Please get rid of topical forums

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   promisemposted 8 years ago

   HubPages is now suffering what many other sites have suffered. The forums are getting ruined by a handful of uncivil people who mock everyone who thinks differently than them.
   
   The quality and (I suspect) the quantity of forum participation is in steep decline.
   
   Imagine a random visitor finds your article and clicks into the forums to see this kind of garbage:
   
   http://hubpages.com/politics/forum/1372 … barf-barf-
   
   Do you really think that visitor will be impressed and want to come back? These kinds of postings are detrimental to the image of HubPages and to all of the great writers who try to produce their best work here.
   
   I have worked in online media since the late '80s, and I have seen this happen over and over. Eventually, most other sites get rid of forums altogether because of it.
   
   I can't see any benefit to HP or the writers for these postings. They are no different than poor-quality articles that don't get featured. Why should forums be any different?

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      lions44posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Feel the same.  I've sworn off the Trump/Clinton questions.   The political topics are now exhausted.  If people want to discuss specific issues, I'm in.  But no more on the campaign.  Passions too high. Everyone needs to take a breath.  I notice fewer and fewer folks participating, so maybe the problem is working itself out. 
      Concentrate on writing great hubs and helping other hubbers out. That's my resolution.

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         promisemposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I'm glad to hear you also think that participation is declining. I agree that most of the problem is related to politics, but it has shown up in religion quite a bit too.
         
         Otherwise, there are very few posts in other topics anyway.
         
         Regardless of anyone's political beliefs, these kinds of posts bring down the credibility of HP. I see only upside and no downside to getting rid of them.

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      jackclee lmposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Totally agree. What's the difference between forum and Q/A?
      It seems they are interchangeable. I would get rid of one.

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Why not have both?

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   psycheskinnerposted 8 years ago

   The topic forums keep that stuff out of these forums, and are easily avoided.  I suspect doing away with them would mean we were back to those threads being mixed in with everything else and impossible to avoid.

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      promisemposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I understand your point. I hope the answer would lie in aggressive moderation.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 8 years ago

   Just keep repeating, "the election will be over soon... the election will be over soon...the election will be over soon..."

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      promisemposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Prayer doesn't seem to help. 
      
      I was seeing this trend before campaigning started to heat up, and I'm willing to bet it will continue after the election.

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   The (topical) forums Rock as they are ... barf barf and all! 
   Gosh!

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   Will Apseposted 8 years ago

   Sometimes you need a little dose of madness to make you realize that sanity is the best option.

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      promisemposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      LOL. Yes, that's a good point.

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