Oldragbaggers wrote:I think this could be appropriate here, as a section of it's own, since it involves the construction of small shelters. Ideas that get put into play with these shelters may have a lot of crossover and end up being ideas that people can also use in the construction of their teardrops and tiny travel trailers. How can more good construction ideas be a bad thing??
That being said.....I would also add to the concerns voiced about keeping the politics out of it. I am also on a Cruisers Forum for boaters and one of the ugliest threads I have ever seen started out as a thread about boats being a viable alternative housing option for homeless people. Folks who had been friends on the forum for years ended up fighting like cats and dogs. Administrators had to lock out that thread, and several others that have come up on the topic since. (It seems like there is always someone who wants to keep the fight going and will just go start another thread about it.) It has become a real bone of contention that, once started, has been hard to stop.
It is obvious that this forum is no longer strictly about teardrops and tiny travel trailers anymore anyway, and for some people almost has a Facebook aspect to it where they want to post all their life status updates all the time. In some ways I get that because a lot of us have met other members camping and have become friends, although I do think that if you have come here looking for INFORMATION sometimes wading through all that stuff can be daunting. Personally, I have been here long enough to know how to pick through the posts. I think one thing that might help that for those less initiated to the forum would be to tighten up the definition of the "General Discussion" section so that it is general discussion of teardrops and tiny travel trailers only, and have all the Facebook type stuff go in the off topic section.
I have to agree with this 100%. I have seen too many friendships ruined, clubs broken up, and enemies made over politics and religion. This subject needs to be on a single topic thread if it is on this site at all. I do believe, however, that some of the ideas the members of T&TTT have had would also be valuable in the design of these little shelters. Because of this, and the obvious need to do something about the homeless problem, I would vote (while no vote was asked for) for a separate, heavily monitored, thread.