I've mulled this over a little, and I think I agree with tyflier and others. I think I like the idea of having an adults-only forum. It seems that there have been two different kinds of problems of late. One, is that people are crossing lines that the majority of adults themselves here are comfortable with (e.g., comments that many people find degrading to women). Another is that people are having discussions that other people don't want their children seeing (e.g., lengthy discussions about "gay" as a common term that implies something negative).
I don't think anyone here wants a free-for-all forum where disrespect for others, threats of violence, degrading comments, racist comments, how-to discussions about drug use, etc., are allowed. I certainly don't, and in my pretty careful reading of the two recent threads about what is and isn't ok for public discussion here, I didn't hear anyone else saying they wanted or condoned such behavior here.
However, it might be nice to have a STILL MODERATED place where all the current forum rules of interpersonal respect and tolerance still apply, just as they do everywhere else on this forum, but where one can have discussions free from the criticism of "I don't want my kids to see this kind of thread." Photo threads that get a little racy can be moved there, even if the mods still warn about toning it down. If a person contacts the mods about hunting photos being upsetting for children to see, it can be moved to the adult section. And if a thread turns to civil rights and social issues--be it gay rights in the U.S., the equality of women in the U.S., the recent Pew survey that concludes that black sentiment about the future for blacks in America is becoming increasingly negative, abandoned female infants in China, the stoning of women by men in right-wing Muslim communities, or the invisible children of Uganda being kidnapped and forced to serve in the LRA--or politics--whether Obama can win, what about the war, the economy, illegal immigration, etc.--it can be started in or moved to the adult section.
Most discussion of recent topics indicates that people don't mind seeing my (gay) anniversary camping/herping trip photos or a few sexual jokes from time to time in general chit-chat, but they don't want their children to see lewdness, lengthy conversations about lewdness, lengthy conversations about the offensiveness of particular lewd comments, or lengthy conversations about gay rights in there. And I'm ok with that. To be honest, those types of topics ARE adult topics. I don't really care all that much about the opinion of a 12-year old on illegal immigration, it's a discussion for adults. I don't think that it's a subject inappropriate for children, but others might. An illegal immigrant might not want his or her child reading the vitriol that such a thread is bound to elicit from a few. I don't care about the opinion of a 12-year old on gay civil rights; they have a lot of maturing to do before they can vote anyway--that's a serious adult discussion, too. I don't think it's one that's inappropriate for children, but I do think it's one they can't fully participate in, and I'd be happy to have it housed in an adult forum. And that applies to political discussions, or those about religion. Those topics are not inappropriate for children, but who among us really wants to have a serious philosophical discussion about either of those topics with a child? And, maybe the Mormons don't want their children to hear non-Mormons' take on Mormonism, or maybe the Catholics don't want their children to hear criticism of the papacy, or maybe fundamentalist Christians (which I grew up as) don't want their children to hear misplaced jokes about snake-handling. Heh heh. On this forum that would actually be kind of funny. But anyway, serious discussions of such topics are inherently adult.
What I DON'T want to see is every camping picture I post of my wife and I standing smiling by a cactus relegated to the adult forum while hetero pictures of SO's are fine for general chit-chat. What I DON'T want to see is every "me too" I post that follows a male member's post of appreciation of a female member's picture relegated to the adult forum while the male members' posts get to stay in general chit-chat. I would have to continue to challenge that as a double-standard. But that's not really where I expect this to go, so I don't anticipate that as being a problem. I would be really happy, however, to have a place where I felt comfortable starting a "shout out" thread every October for national coming out day. I've wanted to do so for the last two Octobers, but I haven't, because (contrary to what is probably the popular assessment of my character) I haven't wanted to go out of my way to stir up what I knew would be a controversial issue. In an adult-only forum, I would feel comfortable starting such a thread (right alongside the recent "Military shout-out" thread, which, since adults are the ones who serve in the military, would also best be housed in the adult-only forum, IMO), because I wouldn't have to worry that someone is freaking out about their kids reading about (*gasp*) the gay people on the boards (of which, incidentally, there are quite a few).
So, free-for-all forum, no thank you. Adult-only forum that abides by the general forum rules and is still moderated, yes, please.
I have no particular desire to exclude mature children (and would have hated it when I was 16), but any mature child whose parents agree with them that it's important for them to be exposed to and participate in the kinds of discussions that would take place in the adult forum would surely be able to find their way to it, anyway.
If, at a later date, there were things that most members were uncomfortable with happening in the adult only forum (like detailed discussions of illegal recreational drug use, or members hitting on other members in such a way that offended most members' sensibilities) the creation of a "Hell" forum could be brought up at that point. But at this point, it doesn't seem like the forum members want someplace like "hell," but would appreciate a place to have earnest, honest, respectful adult discussions of topics that are important to them without having to worry that someone is going to say not to talk about it because their kids might see it.
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