What is The Line Between On Topic and Off Topic?

I'm raising this question in the Cinematography sub-forum because there is no sub-forum for Administration questions and this is the most widely read sub-forum.

One of the regular issues that is raised in the Cinematography sub-forum is sound recording. Unlike, for example, the RED User forum, there is no sub-forum here for sound. The thread on Sound Devices MixPre recorders is serving as kind of an ad hoc Sound sub-forum, but the very name of that thread makes much discussion problematic. Recently, I started a thread about digital microphones. This development is important, and I made a point about referring to the use of these mikes in films such as Les Miserables. A moderator sent the thread to "Off Topic".

In the last few months, there have been many threads in the Cinematography sub-forum about new cameras and how they compare to Blackmagic's cameras. A few days ago, one of these threads - for the Sony FX6 - was also relegated to "Off Topic". As far as I know, this is the first time that discussion about a Blackmagic competitor camera has been basically banished from the Cinematography sub-forum.

I'd just like to know what the rules are about what's on-topic and what's off-topic. One reason is that I spent a fair amount of time writing posts about digital microphones. I don't want to waste my time doing that if the moderators think that discussion about digital microphones, or sound generally, is irrelevant to this forum. I'd also like to know whether threads/discussion about cameras that compete with Blackmagic cameras is now prohibited in the Cinematography sub-forum.

I would also like to suggest that when a thread is sent to "Off Topic", the person who started the thread, and preferably those who are engaged in it, be told. In both of the above examples, the thread simply disappeared from the Cinematography sub-forum. There was no notice of that happening, let alone why, to anyone.

It won't come as a surprise that I think that both of these threads should be reinstated to where they were. If that isn't going to happen, I'd appreciate knowing why.

Thanks

These are links to the now "Off-Topic" discussions, which is a fancy way of saying that they have been banished and nobody will read, or engage with, the threads:

Digital mikes: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=124328&p=680860&#p680860

Sony FX6 Camera: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=126358&p=690508&#p689565

[CaptainHook]

I haven't looked into who moved the mentioned topics but it should not be surprising, this is just one section from the registration terms that everyone agrees to when signing up:

You agree that the Blackmagic Forum is for the discussion of Blackmagic Design products. Discussions regarding other vendor’s products that are not part of a general discussion including Blackmagic Design products are not allowed and should be brought to other, more general industry forums. This will help ensure the forum and discussions cannot be hijacked by product vs product conflict.

So the rules and terms for this are clear IMHO, if the thread is not about a Blackmagic Design product expect it to get moved to off topic.

It makes sense to me that unless it's specifically about BMD products, it's not in the cinematography section.

You posted an announcement about the Sony for example, with no actually comment or discussion.

I think that's the exact kind of topic that should go to off-topic.

There's plenty of forums for discussing those cameras and simply posting some Sony PR clips without any actual BMD perspective doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

jb

I'm raising this question in the Cinematography sub-forum because there is no sub-forum for Administration questions and this is the most widely read sub-forum.

I am late to the party on this one, but I now think I know why I have had such a hard time finding discussions of audio for my BMPCC 4K on this forum. It is very frustrating as it seems to me that doing audio with BM cameras would be hugely ON TOPIC. That one thread that I think Rob mentions is multiple pages long and very difficult to read. I have gleaned some helpful things from it, but long threads like that are hit and miss and I am not going to respond to one comment that is months old in a threads that already has hundreds of comments. I am heading to the OFF TOPIC section now to see if I can find more since the Search function is also very hit or miss.