Toxic Forum Topics

In your opinion, what topics are most always going to become toxic topics on a forum?

Do you allow these topics or take measures to prohibit them from being discussed on your community?

Politics is a biggie. Always causes issues.

PJMC1986 said:

Politics is a biggie. Always causes issues.

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It does. It can bring a lot of activity to the forum but result in an absolute nightmare in the process.

Shawn Gossman said:

It does. It can bring a lot of activity to the forum but result in an absolute nightmare in the process.

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What kind of activity do you want to bring to your community? There is activity that is aligned with your community s goals and niche, there is irrelevant or low value activity, and then there is activity that is negative or subtractive to your community values.

Activity is not just activity; there are gradients and shades to activity.

JoelR said:

What kind of activity do you want to bring to your community? There is activity that is aligned with your community s goals and niche, there is irrelevant or low value activity, and then there is activity that is negative or subtractive to your community values.

Activity is not just activity; there are gradients and shades to activity.

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It depends on your niche, really.

But definitely many gradients and shades and you need to align it with your values of course but also some topics are easier to get out of hand than others.

JoelR said:

What kind of activity do you want to bring to your community? There is activity that is aligned with your community s goals and niche, there is irrelevant or low value activity, and then there is activity that is negative or subtractive to your community values.

Activity is not just activity; there are gradients and shades to activity.

Click to expand...

It depends on the subject matter, do you want someone discussing politics when your forum isn't based around politics? This isn't aligned with other things, like the search engines. It's far away from your community subject.

Sticking to your core subjects is one of the best things to do, however, it's good if you want fast discussions and heated discussions.


Controversity and drama drives in users, as much as regular topics do. it's all about how you want to approach that as it can be off-putting to some members, and enjoyable to others.