As many of you will know, we’ve had some highly informative discussions here on the forum over the last couple of years 
However, they’ve often been put in the Questions/Help section, which gets a tonne of threads! This has resulted in the discussions becoming somewhat lost in what is our biggest section. We’re going to rectify that with a new dedicated section for them 
Phoenix Discussions will go in the newly named Phoenix Chat/Discussions section (Previously just Phoenix Chat) and any discussions not related to Elixir whatsoever, can go in one of the General Programming sections
If you’re wondering what makes a good discussion, please read on!
Good discussions are the kind of threads which invite a range of opinions - rather than seek a specific answer to something.
Here are some good examples:
- Which database do you feel complements Elixir most?
- Which authentication library do you use and why?
- Which feature would you most like to see in Elixir?
- Which coding methodologies, principles or architectures do you follow or use with Elixir?
- What made functional programming ‘click’ for you?
- What do you think about Microservices?
- Single Responsibility Principle - what does it mean to you and your Elixir apps?
Here are some examples of threads which are not really discussions…
- Which database is right for my project? (Should be posted in one of the Help sections as it’s specific to your needs.)
- Which authentication library should I use? (Again, one the Help sections.)
- What kind of software architecture would be best for my project? (Ditto!)
- How do I create this query in Ecto? (Help section again!)
- Why am I getting this error? (Yup, you guessed it, this is a Help section question)
- I met José Valim today! (Light-hearted chat like this belongs in the Chat section)
- Let’s have an Elixir-related photos thread! (Chat section again!)
Generally discussions are a little more serious that light hearted ‘chat’ while being much broader than a Q&A. One benefit of a Discussions section is that as these kinds of threads usually have a longer life-span, people can jump into a discussion 3 months or even 3 years down the line. As with everything on the forum, discussions should be amicable and ‘add something of value’ to the forum.
While every now and again a debate might ensue from a discussion (or in fact any thread on the forum), please remember these should be participated in in good faith and be free of condescending, rude or abrasive tones
With that said, we’ve moved some of the latest threads tagged as a discussion into this new section and look forward to seeing what you post! Please don’t be surprised if we edit threads or titles to make them more suitable for this section, though.
Above all, enjoy! 
