Can we stop with the “Official” topics? What makes them official? Are they endorsed by the makers of what we're reading and playing? No. It annoys me to see this word pop up in every topic I read. It adds obnoxious clutter to the forums, and I propose we stop making official topics.

-a rant by SeptimusHeap, close it if you want.

Why does it really matter that much? TBH this topic is making more obnoxious clutter than a topic saying it's “official”.

ThirtyLives wrote:

Why does it really matter that much? TBH this topic is making more obnoxious clutter than a topic saying it's “official”.

This topic will fall quickly and/or be closed, so not really. Replying just bumps it up more. If you agree, you can post and keep it alive, if everyone disagrees, then they can report/ignore it.

The ironic thing is this topic is official.

“Official” means the main topic, providing the hub for discussion. Other topics that copy it will be closed for duplication, to avoid splitting the discussions.

ProdigyZeta7 wrote:

The ironic thing is this topic is official.

“Official” means the main topic, providing the hub for discussion. Other topics that copy it will be closed for duplication, to avoid splitting the discussions.

Then why call it that? It's not like putting “Official” in your title automatically protects it from duplication. Shouldn't a topic being “Official” be a given then? Duplicates of non-“Official” topics are removed. It does nothing but annoy me and most likely others.

SeptimusHeap wrote:

ProdigyZeta7 wrote:

The ironic thing is this topic is official.

“Official” means the main topic, providing the hub for discussion. Other topics that copy it will be closed for duplication, to avoid splitting the discussions.

Then why call it that? It's not like putting “Official” in your title automatically protects it from duplication. Shouldn't a topic being “Official” be a given then? Duplicates of non-“Official” topics are removed. It does nothing but annoy me and most likely others.

Putting “Official” in the title is optional, but only in the case of a broad subject, such as Pokémon or Transformers. I know it can be a bit annoying to see tons of “official” topics everywhere but it's not like you can just barge in and demand to change the titles.

ProdigyZeta7 wrote:

SeptimusHeap wrote:

ProdigyZeta7 wrote:

The ironic thing is this topic is official.

“Official” means the main topic, providing the hub for discussion. Other topics that copy it will be closed for duplication, to avoid splitting the discussions.

Then why call it that? It's not like putting “Official” in your title automatically protects it from duplication. Shouldn't a topic being “Official” be a given then? Duplicates of non-“Official” topics are removed. It does nothing but annoy me and most likely others.

Putting “Official” in the title is optional, but only in the case of a broad subject, such as Pokémon or Transformers. I know it can be a bit annoying to see tons of “official” topics everywhere but it's not like you can just barge in and demand to change the titles.

No, that's why this is a separate topic and I'm not posting this in “Official” topics, cluttering them.

We had a discussion about this in the mod forum around the release of 2.0. I'll provide a couple quotes for you:

Paddle2See wrote:

I'm thinking we might want to discourage the use of “Official” in topic names - it isn't Official unless it comes from the CM's or the ST. So if we see “Official MLP Topic” - maybe we just change it to “MLP Topic”. Thoughts?

Lucario621 wrote:

I agree with you that keywords like ‘official’ in topic names should be removed. Although, I should point out that people might end up also opting for other names like the “Central MLP Topic” or “Main MLP Topic.” And removing the word seems a bit silly/over-protective in a sense (since sticky topics kinda serve the main purpose “official” or “authenticated” topics). But regardless, I'm still for the change.

Harakou wrote:

As much as I dislike the whole “official x topic” nonsense (c'mon guys, that's not what official means) I'm not sure how I feel about actively removing it from posts.

Paddle's “final decision” answer:

Paddle wrote:

Taking ownership of “Official” in topic names - yeah, I guess that is kind of petty. And to Lucario621's point, we do have the final say with sticky topics. Okay, let's not do that while we give it more thought. You have to pick your battles

And me, being funny as usual:

I wrote:

About the “Official” topics - perhaps we shouldn't actively remove them, but should we add it to the MAC and RAP guidelines (that no-one reads more than once). It would need to be a new post on the topic to actually get people to see it.

Unfortunately, that part of my post was ignored, so it never happened (i think. After all, i didn't go read the guidelines a second time. )

So there you go. We've already addressed this concern, and decided to ignore it.

EDIT: Just to clarify, this is not something we usually do, quoting from the mod forum. I probably should have just summed it up, but whatever. Next time.

scimonster wrote:

Lots of info

Thanks for the info, sci. I still think the community needs to stop using “Official” everywhere, even if it's not officially enforced.

SeptimusHeap wrote:

scimonster wrote:

Lots of info

Thanks for the info, sci. I still think the community needs to stop using “Official” everywhere, even if it's not officially enforced.

I actually agreed with the point originally, but didn't feel the need to quote it. And, i still agree with it. Perhaps some people will see this thread and stop using “official” when it's not.

SeptimusHeap wrote:

Can we stop with the “Official” topics? What makes them official? Are they endorsed by the makers of what we're reading and playing? No. It annoys me to see this word pop up in every topic I read. It adds obnoxious clutter to the forums, and I propose we stop making official topics.

-a rant by SeptimusHeap, close it if you want.

Don't tell me what to do. :p

While the naming of topics as “Official” has no real meaning…it really doesn't seem worth arguing over or trying to enforce. I believe I'll close it.