Not expecting this thread to be open for very long, but here goes.

There seems to have been a marked fall off in the level of debate on BE.

Many regulars seemed to have disappeared. Have they been banned or just lost interest?

Shame because it was a good source of healthy debate. They were colourful characters from both sides of the political spectrum.

TIO is not doing it for me, at least not at the moment. Too many 'in jokes', one liners and stupid graphics.

Can't just be me - judging by the number of 'Posts' (as opposed to little more than text responses), TIO isn't exactly holding peoples interest compared to PDT up to a few weeks back.

What the heck do TIO & PDT stand for???? Not too savvy on text messaging.

At least there appears to be less of the idiotic posts on PdT

Thanks; just twigged. PdT = plaza de toros. But still in the dark as to TIO.

TIO = Take It Outside = a non-country specific more-or-less anything goes sub-forum.

I have to agree with the OP.

Whether by 'level' of debate you mean quantity or quality makes no difference, both have taken a dive.

This thread should remain open as far as I can tell as long as no rules are broken - particularly talk about moderation.

I too find the quick-fire one-liners un-clever, pretentious and tedious.

I've tried discussing something but it soon got lost in a lot of in-crowd obscure references that wooshed straight over my head.

In answer to the thread title, I suspect jumped rather than pushed.

Take it Outside! - British Expats

Not a Spanish uncle

Careful Fred - that's nearly a smart-alec one-liner...

Come on lads, change the record. There is a lot of big talk about what's 'gone wrong' but little done to change it.

Look, I get the off-puttingness (new word I invented) of the preceived 'in jokes' but do you think all of us who post in there now just appeared with full knowledge of what was going on? No, we each contributed bit by bit until we settled in.

Now whatever has happened here, is nothing to do with me but countless times over the last week or two, I and other members of the forum have attempted to engage with our guests from the PDT and with the exception of a few posters who have put forth an effort, we have been met with indignation, and self-righteous rants about our debating skills. Kind of silly, really. Then, as inevitably happens, people lose their patience and let off steam and the cycle repeats.

At no point has anyone tried to prove themselves right, or us wrong. Don't like what's being discussed at the moment? Fine - I agree, endless threads about the UKIP are pretty one dimensional and maybe talking about religion isn't everyone's cup of tea. Then start a new discussion on another topic. Present it articulately and without loaded statements or obvious attempts to rile people up and you'd be surprised how far it'll get you.

Otherwise, sitting here going on about how unfair everything is just makes you look a bit whiny, to be honest.

'Healthy' debate? Endless threads about Muslims and then attacking someone who dared to offer actual experience?

It was not healthy and it was not debate.

Then this endless "You're picking on me, miss!" stuff.

You can easily carry on in TIO, but you cannot expect to be protected from dissenting views, after all you're on a public forum.

...and more attention on the Gibraltar thread eh? So long as that thread stays at the top that's all that matters Fred....

"good source of healthy debate"

More like open abuse of some of the other posters who dared to offer an alternative view point.

There were plenty of threads that were not about Muslims or any religion for that matter. But then you, amongst others are very adept at making sweeping statements and generalisations.

Here's one of mine....Those who rejoice in the demise of PDT, appear to be 'left' leaning to put it mildly. The same people who brand UKIP supporters, DM readers and Euro sceptics ALL racist. Of course, I forgot to include anyone who dares to question UK immigration policy.

Who is rejoicing in the demise of PDT?

I believe that the majority of people are more likely to be rejoicing in the fact that PDT has become a good adult forum of sensible intelligent debate and discussion rather than the kindergarden that it had become.

Personally, I am enjoying reading the various posters points of view on such an excellent variety of subjects. Agreeing to disagree with each other without resorting to being verbally abusive makes for a good forum so I see PDT in a positive light whereas previously it had become negative and quite frankly very pathetic.

So keep up the good work everyone if you want to keep PDT thriving.

Rosemary

Well I am certainly not.
I think that it is good outlet for debate.
But I do think that some are pleased that it has become less prominent and perhaps diluted somewhat. And purely from my personal, unscientific straw poll they tend to be 'left' leaning.