May I also point out that if you have a "Mandatory" prefix, then a fair amount of the time it will be useless?

Wait... wait... hear me out...

You go to a website, seeking advice, but you don't 'surf' much (as quite a few of our 'querents' probably don't). You go through the process, and chances are you don't really know where your question fits in, or you don't even bother to look at the list.

So for now, the thread then starts on the forum without a header.

With a mandatory choice, we'd see a LOT of default headers.

With warts and all, I think the current format is the best. By splitting it into 'serious' and 'non-serious' rooms, you first of all create massive headaches for Max, Joe, the JoeClones and anyone else 'working' on the site, and you eventually end up doing nothing more than creating two identical sites, just one of them the participants feel more justified at yelling at OT posters.

Plus, unless you have either appointed monitors who will go through EVERY SINGLE POST on every thread, how can you keep track of when a serious discussion has gone BS, or when a BS thread has spawned a serious music discussion? And while not technically censorship, who will volunteer to handle all of the complaints from someone whose thread is hijacked from one forum and dumped on another?

There are a LOT of issues wrapped around any split of the forum. Heck, even using the filter will cause some of the problems noted above. With a hard filter in place, you'll miss the occasional gem that comes through the rest.

Personally, I like the thought that this place is almost a benevolent anarchy. I only wish those with a desire to 'reform' the website by attacking it would realize that they're responsible for more harm, and I suspect for encouraging more BS and vitriol than any other source (Ireland, Bush AND gun control combined).

M