Poll: Smartest Forums on the Internet?

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Vimbert

New member
Aug 15, 2009
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Gadzooks said:
irefusetoincludenumbersinthisname said:
A friend of mine insists Something Awful is superior to The Escapist, but until I can afford to pay for a forum I'll leave that theory untested.
You can still read the forums without membership, just not reply. I sometimes read the posts when I'm bored.
I was not aware of that! I'll have to take a look-see one of these days.
 

Noone From Nowhere

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Feb 20, 2009
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It speaks volumes of your Internet inexperience when Something Awful or 4chan could even be considered for the smartest forums on the Internet.

Look at fora such as this one as a buffet. You might get a wide variety of entrees, some of which are pretty delicious, it just can't compare to the gourmet cooking of an upscale specialty resturante (for better or worse).

You just have to be willing to put your various search engines though the paces to find dedicated fora that intellectuals are likely to frequent.

Here are a few examples- http://forums.randi.org/forumindex.php?s=3577bd1c8c554dd9d8b7890edc83f609
http://forum.richarddawkins.net/

It pretty much goes without saying that Smartest Forum doesn't necessarily equal a Fun/Pleasant forum.
 

SimuLord

Whom Gods Annoy
Aug 20, 2008
10,075
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My money's on the Straight Dope Message Board. Sharp bunch of folks there.

The Dear Prudence Fray at Slate.com is another prime location for smart people.

What do those two fora have in common? The average age of the posters is MUCH older than the age on most Internet boards in general and game boards in particular. I'm often the youngest person in a discussion even at my age.
 

Mr.Pandah

Pandah Extremist
Jul 20, 2008
3,967
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SimuLord said:
My money's on the Straight Dope Message Board. Sharp bunch of folks there.

The Dear Prudence Fray at Slate.com is another prime location for smart people.

What do those two fora have in common? The average age of the posters is MUCH older than the age on most Internet boards in general and game boards in particular. I'm often the youngest person in a discussion even at my age.
And we thought you were an old bag of bones around here! =P
 

SimuLord

Whom Gods Annoy
Aug 20, 2008
10,075
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Mr.Pandah said:
SimuLord said:
My money's on the Straight Dope Message Board. Sharp bunch of folks there.

The Dear Prudence Fray at Slate.com is another prime location for smart people.

What do those two fora have in common? The average age of the posters is MUCH older than the age on most Internet boards in general and game boards in particular. I'm often the youngest person in a discussion even at my age.
And we thought you were an old bag of bones around here! =P
That's because I AM an old bag of bones around here!
 

Z of the Na'vi

Born with one kidney.
Apr 27, 2009
5,029
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A long time ago, back when Nintendo ran a decent website, there were the NSider forums.

It was a great place for intelligent people to talk about Nintendo games.

But then for some weird reason, Nintendo decided to shut the forums down.

I felt sad, but then I found The Escapist.

My faith in humanity has been restored.
 

Lullabye

New member
Oct 23, 2008
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I hearken to think the Mensa discussion boards hold a higher place on the internet intelligence chopping block than the Escapist, buuuuuuuuuut my pride as an Escapee won;t let me fully admit it, so I;m just gonna vote 4chan for fun.
 

Mr.Pandah

Pandah Extremist
Jul 20, 2008
3,967
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SimuLord said:
Mr.Pandah said:
SimuLord said:
My money's on the Straight Dope Message Board. Sharp bunch of folks there.

The Dear Prudence Fray at Slate.com is another prime location for smart people.

What do those two fora have in common? The average age of the posters is MUCH older than the age on most Internet boards in general and game boards in particular. I'm often the youngest person in a discussion even at my age.
And we thought you were an old bag of bones around here! =P
That's because I AM an old bag of bones around here!
Haha But you're our old bag of bones! We can hear you rattling on into a thread from a mile away. Or however many miles away you live from each of us.
 

SpaceSpork

New member
May 15, 2009
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The only smart forums I've been to are the ones I frequent, which are The Escapist and the TGWTG forums. So those.
 

ntnimara

New member
Oct 3, 2008
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Rand-m said:
ntnimara said:
long live the /b/
BREAKINGTHERULE1AND2-

Wait. I'm above this.

Definitely here on the Escapist. Everyone is just so... civilized.
Civilization is in the eye of the beholder...

also... following rules, even if they are /b/tarded rules... would be un/b/ish..
 

Not Good

New member
Sep 17, 2008
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/trv/ is smart. 4chan just added new trial boards and I had a slighly engaging discussion in /new/ about the SOTU.

Best thing about 4chan is that when something's current you have 1,000 shit heads saying "x is crap, y did it better" or "X FOR LYF"
 

Heart of Darkness

The final days of His Trolliness
Jul 1, 2009
9,745
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Prophetic Heresy said:
Heart of Darkness said:
The Mensa boards.

I mean, it's like a society just filled with genius-caliber intellectuals. No one can withstand their collective might of well-thought-out, worthwhile arguments.

Yeah, this is just a guess. But Mensa forums do exist.
I started to cry when I took a moment to think about the enormous amounts of smugness radiating off of each post.
Haha, yeah, but that's true of any other forum, too. You just need to find the right people, and your recommended daily value of smug will be satisfied before you snap your keyboard in frustration.
 

Jharry5

New member
Nov 1, 2008
2,159
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I've only ever been here, so I can't really pass a fair and balanced judgement.
...

*clicks the Escapist anyway*
 

Captain Blackout

New member
Feb 17, 2009
1,056
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4chan. Why? Because as a religion, fragmentism rocks, and all the Escapists seems to have to offer in return is atheism and anti-theism...
 

willard3

New member
Aug 19, 2008
1,042
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RPG.net, if we're talking about general discussion forums. Their "Tangency Open" forum can spawn some pretty strange things, but the mods are ruthless, there is next to no trolling, and even political/religious debates are surprisingly intellectual and fair, even if 90% of the forum members are atheist liberals and it's a thread on the existence of God.
 

Katherine Kerensky

Why, or Why Not?
Mar 27, 2009
7,742
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Well, I'd just have to say the Escapist.
I've heard bad things about all the other sites on that list.
Doesn't mean we don't have bad things happen here, but we have rules that most people follow, and those who don't follow them, the mods catch.
Besides, I have some very interesting conversations with people on this site, which I can't say of any other site (There was one other, not a forum, but the site is gone now).