I don't think I've ever posted in any of the nation threads, so it's no big deal to me what becomes of them. I think there are more advantages to having them than negatives, though.

I believe the exact opposite will happen. Take away XBE (I'm saying XBE because it's by far the largest nation thread), and everywhere on VGC will become "safer" for xbox fans. Right now we have the situation that a lot of xbox fans don't post in the rest of VGC. That only makes matters worse. It'll make the already in minority xbox fans in an even smaller minority because most of them are only posting in XBE.

Well, I have been here for about 1.5 years so my experience is on this is lacking but from what I gather, Nation threads are great because, as like you have said, its a "safe heaven" for fans and imo, that positive outweighs its negatives.

Cause imo, if a person says, I love the wiiU over the ps4 for blah blah blah or I love a vita of the 3ds cause blah blah blah, in a Nation thread, chances are (as long as u are in the right thread), you won't get attacked and a lot of people in theory, should agree with you! Where as if you did that via ur own thread, you would probably get attacked as well as other things for better or for worse.

Same logic also applies to software. If someone prefers Digimon on the vita over Pokemon on the 3ds or XCX on the wiiU over FFXV on the ps4/x1, in a Nation thread, people should agree where as if you made ur own thread, then it may not turn out so well for you.

So I guess what I am trying to say is, Nation threads are great because they let people with similar tastes meet in a predictable and safe* environment which is very important, specially for newbies! And since the Nation threads are so big, a lot of the people probably don't comment on them or check them if they have no interest on the blah fanbase where as a new thread = more people commenting regardless of interest even if they are in the blah section, if that makes any sense.

So yea, I think we should keep them and they should continue to exist! Even though I visit one like once every 4-6 months loll

And honestly, there are plenty of other things that need to be improved/changed if we want the community to grow that should come wayyyyyy before the Nation threads. I think the Nation threads are the last things that we need to worry about when it comes to "growing/shrinking the community"

Wow, you basically said all I wanted to say! (except for the last sentence)

I have only created my account 2 days ago, so my imput won't be much but I really like the Nation threads. Being in a thread where you can discuss about ideas with people with a similar taste makes it seem a lot more friendly. These past two days were great and I was able to connect with others using the Nation thread.

Since the Nation threads are quite messy, non-fans of that company won't really bother checking them, a good and bad thing..

Also, the Nation threads aren't a hinderance for visiting other new threads so I don't think they should be removed.

The Nation threads eliminated a lot of smaller game news threads that were a greater part of the forums experience last gen. Users like Nsanity (who is probaby Ryuu of the xbox club) would post a lot more variety in threads for the whole forum instead of isolating it to the boys club threads. Now most of the smaller news is reported in this insular fashion. This has made the forums a lot more boring as news for games on both Playstation and xbox are only seen in one place. The Nation threads were terrible for this forum, now it is mostly arguement threads and hardly any news threads. The worst.

That's exactly why Nation threads are bad for the forum. Why should Xbox fans feel unsafe to post everywhere BUT the Empire?

I only regularly go to the Vita thread and it is my favourite thread by far on here. I prefer it because frankly this forum as a whole is a very negative one. In the Vita thread bunch of news snippets and positive attitude to most of it. At very least it is civil. I just want a place on here that reminds me why I love games and have other folks that feel the same way.

I will say you are right about it segregating the community. Recent best member competition had very active members never heard of as they post 99% in a nation thread.

I avoid the console nation threads because it's a big circlejerk.

I keep to the Vita thread because there's a lot of micro-news not worth a thread, and due to the very nature of what you've stated. Every new Vita thread was accompanied with no games, poor sales, etc. to the point where people were force to create the single place where Vita stuff was able to be discussed.

Honestly, if jackasses would be able to avoid threads they're not interested in, we wouldn't have a problem.

Edit: Honestly, I see them as a necessary evil. In an ideal world, the people in the nation thread would be the only ones posting in a news thread that would have normally just been posted in the nation thread.

I don't think I've ever posted in any of the nation threads.  I guess I don't "pick [a] side" :P.

I've posted a few times on the NintenDomination thread earlier this month and had a great experience then so I hope they stick around! Even though they may seem redundant, users are still free to make a thread after they post in the Nation threads. Plus, beginning users can't make threads for a while, so they can post potential thread post in the nation threads as well.