If we removed CHAT and MAINSTREAM NEWS, we would get most of the posts members would have made there in the Fortean sections instead, just as if we removed WEBSITE ISSUES, members would ask how to change their avatars in the middle of a discussion about psychic penguins.
Elsewhere, there is no subject, be it Ukraine, Covid or Brexit, that is so important that your heartfelt views must be discussed here; must be discussed, yes, possibly—but not
here.
We are a Fortean community that for convenience facilitates non-political chat,
not a general online community with a special interest in Forteana. The sainted
@gordonrutter literally pays for everyone's presence in terms of licence and bandwidth costs; he's not interested in funding a place for general chat and political debate, and I, at least, am not interested in moderating one.
@EnolaGaia spoke often about noise to signal ratio: how a small amount of the former does little to affect the reception of the latter, but there is a (subjective) threshhold at which people simply drift away since the community is delivering too little of the content promised at the top of the page. For long-term members, this threshhold is very high (most would remain if we rebranded as Coffee & Banter), but for many new or casual members the bar is much lower.
Members who do not contribute material to the Fortean sections are
absolutely welcome—I lurked unregistered for a few months before warily dipping a toe—but those who never post in Forteana
and contribute tons of CHAT (of the 'post and forget' Facebook variety—Enola called it 'drive-by posting') are a bit of a pain if I'm honest. I sample browsing habits periodically and have found that a small number of quite regular members seldom even
read most Fortean Threads (no names, no pack-drill).
I sometimes hear that we have or will run out of Forteana, but I don't accept this. We maintain a broad enough definition (let's put it kindly) of that term that the supply will likely never dry up, but as others have remarked (
@Sharon Hill seems to know a bit here), the average age of members of most more traditional Fortean groups is rising. It's important, therefore, for us to present an open and welcoming community (that means more than simply stating we are 'open and welcome'); part of it is simply to remove those who routinely snipe, mock, roll-eyes and foster political dissension within a society of disparate individuals united by a single point of interest/concern.
This is not a call for 'inclusivity', this is a call to ignore the kind of identity-centred subjects that lead to a sense of exclusivity—the sense that 'only X kind of people visit the Forteana Forums'.
The comradeship engendered through mutual curiosity is easily eroded by mean spirits.
