Sorry, but I did try to find a more "casual" chat-section in the forum but I couldn't find one 
Is there such a thing as "The Lounge"?
Maybe the lounge forum should be visible to everyone as an incitament to earn the "regular member" status?
It's probably more exciting when you don't know what's inside 
, because there is nothing spectacular.
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Apart from the "What music are you listening to?" thread. 
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Maybe being just a "member" should be enough to qualify for a general chat group?
(We are waaay off topic now)
Fixed it for you.
I have separated these posts out to its own original thread.
These deserve address, as valid questions.
This is because the Lounge was given a form of exclusivity as a place that established membership could let their hair down without disrupting the HelpDesk.
But, it does have some problems. Harder to reach than intended - and easy to lose access to when a member takes a short hiatus from posting. It created a point where it's purpose is overwhelmed by it's exclusivity.
And hardly ever used.
To the chagrin of the members. I agree, actually, that a catch-all in the general access would perform better work.
A section that catches general purpose commentary would not subtract from Zorin OS's relationship with its members and users. It would enhance and add to it.
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A public lounge area where topics unrelated to Zorin can also be discussed would lighten the serious tone of the forum somewhat and allow users to just chat casually.
However, I’m somewhat concerned that this would significantly increase the workload involved in keeping track of all posts and intervening when necessary, leaving less time to respond to help requests.
Personally, I think there are enough general forums on the internet where users can discuss all sorts of things, and I particularly appreciate that the Zorin Forum isn’t like Reddit or others. I have no problem supporting this if there’s someone who’s willing to take care of it. However, it shouldn’t result in users receiving less help with their problems or have to wait much longer for a response. And that’s often difficult already now when it comes to more complex issues or feature requests.
I think the current discourse policy is good; perhaps it could be relaxed a bit so that once you've achieved Trust Level 3, you don't lose that status so quickly.
If the lounge were to open, I think we would need more moderators to maintain the quality of the forum.
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Lounge
Exclusive to members with trust level 3 and higher.
Wow it's locked in secrecy and only the most trusted members can discuss topics that the outside world don't know about. 
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apart costumes and ceremonies, but we will not talk about it here
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I can completely understand how adding a new space raises concerns about moderation workload and about keeping the forum's identity intact.
And your suggestion about trust level is a valid and worthy solution.
We added the Gaming subforum, and the forum did not become Reddit. Nor did we get an increase in threads. Subforums mirror existing community habits; they don't invent new workload out of thin air.
Let me put this forward with another piece of arithmetic: dividing. When we split General Help and Hardware Support, did that division invent new members, new problems, or new workload out of nothing? No. No one raised so much as an eyebrow. Because dividing an existing thing among existing people doesn't multiply anything. A Lounge would work the same way: it doesn't add people who weren't already here, it just gives the people already here another room to be in.
As a moderator, I'd actually argue this cuts the workload. It gives us somewhere to put the topics we currently struggle to categorize, redirect, or keep on-topic in threads that were never meant to hold them. This is not Reddit, the same standards still apply.
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I mean, You must understand: Somehow, we have to plan the secret World Order. And our Lizard People Allies don't like too much public.
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You made my day with that one! 
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I think it would be better to introduce a new category similar to the Lounge, where it’s clear from the start that it’s visible to everyone on the internet.
In my opinion opening the Lounge to everyone retroactively is not such a good idea. There have been posted some very private things in there that users may have posted in the Lounge precisely because not every internet user had access to them.
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Agreed, I think this was likely the intent of the O.P., that it be a free catch-all or Off-Topic section, rather than converting an existing group to sudden exposure.
This too, is why the Lounge should not bump established members back out after a bit of time of inactivity, since they can lose access to some personal threads.
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That's a very important point: this forum is about trust. All its rules are about trust and create trust 
. It makes a difference to post something within a small group or visible for all public.
We should be able to rely on that. While not physically present, the small lounge 
is like a "virtual sanctuary" a bit like the employees' break room.
To have more space for all users @Forpli has the best idea: creating a big lounge for all forum users... 
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I agree in creating a new sub forum.
But make it for Trust Level 2+. So you at least have to have been a regular for a couple of weeks so it doesn't end up with spam
I think that Trust Level 3 is too high and many regular users never reach that level.
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Or as @Thor had suggested (they have removed the post), to make the new lounge only visible for Zorin forum members and not to all internet users to avoid spam and to prevent that users only become Zorin forum members to write in the lounge about off-topic themes.
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I nominate it to be called...drumroll sound 
...
The Cafe 
(even though I don't drink much coffee lol)
Note to self: Hopefully by September 2029 I will reach Level 3. 
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You can drink Tea in a Café, too.
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