OSDev.org

What is the point of a forum that declares of itself:

All off topic discussions go here. Everything from the funny thing your cat did to your favorite tv shows. Non-programming computer questions are ok too.

if off-topic discussions (non-programming computer questions) are randomly deleted? Perish the thought as to what would happen if I posted about the funny thing my cat did (hid a dead mouse in my slipper - ha ha).

Either get the policy right or else change the description; it's just stupid to be inconsistent.

If you refer to the open source vs. closed source topic, I simply made a judgement call that the topic was of sufficiently low quality that it would be better to have it disappear. The original post managed to be sufficiently incoherent and the subsequent posts didn't contribute much but remark the vagueness of the topic. I can bring it back if there's interest.

It isn't our intention to make it seem like offtopic posts are randomly deleted. But I do move posts of a particular non-contributory category (toxic, spam, or incoherent) to the hidden forum to keep things running smoothly.

It seemed a sensible enough question to me, raising potentially interesting issues about the use of open-source vs closed-source software (it was certainly clearer, and less obvious, than many of the questions in the development-related forums), but I agree that it was received with hostility rather than sensible answers. As the reaction on these forums to non-OS development questions seems in general to be fairly hostile perhaps the description of General Ramblings should be modified.

I suspect that we have lost a potential forum member.

Perhaps we should have an annual open-source vs closed-source software debate. Every now and then the topic pops up because people find it interesting.