying that) its good to be free of that nonsense. Why is it on the Science Forum again? I know there must be a reason.

Anyway, are there others who feel the same? Or is there another section that should be dealt a death blow?

[Harold14370]

Like you, I come for the science but get sucked into the religion forum when I see something that seems outrageous. I stay away from the "is there a God" discussions, which can never lead anywhere.

My vote would go to Politics. There are a zillion internet forums to discuss politics - why here? So far, I've managed to stay out of that one.

I requested for politics out of an earnest hope it would be civil on a scientific forum. Politics forums are full of ignorant dogmatic imbeciles that I never waste my time with. The politics forum has its uses. Asking for it to be removed when it was just created is a bit ridiculous, and unwarranted. What's funny is how you try to stay away from it, apparently you are aware how closed-minded you are.

As for me, I too vote religion. The reasons should be obvious. Religion discussions have long since been hijacked by soapboxing morons which the administration never sees fit to ban on grounds of terminal stupidity.

I would only condone its continuation if there was a strict set of rules implemented, essentially carving out the retard factor.

[spuriousmonkey]

sciforums?

typo?

Or did you really mean sciforums?

Probably meant it as a short version of "thescienceforum".

[spuriousmonkey]

Probably meant it as a short version of "thescienceforum".

that's confusing since there is a sciforums.

Yes, but it wouldn't make sense to make a thread about it here. Your opinion on this topic is..?

[spuriousmonkey]

all forums i do not post in are equally useless.

[captaincaveman]

As others have mentioned about being drawn in, i totally hate the religious section,but can help myself when i see some of the thread titles, i dont think ive used the politics one, though some of the religious threadscould have quite easilyhave been posted in there under political islam

[KALSTER]

I don't think the religion forum should be taken away. While it most certainly degenerates into "you are stupid and this is why" most of the time, some positive gain can be attained from it, especially by naive new members. Even established members gain some knowledge from it about different ways of looking at a subject/non-subject, if they are really inclined to. The religion section, in my opinion, might as well have been part of the psychology section, when looked at it this way.

I would also not mind the politics section disappearing, as I can’t stand the subject. But it does have value to the members that frequent it, so why not keep it? It will only bother you if you go in there.

[John Galt]

Obviously all the forums on the The Science Forum are immensely valuable, not only to the members, but to humanity as a whole, and indeed the entire Universe. Without the continued existence of all the forums it is inconceivable that life as we know it could continue for even a nanosecond.
That said, I never post in General Dicussion.

[streamSystems]

I think faith in science is very important.

I think we need to at least "believe" that a grand-unified-theory is possible, a way to artificially construct gravity.

I think our HOPE that a GUT is possible is a type of faith, especially in the absence of realistic evidence to suggest it is nigh.

[theQuestIsNotOver]

No truer words could be spoken.

To master gravity is a grail.

To share that understanding, to elevate a planet, is to undertake THE uplifting experience of eternity for this species.

Alas, the mettle of this forum starts appearing when everyone gives their opinions. Instead of objective reasoning, deciding upon which forum is the least useful as a whole by what contribution they give to critical thinking or other scientific criteria, it's largely based on...some unknown personal opinion.

This, as you may guess, is a bad thing. I even read someone saying to remove politics just because they "hate it". At least I gave a proper reason for the removal of the religion forum. It's not contributory to science or anything else other than the back-patting of our various theistic nutjobs.

[spuriousmonkey]

i never understood the desire for a grand unifying theory.

I don't see the logic that dictates that there should be one.

[KALSTER]

I even read someone saying to remove politics just because they "hate it".

I would also not mind the politics section disappearing, as I can’t stand the subject. But it does have value to the members that frequent it, so why not keep it? It will only bother you if you go in there.

As others have mentioned about being drawn in, i totally hate the religious section,but can help myself when i see some of the thread titles, i dont think ive used the politics one, though some of the religious threadscould have quite easilyhave been posted in there under political islam

[Neutrino]

If we're talking about this board I guess I'd go with "Engineering & Transportation". Followed by Electronics, Military Technology, and Politics in no particular order.

[streamSystems]

Alas, the mettle of this forum starts appearing when everyone gives their opinions. Instead of objective reasoning, deciding upon which forum is the least useful as a whole by what contribution they give to critical thinking or other scientific criteria, it's largely based on...some unknown personal opinion.

This, as you may guess, is a bad thing. I even read someone saying to remove politics just because they "hate it". At least I gave a proper reason for the removal of the religion forum. It's not contributory to science or anything else other than the back-patting of our various theistic nutjobs.

You're a psychologist?

Surely you have conrete enough thinking to realise that a GUT "is" a HOPE, and in sympathy for all the hypocrits such as Penrose and Hawking who think a GUT may be possible while discounting the importance of "faith" along that road, we need to seriously consider a type of "faith" let alone "hope" is required to keep their fires of pursuit burning?

The day of judgment is a day when the "truth" of space-time is available: then we shall know who is right and who is wrong, what ideas are crack-pot and what are not, who is pseudo and who is not.

You should be looking forward to that, as an objective-thinker: until then, maybe give "faith" (at least organised faiths) a chance, of course in the absence of that conrete theory of FACT.

What's worse: a monkey who thinks he knows everything about everything he has researched, or a man who accepts faith fills the gap of not knowing everything?

The Queen offering Knighthoods for scientific achievement to the heathen will be the undoing of her house.

Stream...the HELL are you on about?

[streamSystems]

Ditto.

What do you mean by:

Instead of objective reasoning, deciding upon which forum is the least useful as a whole by what contribution they give to critical thinking or other scientific criteria, it's largely based on...some unknown personal opinion.

This, as you may guess, is a bad thing.

?

[(In)Sanity]

Curious why anyone would want to remove a sub-forum from this forum? In any even the logical choice would be whatever one has the lowest post to age ratio. If it's been around forever and has next to know posts then it would be the logical choice. Religion has a ton of posts and has not been around as long as some others. Illogical to remove it.

Curious why anyone would want to remove a sub-forum from this forum? In any even the logical choice would be whatever one has the lowest post to age ratio. If it's been around forever and has next to know posts then it would be the logical choice. Religion has a ton of posts and has not been around as long as some others. Illogical to remove it.

That is the most FLAWED logic I have ever seen! By that logic, we should have a subforum for PORNOGRAPHY because it would get more posts and therefore be more "logically useful"?

Post count does not depict usefulness. Merely how much forum members like to waste their time in it.

[marnixR]

the logic may be flawed, but from the point of view of a forum owner / administrator an eminently useful approach

so when do we get this pornography section ?

[(In)Sanity]

Curious why anyone would want to remove a sub-forum from this forum? In any even the logical choice would be whatever one has the lowest post to age ratio. If it's been around forever and has next to know posts then it would be the logical choice. Religion has a ton of posts and has not been around as long as some others. Illogical to remove it.

That is the most FLAWED logic I have ever seen! By that logic, we should have a subforum for PORNOGRAPHY because it would get more posts and therefore be more "logically useful"?

Post count does not depict usefulness. Merely how much forum members like to waste their time in it.

Not sure why it's really all that flawed. If a sub forum has been around for a very long time and has virtually no posts then it is not being utilized and is taking up space on the page. It may be the most important sub forum to one person and mean nothing to others. Clearly if it's not being used it must be of little importance to the mass populous. Therefore it is the most likely candidate to be removed.

If a person at a company is taking up resources and producing little to no results then we just fire them

Explain the flaw in logic.

[(In)Sanity]

the logic may be flawed, but from the point of view of a forum owner / administrator an eminently useful approach

so when do we get this pornography section ?

Exactly the point, religion for example with it's many posts means that more people have viewed more pages and clicked on the little ads producing that one little cent that goes together to keep everything running. So while some may dislike having the religion section it was agreed upon a few years back to be related to science in some odd way and at this point helps keep the place going.

Clearly I could see reason why it shouldn't be around from a scientific perspective.

The political section will become pretty busy in 2008 at least for our US members. Electronics is not really a science nor is military technology. I added those long ago just to see if there was any interest. I for one like both topics, but I'm not married to them.

IS

[william]

I wouldn't remove any subforum.

To illustrate why:
I'm not sure I've ever looked at the business and economics section. But I'm sure that someday I'll have a business related question for which I'll seek the answer there.

Cheers

[william]

Actually, a "forensics" (as in criminology) section might be interesting....

Cheers

[KALSTER]

Actually, a "forensics" (as in criminology) section might be interesting....

Now THAT is a good idea! 8)

[Theoryofrelativity]

What Forum category should go?

For me it's Religion. Ya, I know, I post there a lot. ?

Let me understand you correctly

You confess to purposefully spending the largest part of your time here in 'useless' endeavour.

Clearly what you mean to say is, you hoped it would be more but you have been unsuccessful in your mission. The forum is thus not useless, you are ? Correct or no?

[zinjanthropos]

Let me understand you correctly

You confess to purposefully spending the largest part of your time here in 'useless' endeavour.

Clearly what you mean to say is, you hoped it would be more but you have been unsuccessful in your mission. The forum is thus not useless, you are ? Correct or no?

ToR, if anything I say can get a response from you then it is a success.

Not sure if anything I would hope is actually a mission but you're entitled to think whatever you want. I hope for world peace but it isn't my mission.

To be frank, I never actually planned to make Religion my personal sounding board. I actually find Religion quite humorous at times and some great wit just zooms over people's heads. Jeremy is a classic and I used to get a kick out of Ghost of Maxwell., he was such an arrogant son of a bitch who reminded me of someone I know, but funny.

Clearly what you mean to say is, you hope I would agree to your speculation but you have been unsuccessful in your mission. Need I go on?

Damn you Zin, you made me feel old by calling me a "classic". :P

Anyway, (In)sanity pretty much explained why any guidelines/banning/etc that slightly cuts down on forum activity will never pass. He's using it for income.

Religion, for example, does shit all but attract either logical people debunking morons, or morons thinking they're debunking logical people. Serves no real purpose. Same shit discussed ad nauseum. Yet it's kept for forum income due to traffic.

Therefore, any rule proposed that cuts down on traffic will be ignored. I now proclaim this forums fate "sealed".

Edit: Incidentally, this gets me wondering. Perhaps Prof is never banned because he generates more traffic and therefore more money? And I suddenly regret suggesting politics be created. Damn you.

[Theoryofrelativity]

Clearly what you mean to say is, you hope I would agree to your speculation but you have been unsuccessful in your mission. Need I go on?

No one ever agrees with my speculations so no it was not hoped. I expected you'd disagree so in that I was correct, but it was not my mission. My mission was to amuse myself and in that I succeeded.

Meanwhile, the mission I refer to re you was that when we debate we hope to effect change or achieve understanding. For you to thus conclude your dialogue has been 'useless' means that you have felt your words have fell on deaf and ignorant ears, which you now confirm.

I thus indicated perhaps therfore the problem lay not in the existance of the forum but in your method of communication or choice of subject to communicate with.

I was friends ish with Ghost ofMaxwell but we fell out over various issues. You can't debate with a block of wood my friend.

So in conclusion forum not useless, occupants useless.

[zinjanthropos]

Edit: Incidentally, this gets me wondering. Perhaps Prof is never banned because he generates more traffic and therefore more money? And I suddenly regret suggesting politics be created. Damn you.

It's the damn Stonecutters. Remember this part of their mantra: Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star? We do.

Same thing for Swaggart, Hine, Reverend Ike(God bless him) et al, morons make people money. Christ knows I suggested a few threads in there not realizing I was contributing to the exploitation of morons. Shit! (I have become Moron). I feel the need to purge(this helps) but I don't need to go to meetings.

[william]

Maybe the religion section brings out the worst in most of us, but MitchellMckain, on the other hand, is a shining example of it bringing out the best in us.

Cheers

Edit: Incidentally, this gets me wondering. Perhaps Prof is never banned because he generates more traffic and therefore more money? And I suddenly regret suggesting politics be created. Damn you.

It's the damn Stonecutters. Remember this part of their mantra: Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star? We do.

Indeed, Zin. So perhaps if we want any type of order or scientific guidelines on this forum, it is all of us that must boycott them until it's given.

Hah. Yeah. As if that'll ever happen.

[zinjanthropos]

Meanwhile, the mission I refer to re you was that when we debate we hope to effect change or achieve understanding. For you to thus conclude your dialogue has been 'useless' means that you have felt your words have fell on deaf and ignorant ears, which you now confirm.

I thus indicated perhaps therfore the problem lay not in the existance of the forum but in your method of communication or choice of subject to communicate with.

Methinks you are reading too much into any preconceived notions I may have had. I didn't go into religion to change the world, I went there to listen. Not to be converted mind you but to be entertained. I find Religion is inherently funny. Comedians couldn't write this stuff.

I have respect for many in here, you included. You appear very knowledgeable about what you say and I wish I could say the same about myself. I know I come off as a brash, uncaring grade school dropout but I'm really a pussycat (Cheshire).

[Theoryofrelativity]

Methinks you are reading too much into any preconceived notions I may have had. I didn't go into religion to change the world, I went there to listen. Not to be converted mind you but to be entertained. I find Religion is inherently funny. Comedians couldn't write this stuff.

I have respect for many in here, you included. You appear very knowledgeable about what you say and I wish I could say the same about myself. I know I come off as a brash, uncaring grade school dropout but I'm really a pussycat (Cheshire).

If you think it has entertainment value then it is not afterall 'useless'

Meanwhile I have no such opinion of you, and thank you for the compliment, brave man who stands alone

I shall treasure this compliment, it may be several years before I read another.

[zinjanthropos]

Maybe the religion section brings out the worst in most of us, but MitchellMckain, on the other hand, is a shining example of it bringing out the best in us.

Cheers

MM and I have had many a conversation. I really like MM also. However I am genuinely more worried for MM then any other respondent on the Religion subform. Mitch, like any good Christian is not afraid to announce his religious persuasion. When I first heard he followed Reverend Moon my first instinct was to poke fun at his choice. But I have personally had to deal with some of Moon's former parishioners, I won't go into it but to suffice to say that I feel sympathy and compassion for the man. Don't take this negatively, I'm not trying to be smug or condescending and its difficult to say this without pissing someone off but a very smart man has become a victim of religion. That's how I feel about MM. I like the guy a lot. I just wish his circumstances were different, that's all.

[zinjanthropos]

If you think it has entertainment value then it is not afterall 'useless'

Good point! But I've always thought this. Its a Religion subforum, not entertainment, shouldn't the believers be a little more convincing? Since they are not I find it useless in that respect.

[KALSTER]

The only use of the religion subforum is for the naive belonging to either camp to see some arguments concerning commonly held beliefs and such. For the rest, I don't think I have ever seen someone conceding to a major point = futile :?

[zinjanthropos]

Perhaps Prof is never banned because he generates more traffic and therefore more money?

Irony, its absolutely great. Some of the Prof's rants are specifically aimed at the Western World's lifestyle yet he is being exploited in the name of capitalism. This is great stuff.

Wait a minute. What if the Prof is a paid moron? a charleton? a shill? a drug addict in need of a fix? Hmmm

[Harold14370]

Curious why anyone would want to remove a sub-forum from this forum?

Well, I suppose you could have a cooking forum, a Pittsburgh Steeler football forum, a garden tractor forum, and so on but I think the site would lose its focus. Well, it's your site.

[free radical]

Well, I suppose you could have a cooking forum, a Pittsburgh Steeler football forum, a garden tractor forum, and so on ....

Pornography was a good suggestion but now you're just becoming altogether too silly.

[(In)Sanity]

Incidentally, this gets me wondering. Perhaps Prof is never banned because he generates more traffic and therefore more money? And I suddenly regret suggesting politics be created. Damn you.

Sorry to disappoint. The forum has made all of about $300 in over two years of existence. If I actually had the time to plot that far ahead I could have made far more money doing actual work then thinking of ways to make money here. Too funny.

Um, what? I said he was never banned. Not that he was plotted. Is this a confession?

[(In)Sanity]

Um, what? I said he was never banned. Not that he was plotted. Is this a confession?

Umm, huh? I think we both missed something. Perhaps I did, reading back I'm not sure I really understood much of any of it.

Read disclaimer at the bottom of this post.

Haha.

[marnixR]

Jeremy, you'll have to agree (In)Sanity's pov makes a lot of sense - after all, hosting a forum costs money and if you can cover that with some ads, i don't have a problem with that - i would have a problem though with measures that detract from the entertainment value of the forum

as for banning people : you don't just ban people because you disagree with them - in fact, i'd say as an administrator, banning should be the final option once all other avenues have been explored

[John Galt]

as for banning people : you don't just ban people because you disagree with them - in fact, i'd say as an administrator, banning should be the final option once all other avenues have been explored

Absolutely. Generally what we do now is to track down the recalcitrants, kidnap their pets and hold them hostage pending an improvement in their behaviour. This has worked in every instance except for Stream Systems who appears to be living in another dimension and cannot be located.

[zinjanthropos]

Damn you Zin, you made me feel old by calling me a "classic". :P

The classic reference has no temporal meaning. In fact it is a term I often use in real life to describe individuals who stand out amongst their peers. There doesn't have to be any specific achievement attached to it but it is my way of expressing admiration of your thought process. I usually bestow this mark of distinction on someone I could never be like but in whom I respect.

You make the forum a better place. I don't have to agree with you all the time but I can see your point. Refreshing to know there are people unencumbered by the weight of popular opinion. So keep cutting to the chase, keep championing the 'bullshit baffles brains cause', and keep your wit & humor.

Where would mankind be without logic and reasoning.....Jesus Camp?