Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
To avoid censoring posters, here is an aptly named forum to express things that may be controversial. Just as anyone not interested in wood turning is not required to read the Turning forum, all have a choice to read or not read what is in this forum.
A slippery slope it will be. I see nothing good coming out of this. 😢
@Sam Force,
I think it will be OK. This was created over a year ago when some readers wanted Maurice banned and others found his posts interesting. The WC TOS has always been simple and apparently effective:
Historically, we have not had a lot of official rules at WoodCentral, yet our forum has always been very civil. We abide by the generally-accepted, largely-unspoken rules of respect, courtesy and common sense that guide all communities, real or virtual. When in doubt, treat others as you would have them treat you. We do ask, though, that you refrain from discussing religion or politics, and we never allow
Spam in any form.
Off-color posts, dirty jokes or swearing. Please refrain from saying anything you wouldn’t say in polite company or in front of your children.
“Flaming” or personal attacks on others. Healthy debate and respectful disagreement are welcome; name-calling, bickering and back-biting are not.
Nothing he said violated any of the above to my mind, yet some readers were upset and wanted the posts removed and his account banned.
Creating new forums used to be difficult and moving topics was not possible. This is easy to do now, so I reasoned this was a good compromise.
I wasn't very creative with the forum name. Maybe something lighthearted like Neanderthal Haven would be more appropriate where posts by trolls and knuckle-dragging hand tool users could be separated from those of us in normal society. 
I'm somewhat on the fence with this.
Yes, nobody has to read it but they likely will. Some will see Mr. Woodworker's post in that forum as offensive and this will spill over into how his posts are viewed in the WWing forums and are likely to raise negative comments based on their feelings, not the WWing content. Then it may build into flaming.
@Bill Howatt,
Terms of Service wrote:3. “Flaming” or personal attacks on others. Healthy debate and respectful disagreement are welcome; name-calling, bickering and back-biting are not.
I think it is possible to be controversial without violating the TOS ("healthy debate and respectful disagreement"), and "flaming" is specifically against the TOS and results in immediate deletion and a temporary ban. The same rules apply in this forum as all the others.
With the traffic levels seen these days, I don't expect it to be a problem. Might have been back in the day, but probably not now.
@John in NM, traffic is higher than it has ever been, but they are just following search engine links and not posting.
admin wrote:@John in NM, traffic is higher than it has ever been, but they are just following search engine links and not posting.
Yeah, I guess traffic was not the right word to use. More like activity?
I've certainly seen people getting into spitting matches over non-controversial subjects relevant to woodworking, so I generally don't think it's worth trying to avoid controversial ones. Have a place for them so that people can avoid them if desired by individual users. Once activity hits some vague level of participation, you have to deal with animosity regardless of where it happens.
I've also seen forums close up the controversial forums when things get a little too sporty. That works too and helps remind users to tone it down a bit.
@John in NM,
Yeah, there is a lot of flexibility with this new forum software. For example, we can make this forum eyes-only for certain registered members where guests and new members wouldn't see it. Idea being new people wouldn't be turned off by it, and seasoned members would still be able to discuss things -- if they chose to.