This was actually right along the idea I had and used the QC threads as an example; early on we did (still do, I’m sure) have 2 different QC threads, one for general conversation and one for us to lambast NDSP. One was in the Digital/Modeling sub and the other was in the Gear Rants or Thunderdome. Hell, JT’s OG Non-Owner’s Thread was basically doing that exact thing before this was a forum.
It’d require a bit of self-policing, which is a bit of a crapshoot to begin with, but maybe after a while members can suggest to the more rant-y ones, “Hey, there’s a thread for that”. I just don’t want it to be a thing where us mods have to go in and move several pages of a thread to the rant threads.
I used my own posts in the Kemper MK2 thread as an example, between Orvillian and I, we’re drowning out any potential enthusiasm that Kemper fans could even entertain with our gripes about Kemper and then it ends up a circular discussion on aliasing and blah blah.
Part of making this place was to ensure people had a place they could gripe away with legitimate concerns, without the kind of censorship that happens at TGP or manufacturer socials, but it was just as much formed to have a place we could laugh and have a good time. And also, it leaves the companies the option of participating in a neutral thread instead of having to avoid a thread because they can’t say anything about what they’re working on or simply don’t have any updates but still want to join in on the discussion.