Would You Like To Have A Political Forum?

[pnpfanatic]

Just thought this might be a good idea...you guys decide.

[KevinR]

Just thought this might be a good idea...you guys decide.

I doubt that any good could come of it.  The "is ASL a wargame" or "BGG vs CSW" religious wars are nothing compared to a political discussion, and to do it without an established moderation practice is begging for trouble.  (99% of infractions and bans on the gaming forum I moderate seem to be for users who can't let a political point go undisputed.)

[pnpfanatic]

I know it will probably be abused, but my reference is to things like what's going on in the middle east and Ukraine right now. I know there has to be more designers among us than just me and research is the key to good design. Posting links to info, photos, etc.

Yes, I have watched the fistfights develop...perhaps a better word for the concept?

[Calandale]

I guess the question is what the focus is on. Just debating politics probably is fine in Fuck it all

If there start to be a lot of detailed political or military or really anything type of discussions that have a
real research element to them, it might be a good idea to segment.

[Robin Hoodlum]

We OTTers have a section for that on our site.
It is a troll fest.

Nobody changes anybody elses mind so it's... well, come on over and see for yourselves.
It's mainly the hardcore Right and the hardcore Left flinging insults and arguing, with those that are apolitical or centrist laughing at us.

(tee hee- hardcore was filtered)

[pnpfanatic]

No no...it's about sharing information...like the guy who is running the blog covering Ukraine...I emailed him to thank him. He tips to the Ukrainians a bit but he tends to post everything being reported on.

Yeah, more political research than mud slinging. If somebody wants to start a thread and whine they can...I'm always looking for material on insurgencies, the middle east, Ukraine and China (for instance).

We don't have to be like BGG guys...really...we don't...

[Calandale]

We don't have to be like BGG guys...really...we don't...

I assure you, we cannot. I also suggest though that it is unlikely we will ever have the number
of people or expertise here to be of terrible value.

[Rockhopper]

Voted no. FiA is sufficient for that.

[The Grinch]

Would it be possible for me to block everything posted in it?  If so, then yes, so all the politics would be in one place I can ignore.  I used to love debating politics, but now it pervades too much of life and it's gotten so bitter that it poisons whatever it touches.  Gaming is one of the things I do to get away from that crap.

OTOH if it's just about world events like Ukraine and the Middle East, I guess that could be interesting.  Just no domestic stuff for me, please. 

[Calandale]

Would it be possible for me to block everything posted in it? 

I could create a user group access restriction.

[Sluggonics]

Would it be possible for me to block everything posted in it?  If so, then yes, so all the politics would be in one place I can ignore.  I used to love debating politics, but now it pervades too much of life and it's gotten so bitter that it poisons whatever it touches.  Gaming is one of the things I do to get away from that crap.

OTOH if it's just about world events like Ukraine and the Middle East, I guess that could be interesting.  Just no domestic stuff for me, please. 

Yeah, I'd be fine if it can be filtered out.  I've never found political "discussion" on internet forums to be of any value to me - they're just shouting matches to see who can get the last word in.

[KevinR]

Would it be possible for me to block everything posted in it? 

I could create a user group access restriction.

That's an idea I've seen work well.  On the forums for Reaper Miniatures they have a subforum for politics that is inaccessable by default, but a user can request access (description here).  Then, if a topic on the main forum goes bad, the moderators can dump it in the politics subforum.  It also lets the moderators remove temptation from certain posters (where I moderate, the forum blocks anyone with multiple infractions from the off-topic subforum).

[pnpfanatic]

Ok, last time, it's not a place for a pissing contest. It's to post information about political situations affecting conflict. Since my focus is contemporary conflict I have found it is almost impossible to separate one from the other. The civil war in Angola is an example or Liberia which was basically if Hunter S. Thompson had started a war.

As for auto filtering it out don't even bother...I'll just post to military games and only have to keep up with one area.

[KevinR]

Ok, last time, it's not a place for a ****ing contest. It's to post information about political situations affecting conflict. Since my focus is contemporary conflict I have found it is almost impossible to separate one from the other.

Seriously, I don't think "news" and "rant" can be separated on an open forum.  I can't count the number of threads on other forums I've seen locked because, despite frequent informative posts from folks on the ground in Ukraine, certain forumites couldn't control their urge to re-argue every pissing contest of the last 200 years(*)

The one place where such a thread survived it was because a moderator was located in Ukraine, so they could post news to a *closed* thread.

(*) -- The Crimean War discussion spilled quickly into who screwed up in the various former Yugoslav states.  The Kyivan Rus discussion at least avoided modern politics (aside from Ukraine-Russia issues).

[Sluggonics]

Ok, last time, it's not a place for a ****ing contest. It's to post information about political situations affecting conflict. Since my focus is contemporary conflict I have found it is almost impossible to separate one from the other.

Seriously, I don't think "news" and "rant" can be separated on an open forum.  I can't count the number of threads on other forums I've seen locked because, despite frequent informative posts from folks on the ground in Ukraine, certain forumites couldn't control their urge to re-argue every ****ing contest of the last 200 years(*)

The one place where such a thread survived it was because a moderator was located in Ukraine, so they could post news to a *closed* thread.

(*) -- The Crimean War discussion spilled quickly into who screwed up in the various former Yugoslav states.  The Kyivan Rus discussion at least avoided modern politics (aside from Ukraine-Russia issues).

This is what I've seen - there's simply no keeping modern politics out, even of historical issue threads.  The comments of The Atlantic's fantastic series of WWI photographs are all just shouting back and forth about modern politics that people have grafted onto historical figures and eras, in order to point fingers for whatever situation the world is in today.