The T-Dome is now a subforum of Other Chat

Oh Nica, you crack me up. You and your 'T-Dome' talk.

Of COURSE PC couldn't handle it last time, and though the intelligence of the majority of the forum populace has increased in that time, I would still be slightly concerned were it to return today.

Although the masturbation thread I made when the T-Dome was around proved to be quite popular AND mature, so that's saying something.

I don't remember the last time I viewed the actual T-Dome, but I think most of that has to do with it being an inactive forum and thus hidden. If it was there for viewing, I don't see why I wouldn't. I don't know if I will post there or not.

You know, I was one of the big reformers of Other Chat; pushing in HQ to allow more and more mature discussions, so yes. I think PC should have more mature discussions, but given the maturity of the community as a whole, they should be limited. I don't think our member base does or ever will have the level of maturity to be able to discuss topics that are placed in the T-Dome.

I think that the T-Dome could (should!) have a place at a Pokémon forum, just the same as it could have a place on nearly any other community. And while we may have a lot of younger kids here, for the most part, when I think of Pokémon, I think of the generation that grew up with it from the very beginning; my generation. Thus, I don't think of Pokémon as a children's game. I just think of it as a game that happens to appeal to children.

...In fact, it's a concern to me that our member base wouldn't be able to handle such discussions -- because I feel that there should be a place of discussion for them. In fact, it's a deep concern that some of our members can't even the level of discussions we have going on here today. Until I sense that our member base can handle the discussions we have today with maturity, then I don't think I'd support the T-Dome or many of it's topics coming back.

Do you think PC would be able to handle a forum like this?
The members or the staff? Probably neither.
I believe an idea was given up once for a mature debate forum where only selected members could post. I think that could work, but it may not be a worthwhile effort.

If you had access to the hypothetical T-Dome, would you view it and post there - would it have its place on a Pokemon forum?
No.

Do you think PC as a whole should have more mature discussions in regards to everything really?
Not unless that's what people want, and most don't seem to.

I have no satisfactory answer for your last question.

I think there are a fair number of mature members here, but I wonder at how easily we'd be able to adapt to a forum that would obviously need to have very different rules for what's acceptable. I can imagine there would need to be a lot of moderation, especially in the early stages of implementing something like this. But do I think it would work? Probably not. I'm one who thinks it would need to be a by-invite forum and that idea would just create a lot of work and cause hurt feelings among everyone not invited. I don't think that having something too mature open to everyone is a good idea, despite this being the internet, since it's not our place to assume everyone's lost their innocence.

Would I participate in such a forum? Of course. I think I'd enjoy it and I'd be curious to see who else would and what they'd say, but PC can't be everything to everyone.

I'd actually like to go out on a limb here and disagree with almost everybody lol. I think to say that this forum could not handle such a place as the T-Dome would be a gross underestimation of the entire memberbase. Of course there are a lot of members who might be too young to handle the topics there, but I'm sure this was true the last time T-Dome was tried. That said, the core active memberbase would have aged and matured, so it's not as though we are under the exact same circumstances as last time.

If they were to re-introduce the T-Dome, I would of course go there and post, and I'm actually quite disappointed I wasn't around to see it the last time lol - it sounded like a really fun place to post. It has a place on any forum, just because we're a forum about Pokemon doesn't mean that the areas of life the T-Dome would cover cease to exist.

I think the restrictions on what we can discuss are warranted to an extent, but not quite to the extent to which they are enforced. As the question says, kids already know far more than they did in the past, so coddling them is rendered rather pointless. I think it's good that they know more anyway, it's more honest that way. Protecting a child's innocence becomes less kind and more condescending after a certain point, and I think to assume that the kids that come on the internet don't already know (or couldn't find out through Dr. Google) the things that would be discussed on the T-Dome would be to once again underestimate them.

→ Do you think PC would be able to handle a forum like this?
I'm not sure. It would depend on the level of moderation. Although it's entirely different in nature to any other section of the forum. PC (like most of the internet) has a massive problem with elitists, but maturity is a totally different thing.

→ If you had access to the hypothetical T-Dome, would you view it and post there - would it have its place on a Pokemon forum?
Read: Yes. Post: most likely.

→ Do you think PC as a whole should have more mature discussions in regards to everything really?
If there was a reasonable way of moderating the age group to do so, then yes. I'd very much like to see some more mature discussion here, it's just a matter of it working or not.

→ Are the current restrictions on what you can discuss warranted, when you consider that generally due to the Internet, kids these days know a lot more than they should anyway?
I think that provided there's a strong suggestion to avoid the section if they're below a certain age, it would be no different to what's easily accessible via a quick google.

We have a similar area called "The Pub" on another forum I use and while the average age is a lot higher (probably about 19/20) it's the home of some VERY funny and/or serious discussion. It just needs to be heavily moderated. That's the main thing.

→ Do you think PC would be able to handle a forum like this?

I highly doubt that. There are way too many kids here on here and besides, the Thunderdome crashed and burned when it was open, or so they say. I wasn't around during it's blink or you'll miss it appearence but I did find a pretty good discussion about it somewhere and apparently, it was a miserable failure.

→ If you had access to the hypothetical T-Dome, would you view it and post there - would it have its place on a Pokemon forum?

I would most likely lurk it first before I do anything but if it turns into a troll hangout, then most likely no.

→ Do you think PC as a whole should have more mature discussions in regards to everything really?

It would sound pretty interesting at first, but I would have to say no. You'll never know when it will get out of hand because of people trying to abuse it. What if the younger users aren't mature enough to handle it? Unless there's some pretty heavy moderation, it might not be a good idea.

→ Are the current restrictions on what you can discuss warranted, when you consider that generally due to the internet, kids these days know a lot more than they should anyway?

Yes, they do know too much but that dosn't mean it's appropriate for PC.

→ Do you think PC would be able to handle a forum like this?
Yes, but I don't think the moderators can

→ If you had access to the hypothetical T-Dome, would you view it and post there - would it have its place on a Pokemon forum?
I've never posted there before, but I remember people being more honest there than the rest of the forum. So it's a good place to visit imo.

→ Do you think PC as a whole should have more mature discussions in regards to everything really?
Yes. Adds to character.

→ Are the current restrictions on what you can discuss warranted, when you consider that generally due to the Internet, kids these days know a lot more than they should anyway?
They actually know less than they should.