Every so often we go through a phase where we get a BUNCH of new posts that have no question to debate. And then, every so often, I post this:
QUOTE
AND YOUR QUESTION IS...?
We have noticed that more and more new topics consist only of lengthy opinion statements. This is not a blog spot. If you need a place to vent your frustrations and make a lengthy opinion statement, we suggest you look elsewhere.
New topics must have a clearly defined question or a clearly defined issue up for debate. Any topic without an obviously stated point of debate is not constructive and will be closed and/or deleted.
It is certainly acceptable to post a link and solicit members' opinions, but make sure you let us know that is what you expect. Simply posting a link to an article does not constitute a good topic.
I would also suggest that when a moderator or admin asks a member to clarify the debate question, everyone else refrain from posting until the original poster has had an opportunity to clarify him or herself. While we could all speculate on what the original question may have been, there is no point in wasting time and space doing so.
PLEASE start new threads outside of the Casual Conversation forum with a question for us to debate. I am really sick of closing threads because of this.