Staying Away From Political Threads...........

[Gumby]

How many times have we said to our kids 'Try it ..... you'll like it'

So say there is a Political area. I for one will not go there. So I won't get caught up in the troll rhetoric.

Now lets say the evil, name calling, insulting, cr&p bleeds over to the normal board. Seems that's what the moderators do. If it shows up there now, do they ignore it? If in the middle of the discussion on Health Care, things got political moderators could step in. I personally think there is a difference between 'The Current Republican plan calls for.... which is not workable because.....' and 'Those idiot Republican's and there disgusting moronic leader Bush believe ...... will solve health care'. The first is discussion the second belongs in the Political area.

Now, is there something written that says the Political area has to be moderated? If all know it is not, that it could/will/is not suitable for public consumption, and most folks should not go there, that good enough for me. Also let it be known that a moderator will from time to time drop by and anyone using profanity in their post will be banned for 1 year from the board, or life if you wish.

Might be worth trying for say the next three or four months. That would get us past the primaries. If it does not work, delete it, then you will have a proven history that things will 'spill over' and a political area is not workable.

I think your suggestion is a good one. Although we will never eliminate political discussion entirely from the other threads, a separate political area would have the great benefit of providing an easily ignorable area where those who intentionally start provocative threads (you know who you are) can post to their hearts' content.

It would also have the added benefit of helping to keep me away from these topics. I have never actually started such a thread, but I have posted on a few -- and regretted it every time.

 

[clifp]

I, and I suspect others, read the forums using the new topics view. I seldom pay attention to what forum a thread is in so I don't think having a political forum will make much a difference.

I don't see the trouble with political disscusion as long as non political threads are not badly hijacked.

For example I think a post on Joe candidate Tax policy is fine, if you aren't interested don't read.

On the other hand a thread that starts out looking for tax efficient mutual fund and gets turned into a debate about Joe's Tax policy isn't fine, and I urge the moderates to be aggressive next year on clamping down on threadjacking.

 

[SecondCor521]

On the other hand a thread that starts out looking for tax efficient mutual fund and gets turned into a debate about Joe's Tax policy isn't fine, and I urge the moderates to be aggressive next year on clamping down on threadjacking.

...I think the vast majority of threads here get threadjacked either moderately or severely, political or otherwise. Good luck with the windmill, sir.

2Cor521

 

[Wags]

Staying away from a political discussion is just like the forbidden fruit. Ain't going to happen.

It's just like death, taxes and the smell of good woman, I mean perfume - it just ain't going to happen.

GOD BLESS

 

[youbet]

I don't see the trouble with political disscusion as long as non political threads are not badly hijacked.

.

I agree and usually only join in the obviously political threads to have fun. But, when a thread covering a subject I'm interested in learning more about suddenly gets emotionally hijacked into a political rant.....blaaaah..... that stinks.

It's like you find someone who knows about fixing widgets and you convince them to explain the widget fixing process to you. They're busy giving you the information and someone interupts screaming that Bush can't even pronounce "widget" and blaaaah blaaaah blaaaah.

 

[travelover]

Staying away from a political discussion is just like the forbidden fruit. Ain't going to happen.

It's just like death, taxes and the smell of good woman, I mean perfume - it just ain't going to happen.

GOD BLESS

Wags, first you've gotta want it to happen!

 

[youbet]

A question for you folks that are more active on the web than me.......

Are the political threads that get started here original? Or are they just someone reading a political blog or political web site, getting worked up, and bringing it back here?

 

[retire@40]

A question for you folks that are more active on the web than me.......

Are the political threads that get started here original? Or are they just someone reading a political blog or political web site, getting worked up, and bringing it back here?

It's just a couple of jerks that have nothing better to do than to come to an early retirement forum and spam it with political nonsense.

 

[Wags]

It's just a couple of jerks that have nothing better to do than to come to an early retirement forum and spam it with political nonsense.

I guess that what sometimes happens when one retires and has a lot of time on their hands. What's wrong with political nonsense? It's what makes this country great.

And with this having been said, I am writing off into the sunset just like Mr. John Wayne and Mr. Gene Autry.

GOD BLESS

 

[youbet]

It's just a couple of jerks that have nothing better to do than to come to an early retirement forum and spam it with political nonsense.

Well......alrighty then.....

 

[TromboneAl]

Our telephone book has one section for residential listings, one for businesses and one for governments. As a result, you sometimes find yourself looking in the wrong section by mistake. I find that it's just about as easy to find something in one big set of combined listings.

I see this as a general tendency of people to want to categorize and sub-categorize things unnecessarily (e.g. C:\program files\common\microsoft\office\winword7).

That's why I generally resist separate subforums. Luckily this forum lets me use the New Posts link to put everything in one bucket.

BTW, the person who is worst about categorizing is Mitt Romney! What a jerk, right?

 

[RunningBum]

I, and I suspect others, read the forums using the new topics view. I seldom pay attention to what forum a thread is in so I don't think having a political forum will make much a difference.

Me too, and that's why I'd really like a feature to ignore threads. Once I see a title that's clearly political, usually easily confirmed by looking at the thread started, I'd rather never see that thread again.

Starting a Politics forum would just mean more of those threads, if I couldn't filter them out of my new threads view.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

politics is just another word for suggesting policy which might conform to your own feelings, perceptions, beliefs, etc.

tough to avoid without remaining silent.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

To which the response is either "No" or "Yo"...

In this case its NO!

Or in cases where someone feels they need to post something that'll piss off 50% of the people reading it because they want some kind of reaction to amuse themselves, perhaps they can just watch this and revel in the likely outcome.

Note, this is not safe for work. In fact, its not safe for anyone. Do not click on it under any circumstances.

Neatorama » Blog Archive » If Business Meetings Were Like Internet Comments

 

[REWahoo]

Ya just hadta do it, dinncha...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

It seems I was egged into it.

FIRST!!

 

[Martha]

I knew I could count on the bunny to be the bad boy.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Isnt it nice to know that there are some constants in the universe?

Problem is, I cant see that running a business meeting in that manner would make it any less productive.

Is that selfish of me?

 

[Nords]

How many times have we said to our kids 'Try it ..... you'll like it'
Might be worth trying for say the next three or four months. That would get us past the primaries. If it does not work, delete it, then you will have a proven history that things will 'spill over' and a political area is not workable.

Y'all need to start volunteering your moderation where your mouths are. I'm glad I wouldn't be responsible for riding herd on that hairball.

Or wait, here's a political forum, it's already populated, and it's certified H0cus-free!
Politics

 

[Janet H]

Can I suggest that if you want to post to a political forum, there are many. They are more equipped than we are to cope. The mods have tasers and chainsaws, they wear kevlar and enjoy personal pain... They have not or do not desire to retire early.

I googled political forum and found several interesting sites....

Argue With Everyone Political Forums
Liberal Forum - America's Political Chat Room
Liberty News Forum - Political Discussion Forum

Just sayin'.....

 

[clifp]

I will say in my 8 years of being retired, I reading and posting on a number of retirement forums, every few month the metadiscussion of banning/policing political threads is brought up.

It is impossible for an outright ban and difficult to police. That being said the Motley Fool early retirement board turned into a right wing political (and I am Registered Republican) forum and the board suffered as a result. Since this forum has moderators it is worth an effort to keep us political junkies from driving the rest of the members away. Most of this can and should be done by community policing.. Still some simple guidelines that moderator can use would be worth writing down and distributing.

 

[Janet H]

I agree and we have some - they can be found in the community rules.

Here's an excerpt:

Please limit discussion of politics and religion to the "other topic" forum, unless the issue is specifically pertinent to the topic at hand. For example, political discussions on health insurance can be in the Health and Early Retirement forum and political discussions regarding the tax code can be in the FIRE and Money forum.

On edit: This might also be applicable...

Be Courteous! We aim to ensure that the forum is an enjoyable place that you want to visit time and time again. Our underlying philosophy is that the strength of the member relationships we build here is what sets us apart from the other boards. Treating each other with respect and kindness, and thinking before you speak will go a long way towards making this an enjoyable place.

I guess if we need more, we'll add them.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I mod'd a forum that banned political topics. It just got stupid and there were too many good posters who got fed up with it.

It was easy to manage and enforce. If you posted political stuff, we deleted it. If you did it twice, you got warned. Three times and you got to take your posting energies elsewhere.

I can think of a pair of excellent posters who stopped coming here because they got sick of the political posts. Not someone bringing up something thats related to politics and a reasonable discussion among intelligent people about the matter, but the shrieking mimi political BS that really has no basis on an ER board.

 

[TickTock]

BTW, the person who is worst about categorizing is Mitt Romney! What a jerk, right?

I didn't realize he posted here! What screen name does he use

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Brewer12345.

Who wont mind that I named him, because I'm on his ignore list...