Quote:
Originally Posted by DGthe3
I supported having a political forum back in the fall. The staff had a lengthy discussion both before it was created and after it was removed. We (the staff) figured we (as a site) could handle it, our members were mature and had many respectful discussions on political related topics. Oops.
It was removed because a lack respect quickly developed and there was too much spill over into the other areas of the site. The debates turned into arguments. It was a mess and a massive failure. We are welcome to having a political forum IF our members can prove that they an intelligent and reasonable discussion of the issues at hand. But as long as there are too many members that can't tell the difference between a Democrat and a Communist or a Republican and a Fascist it isn't going to happen.
This is a private forum, owned by Tran. He has ultimate say as to whats allowable here and what isn't. The moderation team is here enforce the rules here and keep the discussion from heading to disaster.
That said, there isn't a complete ban on political discussion. But we are very strict on what is allowed. Essentially, discus the topic and not the political nature of the topic.
Difficult to say the least, but its the only viable option that we saw.
Here's an example to show the difference between what we want and what we don't want.
The government is creating a new, higher CAFE standard - perfectly fine.
Those damm democrat tree huggers want to take away our V8's - nope.
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Unfortunately, we're not inclined to go down that road again. The many "panic du'jours" as Fbodfather would put it, and various doomsday threads illustrate to us that the site membership as a whole is not ready for a section like that, again.
It was and still is a great idea in theory. But it just doesn't work.
Sorry.
As DGthe3 said, though -- there is no outright ban on mentioning political items like CAFE, or other issues surrounding GM...just don't get into the politics of the subject. It is very possible to do; if you have a question on 'how', give us an example and we'll be happy to demonstrate.
