In my view, you can see Other Drugs and Psychedelic Drugs as appealling to two relatively different groups of users, I imagine that a lot of PD posters rarely use cocaine or heroin, if at all, and likewise, that a lot of ODers don't take a lot of psychedelics or dissociatives. In addition, these groups tend to have different concerns and kinds of answers- injection technique and withdrawals, for instance, are best suited to OD, whereas discussion of ethnobotanicals is more at home with PD. There is sufficient differentiation that we gain more in terms of ease of use and organisation than we lose by splitting the user base (because they are essentially, for the most part, already two separate populations). We then have ED and CD, for MDMA and cannabis. The discussion in these forums tends to be of a more basic nature, given that these are often drugs which relatively young and inexperienced users are exposed to and curious about. In these cases, CD and ED allow those users to find the information they need without the hostility to those with less advanced questions that is unfortunately all too common, and prevents users of OD and PD from being deterred by, or frustrated with, a multitude of threads that are not relevant to them.
Opioids, stimulants and depressants are not analogous to these cases. Often, there is polydrug use, be it of heroin and cocaine or methamphetamine, or of a range of different pharmaceuticals. Some users of these drugs may stick narrowly to one substance, but it is more common that people who take speed, fpr example also take coke, and these users also take benzos. So, we do not have the two distinct user groups that allows us to separate OD and PD. Furthermore, the experiences of these users, even if they do not use the same drugs, is not irrelevant. People with opioid or benzo habits can advise those looking to taper down their GHB use. Those who inject methamphetamine can tell heroin users how to inject as safely as possible. So, we also do not have a case where users of different drugs do not conduct discussion relevant to users with a different DOC.
All too often, it seems that people want to split the forum for the sake of it, to endlessly balkanise the forum into tiny islands of specific discussion. This is wrongheaded, in my view, we should split forums only if a pressing need arises. Forums are nothing more than virtual spaces that people can use, and when people regularly associate with each other in the same space, a community develops. That is BL's only real asset, the people who use it and the things they contribute. In the past, forums have been split because there was clear reason to do so and popular approval of the move gave staff a mandate to go ahead with it. That's not the case here, I think if you ask the OD staff, and the OD users who are regular, long term posters here, the consensus is that things work as they are. What could we stand to gain by disrupting a forum that doesn't just work, but is one of the best, if not the best, resuorce for information pertaining to safe and responsible drug use?
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")