So the description of the General category says "anything that doesn't fit into any of the other categories"... how about if it's only kinda related to Octoprint but is a more general 3D printing/design question? I'm having a great discussion with "Modellaner" on Thingiverse about one of his designs, but it's all in the comment thread, and that doesn't organize well. We're kicking around the idea of a new version of his design, and that'll probably require even more discussion, so I was thinking of a good place to have the discussion, and since this is the nicest forum I've seen in a while, was thinking this might not be such a bad place to have the discussion.
Are you anticipating input from other people here? How about inviting
other people to contribute who are not subscribed to Octoprint?
Private emails are probably the way to go for one-to-one discussions.
Another possibility is Gitter which works rather like IRC (which is another
option) but with a message list that remains static so you never miss
anything. Gitter is working nicely for an open-source servo-drive project I
am involved in.
The obvious choice of place to discuss Thingiverse designs seems to me to
be the Thngiverse groups.
But I am speaking only as an occasional user of Octoprint, I have no
connection to the project and no say in the forum admin.
Input from other people is a definite possibility, which is part of why I don't think email would be as good, as it's not a public forum. As for folks who aren't subscribed to octoprint, it's easy enough to sign up, and it would also work as some publicity for Octoprint. (Does it need more?)
Thingiverse groups is likely the best place other than here, there are a couple bike-related groups there, but I have to admit I like this forum more than the Thingiverse, which is why I thought of it.
I appreciate the feedback, thanks!
My personal 2cts: as long as the (slightly) off topic doesn't overwhelm the on topic (which I don't see happening 
) I don't have a problem with something more general being discussed on here, especially if it's 3d printing related. I'm not into heavily policing things, and even created this "General" category with this in mind. From personal experience in past communities, some kind of "just hanging out" category usually makes for good community vibes.
The nice thing about this forum software is also that if one is not interested in that part, it's easy to just completely ignored posts therein through the personal preferences.
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Not trying to drive you away from here - I like it here as well, but there are some decent general 3D printing facebook pages where such a discussion might reach a wider audience than just OctoPrint users (if that is something you are hoping for). One such group: 3D Printing
I like the idea of a category for "offtopic but 3d print related".. more specific than "general". Good place to go for troubleshooting and tips and such. Yes, there are other places, Facebook (ugh), Reddit, etc- but we have a community here, may as well use it.
I've participated in a couple Facebook groups, and have gotten some good info, for sure, but that's not my favorite forum for that information. I find Facebook groups really hard to follow if there's anything past a small amount of activity, and that linked group has over 1100 new posts today. 
That's a terrifying level of noise. I also (personally) don't find a Facebook thread to be the best for in-depth discussions. Thanks, though!
@cmh - I agree. Facebook is an awful forum for the sort of help you can get in a real forum set up such as this one. I took the page I referenced out of my news feed because it was cluttering things up too much. I just mentioned as an option. I have not seen much in the way of "General Purpose" 3D Printing Forums (but then I haven't spent a lot of time looking either).