The Ground Rules

[Martha]

We are opening this Forum as an experiment. Given that election season is upon us the Other Topics forum has been overrun with political topics. Threads belong here if the focus is predominantly opinion-based, concern public policy, prominent political figures, or topics about governmental conduct, unless the thread is directly pertinent to an existing forum, such as FIRE, Travel, Health Care.

Be courteous and remember to address the issue at hand.

The moderators have noted that some recent political threads have crossed the line from dissent and debate to insults and personal attacks.The community rules apply to this section of the forum and by participating here, you agree to abide by those rules. To that point, excessive sarcasm, extreme belligerence, insults, profanity, extreme anger, offensive comments about race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and national origin, are not acceptable and those who do not follow the rules will be moderated. __________________

[Dawg52]

Great forum idea. Keeping politics under one forum will make it easier for me to avoid such topics.

[samclem]

Okay, I'm in. Two observations:
- It might be useful to modify the description of the "Other Topics" forum to note that political stuff goes in the Soap Box forum. That might help keep the threads in the right box.
- I seldom notice, unless I start a thread, which "forum" it is in. I usually use the "Quick Links" function to look for my subscibed threads and for new (today's" threads, so going to a particular forum is not part of the procedure. I suspect a lot of folks do this. As a result, if a thread gets started in the wrong place, it will likely be awhile before many of us notice and call the OP on it.

[Martha]

Sam, I cleaned up the description for Other Topics to exclude Politics.

[HFWR]

Originally Posted by Martha

...extreme belligerence, insults, profanity, extreme anger, offensive comments about race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and national origin, are not acceptable and those who do not follow the rules will be moderated.

Dang, that pretty much covers most of my posts...

[Rustic23]

Now just when we might be getting an 'Ignore Thread' we could get a 'Ignore Topic'.

I am sure I will get drawn in to 'The Soap Box', but I know I would be a happy camper if I never got to see it. Not a complaint, and I think 'The Soap Box' is a good idea!

[retire@40]

Also, the "make thread invisible" option that Andy promised a few days ago to make available in a couple of weeks will help minimize political forum spam.

It's getting to the point that when I click on "new posts" I have to weed through the same old crap political headers by the same people, sometimes even when they respond to their own posts even though I have those posters on "ignore."

I don't mind a few off topic posts, even a few political posts here and there. But when certain posters keep posting the same political junk over and over again or just cutting and pasting hot news articles from Yahoo news and never have anything to contribute regarding early retirement, I wonder what they are doing here besides trolling.

[Khan]

Thank you!

[donheff]

Sounds good Martha. As long as we don't insult fellow board members we can insult public figures like that d*** head Cheney, right?

[REWahoo]

Originally Posted by Rustic23

Now just when we might be getting an 'Ignore Thread' we could get a 'Ignore Topic'.

I am sure I will get drawn in to 'The Soap Box', but I know I would be a happy camper if I never got to see it. Not a complaint, and I think 'The Soap Box' is a good idea!

Andy is working on adding an 'Ignore Forum' option...

[Wags]

Great idea.

Maybe this will keep the advocators of the ignore buttons and "make thread invisible" option from following some of us old poor devils around from thread to thread.

They say that they do not want to hear or read the so called "political spam" but for whatever reason they seem to be drawn to it.

Plain and simple if you do not want to read it then don't.

YouTube - Family Tradition

GOD BLESS US ALL

[Nords]

Thanks for taking care of this, Martha. Seven months to go...

Might I suggest that the "OMG, headline news!!!!!!!!" posters also have their threads redirected to this area.

Sam, when I look at the listing of "new threads" I'm able to see who started it and what forum it's in. I only right-click the threads I care about to start them in a new window, and then I can mark the entire summary as "read".

[retire@40]

Originally Posted by Wags

...They say that they do not want to hear or read the so called "political spam" but for whatever reason they seem to be drawn to it.

Plain and simple if you do not want to read it then don't...
GOD BLESS US ALL

Apparently, you haven't understood one word I said, so maybe if I repeat it enough times it will penetrate.

When you spam this forum with political junk, I have to read it because this software (as it works now) will always show the header to a thread started by the ignored poster when "News Posts" is clicked even if the poster is on "ignore."

Get it now. So to say it another way, the thread header shows even when the poster that created the thread is on ignore.

Let me put it another way. You are on my "ignore poster" list. When you spam this forum with political junk threads, I will always see that header even though you are on my "ignore poster" list.

If you can't understand that, then God bless you.

[Notmuchlonger]

Two men/women enter one men/women leaves.

YouTube - two men enter. One man Leaves!!!


Laugh people laugh geez

[Wags]

Originally Posted by retire@40

Apparently, you haven't understood one word I said, so maybe if I repeat it enough times it will penetrate.

When you spam this forum with political junk, I have to read it because this software (as it works now) will always show the header to a thread started by the ignored poster when "News Posts" is clicked even if the poster is on "ignore."

Get it now. So to say it another way, the thread header shows even when the poster that created the thread is on ignore.

Let me put it another way. You are on my "ignore poster" list. When you spam this forum with political junk threads, I will always see that header even though you are on my "ignore poster" list.

If you can't understand that, then God bless you.

my dear lady, there is no need for you to get your panties in a twist over this.

Just by the mere fact that you responded to my post (when I am on your ignore list) only proves (once again) that you continue to follow old poor devils like me from thread to thread.

With that being said just because you see a header come up does not mean you have to read it and if I am on your ignore list whatever I write will not show up on your screen.

Again it is plain and simple if you do not want to read it then don't.

GOD BLESS US ALL

[Martha]

Do I have to close the ground rules thread? That would be just too much.

[haha]

Originally Posted by Wags

Again it is plain and simple if you do not want to read it then don't.

There used to be a group called The Legion of Decency. They wanted the abolition of pornography, which by their definition included most anything that showed a man and a women in any situation other than praying.

Why did they want this? It wasn't that pornography ran out and held a gun to their heads and made them look at it.

I was because to them it was sexually appealing, but morally challenging. And they couldn't handle the dissonance this produced.

I would think that people who are all heated up over more and more ways to hide threads or posters or life itself from their daintly eyes suffer from the same problem. They are attracted to these topics, or these types of expression, but at the same time they are distressed by this.

Isn't that something that can be best handled by self restraint? Or self knowledge? Or by compassion for oneself and for others?

What would the Buddha say?

Ha

[Notmuchlonger]

Originally Posted by Martha

Do I have to close the ground rules thread? That would be just too much.

You should get the Tina Turner Mad Max beyond Thunder Dome avatar!

We dont need anothereerrrr hero.....

[HFWR]

I'm digging the Wonder Woman avatar, thank you...

[Notmuchlonger]

Originally Posted by HFWR

I'm digging the Wonder Woman avatar, thank you...

Are you really saying you do not like Tina?