Mr_Toitle I don't think it's bothersome to say that General Discussion (especially the political soapbox threads) have killed any member longevity to the website
I think "General Discussion" sections in communities can be a double-edged sword. The sort of discussions there can absolutely keep users engaged. But at the same time, it's usually not the sort of engagement you want. People will disagree about real world things and those disagreements tend to bleed over into every other interaction or discussion they'll have.
In order to maintain any semblance of civility, I made this site specifically for discussions about TMNT, or at the very least discussions tangentially related to TMNT for the most liberal interpretation of the rules.
Personally, I don't care if people have strong opinions about the TMNT, or even have some anger, bitterness, or vitriol. It's not like I'm a stranger to divisive opinions.
Hypothetically speaking, if Tom Waltz was on this forum, and he was writing comics that a lot of people didn't like, then I can't say I'd take any actions to censor anyone's negative comments about his work.
But at the same time, I think just by virtue of keeping the forum only about TMNT without any off-topic "General Discussion" threads, the toxicity here would be pretty limited. At the end of the day, we're only talking about ninja turtles here.
And speaking about moderation more generally, I don't really want to institute anti-harassment/anti-bullying rules or have the job of tone policing. At the end of the day, all of that will be subjective. That is where accusations of censorship or favoritism come in. My thinking is that if "harassment" or "bullying" involves posting personal information or rises to the level of spam, which are both against the rules, then I'll take action — but if someone has mean words to say because they disagree with another person about TMNT? I don't care, to be honest.
