Oh! ...

Maybe it's not a misconception. Maybe it's my opinion.

But you're right, it all depends on what you want this forum to be. Everything else comes naturally then. If you want an office and I want a pub, we'll never agree on the furnishing and the opening hours.


Just to be clear, though:
I appreciate how things "of value", as you put it before, are being discussed here. But that's just one aspect for me. Not the only one.

And I see that the actual place to put real information without any noise is the wiki. Users shouldn't have to search a forum for solutions to their problems in an ideal world.


A personal aside, not a valid point in this discussion:

Originally Posted by CrashandDie

It's not being handled that way. Half the stuff is anarchy, because we (the moderators) scared of being too restrictive. Why would you be scared of having a tidy forum? Why is having a forum where posts remain on topic a scary thing?

I think the mods are too strict ATM; see this post from a while ago.

Why the idea of a "tidy" forum scares me?
Because for me, tidyness is the opposite of coziness (is this a word in english?). I don't go to tidy pubs to meet my friends. I don't want my living room to be tidy. Let banks and government agencies be tidy, not places where people meet.
Because I'm scared of people in suits with polished shoes and a focussed, narrow mind. There's only a small step from suits to uniforms, from diligent moderators to topic nazis. I'm scared of janitors who become Blockwarts.

This is all very personal and emotional, but you asked why it "scares" me, and fear isn't something objective.