As IRC and chatrooms are real-time discussion mediums, when people post there they usually don't preview what they wrote, since it appears publicly as soon as they hit Enter. This increases the risks of drama in case of misunderstanding or tense atmosphere and people are more at risk of breaking the
rules by accident. Also, contrary to popular belief, some IRC channels, which includes #Codewalrus (which is relayed to WalrusIRC) are publicly logged.
This is why we prefer that debates about sensitive subjects be posted on the forums, in a topic exclusively dedicated to that debate. For this, we have several sub-forums available for the topic. Lately, the main controversial topics were TI Community FOSS and the US elections. We believe that especially the former has been brought up way too often on IRC and in unrelated topics. For example, the former would go in
this section and the latter would go in
this one. This way, unsuspecting visitors and members won't risk randomly running into drama that they would rather avoid, and it is easier to keep under control (and members can flag or report posts that they judge innapropriate). Controversial topics should also include the word "controversial" in their title (not inside tags, since they don't always show up on IRC).
Now the next issue is the recent upsurge in life rants on IRC. Although IRC makes it easier to get quick help, it is publicly logged, which is why we have a private sub-forum that guests and low-posting users can't see, and since certain users might get stressed about not being able to help more than they would like or have their own share of personal life issues, frequent life rants on WalrusIRC or on IRC tend to increase tension, just like controversial debates, so as a result, we would prefer that the
safe-haven section be used for them. Stress will be much easier to manage for everyone, the conversation will be much easier to follow and it will be easier to provide advice, if any. There is a general topic about life issues located there, but you are free to create new ones.
We thank you for your cooperation as we thrive to provide a friendly and tolerant atmosphere for everyone on the forums.