Seems like we have a lot of threads that start off with politically charged, racist or other highly sensitive topics. While I've never minded a little meandering into sensitive areas, I wonder how beneficial a thread is where everyone is going to get upset and nobody is likely to change their position on a matter.
"How rude! What a %^&*ed up idea!! I can't believe you have the !@#$ing unmitigated gall to suggest that we might be offended by that stuff!!!"
I'm just kidding. I know that I can make the previous paragraph totally inoffensive to everyone if I add a couple of smiley emoticons.
You (or Gabe, whoever posted that) bring up an interesting controversy. Max and Mike-1 were banned largely for similar behavior in their anti-U.S. rhetoric. (I can't describe their verbiage as "pro-Canadian" out of my respect for the rest of that fine country.) At least two other current posters have been castigated for their apparent CHP-rants but subsequent moderator action was even more impugned. Moderators try to run the board in a manner suggested by poster feedback and the current feeling seems to be that this lowest-common-denominator standard of posting is acceptable. No one's complaining about trolling and indeed many posters are actually responding to those inflammable posts by hurling on buckets of their own fuel.
Racist epithets are pretty straightforward and will be moderated or the posters banned. Politics & "highly sensitive" seem more subjective and may be difficult to handle objectively. Of course I know "objectionable" when I see it, but others may have a different perspective.
I'm not looking for more work, but I think the board would benefit from a "Politics" or a "Rant & Rave" section where the aforementioned CHP-resembling posts could find a home. Or we moderators could edit those types of posts whenever they show up in "Others", and we could tell ranters & ravers to take it to M*'s Politics board or to whatever Greaney's board is doing these days.
You guys let us know what you want to do. If you don't like a post then rate it or start clicking those "Report post" triangles under the avatars.
I thought "Ignore poster" was a great feature all by itself, but I'm even more impressed by the "Moderate poster" tool, where every single one of a member's posts can be queued up for a moderator's approval before being posted to the board...
Starting OBSESSIVE threads about Mexicans is not my idea of fun either. Being of Mexican heritage, I frankly this type of content offensive. 
