what % of members have turned off the Soap Box entirely?

[ladelfina]

Just out of curiosity.. since there was a 'forum-wide' election poll there.

Is that a statistic that the moderators have access to, and can reveal?

 

[travelover]

I turned it off immediately and my blood pressure shows it.

 

[ladypatriot]

Just out of curiosity.. since there was a 'forum-wide' election poll there.

Is that a statistic that the moderators have access to, and can reveal?

I visited the Soapbox when I first joined, when I was confused about dryer sheets. It is not for the gentle and meek; although they may inherit the earth, they won't survive a single thread in the Soapbox. I consider myself rather sturdy and stalwart, but "there be dragons." I peek in occasionally, and slam the door shut real quick.

Kudos to those who can spend enjoyable time there. For those brave folks, Macbeth said it best:

"I have almost forgot the taste of fears;
The time has been, my senses would have cool'd
To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in't: I have supp'd full with horrors;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts
Cannot once start me."

 

[MGYog]

Ah yes, the "mosh pit"! It's relishing to bathe in it once in a while. After all, this is life in all it's naked glory, and serves to sharpen your wits, as well as reinforce your biases - or knock them down. It is not for the faint of heart.

 

[Goonie]

I've visited [-]The Litter Box[/-] 'The Soap Box' two or at most three times. I haven't used the 'official' "Ignore Forum" feature (yet), I just ignore it and I don't venture there. I get enough political BS to fulfill my 'Daily Recommended Allowances' at the local coffee shop and via the nightly network news, and I ignore most of that as well.

 

[harley]

I put it on ignore a couple of weeks ago to avoid all the political flaming. I might go back after the elections, but I've been enjoying the forums so much more without it, so I may not.

 

[Martha]

No, we don't know how many ignore the soapbox.

I wish I could, as it tends to pull me in. I have backed out of talking politics for the time being. I avoided it the last election and that was probably the correct decision.

 

[HFWR]

The Soapbox has lived up to our expectations:

- Kept most of the political discussion in one place;
- Resulted in lots of name-calling, and the resulting bad feelings;
- And detracted from the subject of this forum.

I will continue to ignore it...

 

[retire@40]

The political spam is the main reason I originally requested and pushed Andy so hard for an ignore feature on this forum.

It's the best feature on this forum by far.

And yes, I have the Soap Box on ignore.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Ignore the soapbox? Why I might as well give up oxygen! How could I not chime in on "bash parents for not preventing legal teen's pregnancy?"

 

[ladelfina]

ok Martha, thanks.. I just thought it might be nice to know how many users out of how many were tuning in or at least seeing the topics, again mostly to ascertain whether a poll there has the chance of getting a decent sampling.

 

[chinaco]

What... and miss the daily scuffles. No way!

 

[ScooterGuy]

Electile dysfunction

I am suffering from the inability to become aroused or escited by any of the candidates or national 'fluff,' probably until 3 days after the election. The TV is off ... I'm not reading the newspaper or weekly news magazines ... I'm self-censoring the amount of information I take in.

It probably makes me a dull person ... but I'm a contented, live, un-stressed one. My concern is my DW and my home -- all else is fluff.

 

[Gotadimple]

I put it on Ignore about a week after it was created. It cuts down the posts in the New list to those I'm really interested in.

-- Rita

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Too much mean and nasty for lil old me in that area. I skittled away.

 

[samclem]

This thread is gonna turn nasty, too, I can feel it! Can this "What % of members have turned off the Soapbox" thread please be moved to the Soapbox?

 

[REWahoo]

This thread is gonna turn nasty, too, I can feel it! Can this "What % of members have turned off the Soapbox" thread please be moved to the Soapbox?

Sam, I love your logic...

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Why else would anyone start it here. Just to spread the infestation....

 

[Bestwifeever]

Thanks for starting the Soap Box forum--I shudder to think that the threads there would be all over this board otherwise.

 

[ladelfina]

sam, REW, notmuchlonger.. you are being the problematic, argumentative ones here. You can see my practical reason for asking; I stated it twice.

It's not my fault that people used the opportunity to sound off one way or the other.

 

[REWahoo]

<sigh>

Ladelfina, lighten up. Are you so mired in political debate you can no longer recognize a joke when you see one? I was pointing out what I thought was the humorous absurdity of Sam's suggestion to move this to the Soapbox.

 

[FIRE'd@51]

ladelfina, from your posts (#1 and #11) on this thread, it seems to me that what you really want to know is how the ER forum breaks down in this election. You feel, and perhaps correctly so, that the vote that we are getting from the poll on Soapbox may not be a representative sample, since many may not be aware of it existence. It seems to me the simple solution would be for the moderators (if they want to) to put up a forum-wide poll in a special thread, with no discussion allowed, that everyone can see and know is there. Then anyone who wants to participate can vote anonymously, and you will presumably have as good a representative sample as you're going to get.

 

[W2R]

I try to read the Soapbox as much as I can, as part of my Mod duties.

Before becoming a Moderator, I was no fan of the Soapbox. I was about as likely to look at a thread in the Soapbox as to look at those beheading videos that Islamic terrorists put online (and no, I never looked at those either!!)

Most people already have their minds made up before the discussion in these threads even begins. Frankly I am not sure why people get their jollies arguing politics, but I am OK with that, as long as they don't violate our Community Rules.

 

[Brat]

I really like the fact that we have a Soap Box to hold those threads. That type of discourse is unavoidable in an election year and I think it decreases the spit Moderators would receive if we deleted that type of discussion.

FYI, I recently had wrist/arm surgery from the result of a bad fall.. probably in a long cast on my dominant hand for another 4 weeks. More reading than commenting for a while.

 

[samclem]

sam, REW, notmuchlonger.. you are being the problematic, argumentative ones here. You can see my practical reason for asking; I stated it twice.

It's not my fault that people used the opportunity to sound off one way or the other.

Yes, sorry, I was making a little joke. I hope people can still take a little joshing around here.