ConwayLife.com

I’ve had this debate privately with a moderator once, but I think it’s time to get a general community consensus.
There are topics in which enough people are also in that community that it’s earned some recognition, typically in the Discord server. Currently I would say music theory and linguistics count. You could argue that the forums may be a good place to discuss those topics because many other people know them.

There has been zero music theory discussion on the forum (except for CA-related stuff like interpreting the CA "grid" as notes), despite it being a channel on Discord. While I probably wouldn't allow it if it did come up, no change needs to be made because it's causing zero problems.

Linguistics is not related to CA.

hotcrystal0 wrote: February 20th, 2025, 4:00 pm Should community overlap topics be considered on-topic for The Sandbox?

No. The forums are about Conway's Life and other cellular automata.

Offtopic discussions that don't lead to further knowledge about Life/CA or better understanding of Life/CA remain offtopic. These forums are not for everything. There are lots of other places on the web and lots of other ways to discuss topics with other people.

hotcrystal0 wrote: February 20th, 2025, 4:00 pm Also, is it okay if I add a poll?

Not really. For any poll to make sense at all, the exact options would need to be discussed beforehand and agreed (with observable evidence of a consensus for the specific options for a poll), and the idea of having any sort of a poll on an issue in the first place would also need to be discussed and agreed beforehand (with observable evidence of a consensus to make a poll).

So far, most (attempts at) polls are unproductive or counterproductive. Most issues need an actual discussion with meaningful explanations and meaningful arguments, and not just counting unexplained votes.