I kind of like the idea but understand the reservations other monks have. I think it would work if there were some level restrictions on who could post to the section. I think that would keep the amount of "noise" down. If only say bishop and above could post I think it may work because to get to that level you (as a rule) have contributed to site a fair bit and can be trusted so to speak. Just a thought.

The best thing I have found about off-topic discussions is the fact that a lot of monks know a lot about various other topics e.g. Unix and are able to share tidbits and interesting information that may not have been shared in a forum discussing that topic because they don't frequent those particular places.

-dwiz