type of discourse is a crock.

PMD is an exception, obviously. And for the code sections, "discourse" could be size, style, format instead, but they're still not differentiated by topic. Indeed, one may find snippets, cool uses, catacombs, obfus, and poems dealing with (say) removing duplicates from an array while saving a CGI session to a database.

For the purpose I described above, a single, wiki-style node ... would more than suffice.

Having wiki topics fall off the database after some short period of time would mitigate ongoing impact to the DB, and just doing away with voting completely would remove that concern from the table.

Are you proposing a single wiki node for all OT discussions? If so, then that's clearly easy to do, and in fact one of the existing "fun" wikis could be repurposed for this. But I don't think that's such a great idea; a single wiki would be strained to breaking in pretty short order, I think.

How about if we could make scratchpad-like wikis, or rather, wiki-like scratchpads: owned by a specific user (each user would get at most one such thing) but open for writing by others. Perhaps the user could even control who can and can't write on the wiki. The thing I like about this approach is that it naturally lets the wiki fall under the "I can do whatever I want with my homenode and scratchpad" rule, which means there's no such thing as off topic.

Are you proposing a single wiki node for all OT discussions?

Well kinda. But without ever having used a PM wiki and so without any understanding of their implementation, and hence, their limitations.

My thoughts were of something along the lines of the Front Page. Ie.

• Only root topics shown on the initial page.

  Actually, just root topic titles would impose least strain.

• Topics shown in reverse chronological order.

  Ie. Newest first.

• Only a set number of topics listed. With a more... link to see any others that still persist.

  Or better (if it's not too hard), only the last 3 days or 2 or just 24 hours.

• Once a topic fails to receive any further responses, after an initial, minimal period (say 7? days, it simply evaporates.

• An enforced limit on a) the lifetime of a topic; b) the size of each individual topic.

  These set at (say) 30 days and 64k, just to prevent things from running away and taking on a life of their own.

That's about as far as my thought processes went. A single node that provides access to recent activity without imposing high load. Each topic and responses a single, unstructured lump of text editable by any monk. (Or maybe any monk above some preset level of participation?)

Essentially, a CB-like place without the 255-char post limit and no 'constant polling by every user'; and a somewhat extended visibility time. No long term persistance. No searchability. No XP. No consideration. No janitoring. No RSS or XML or Printable views.

How about if we could make scratchpad-like wikis, or rather, wiki-like scratchpads: owned by a specific user ...

I don't think that would serve the purpose.

The great thing about PM relative to blogs, is that each individual monk only need come to one place, rather than trawling a bunch of places that may or may not have something new, that may or may not be of interest.

The reasons for wanting to move OT out of the general discussion places are:

1. Short lived discussions about (say) radiation or the name of some German government organisation add nothing to the long term Perl knowledge base, so there is no reason for them to persist here. And long term impact of the DB is minimised.
2. Only those monks who wish to participate in OT discussions need ever look into the section place reserved for it.

   Even slightly off-topic discourse is enough to upset some monks; never mind extended discussion.

3. Having a single place where those monks comfortable with taking part in OT discourse.

   That way, the widest possible audience is canvased, commensurate with their wish to take part, without extraordinary effort of trawling dozens of places.

4. Removal of the OT section from the XP system ensures that we don't get extended discussions on the merits of Adidas over Nike trainers for the sole purpose of boosting a monks standing.

---

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

"Too many [] have been sedated by an oppressive environment of political correctness and risk aversion."

Thank you for the (mental) effort you've obviously put into this. However...

If the intent is for an off-topic discussion to evaporate after some time, then using nodes for it is a bad idea.

Yes, OT happens. But it should be discouraged. Making it easier or making a special place for it to happen has the opposite effect. Even if we implement your idea, OT threads, and especially OT sub-threads, will still happen, probably just as much as always, which means your benefit #1 isn't achieved, and likewise benefit #4, to some extent.

Given that, I don't see your suggestion as an improvement over the status quo, which is, Put "[OT]" in your title when you stray off topic.

Returning to my suggestion — it would be easy enough to add a "Recently updated homewikis" query to the existing "Recently updated homenodes" and "Recently updated scratchpads".

(Actually... I don't see a "Recently updated scratchpads" query. I thought there was one. Was I hallucinating?)

A word spoken in Mind will reach its own level, in the objective world, by its own weight

Once a topic fails to receive any further responses, after an initial, minimal period (say 7? days, it simply evaporates.

If this were to be somehow implemented retroactively, many of the nodes I've bookmarked via my Personal/Free Nodelets would simply evaporate (say, [OT] What is "the German Institute for Security in Information Technology"?, which I bookmarked precisely because of its discussion of radiation). Granted, then I probably wouldn't need my extra scratchpad, but overall I'd be very disappointed.

HTH,

planetscape