@ cloud's last post

That's why I made this thread... so we could ALL talk about it, and ask the admin to act if that's the consensus.

Just as another data point -- I used to post in current events and politics from time to time, but don't anymore. There used to be moments of actual useful information. Now it's all canned propaganda. And meanness.

The mods who we all know and love typically stay out of most things. They don't stomp in with the banhammer very often because they expect that most dwellars are adults and will police themselves. From what I understand it was like that long before I got here and I don't expect that to change. This is a self-policing community so LJ's call to arms seems reasonable.

Now the question is whether this thread will just be a continuation of the "I'll stop throwing my shit at that asshole if he quits being a cuntface" behavior we see in other threads.

Gonorrhea-dripping cuntface, as it were...

I don't see the necessity. All we have now is another divisive thread. The mods should talk among themselves and decide--that's their job.

*snort*

You see this thread as divisive? I guess it is by definition... but it seems like most of the people posting in this thread at least agree that the issue exists. Unifying in that respect.

Damn you Lookout! You do too eat puppies!

I wouldn;t say I avoid the politics forum entirely. Mainly, I go by the 'new posts' search and don't really look at which forum they're in. That said, recently I have found myself clicking links and seeing a page of to'n'fro I just don't bother reading it, and go find something else instead.

I'm not sure what the answer is really. I'm not even entirely sure what the problem is. I mean, like Lookout said, we used to have very heated debates. Hell quite a few of us have fallen out , or come close, in discussions that hit our political, or moral buttons. We've dropped into flame wars with each other, taken sides and formed impromptu mini-factions, played out our conflicts and then played Three Word At A Time stories with each other.

I can't quite put my finger on why it is different now. What about it is different to what we were doing before. It's not that it gets personal now, because there was always that edge to political debate. It's not that there are feuds going on, because there always were.

*shrugs*



[eta] I am rather glad this has been brought up actually. I think it's right that we, as a community discuss this sort of thing. After all, if the mods were to start wielding amighty banhammer, or deleting/closing threads, or suspending members for the kinds of thing we've been discussin, then that would represent a distinct change in their style of moderation: that is something the community needs to be involved with I think.

Also: I don't think the mods should be jumping on any post that gets personal or insulting. We're grownups we can handle a bit of insult. It's the scale and frequency of a particular kind of argument I think that is causing the problems.

That is really a problem of the present tone. Any time we post in politics we risk being lumped in with whichever team claims similar ground. Even if we did shut them down for a little while there would be a recovery period. Politics would still be a little clumsy for a while. I find it pretty sad that having pointless conflict is more important to some than continuation of community and learning about how real people all over this world really live, think, and be. The Cellar is worth defending.

This discussion is what protects the mods from shrill cries of abuse. We need something approaching consensus to justify action.

I think it is about people caring more about their politics than about people. This is turning into a cultural problem in the States and gets in the way of actually addressing problems.

Oops, you made my point first.

Very astute point!


Ouch :us: A big hurts :donut:

I chose to put the individuals on ignore several days ago. I haven't read a post nor typed a word to either of them since. I plan on continuing. If I do I request that I be banned, temporarily or permanently, mods'/UT's choice.
That good enough?

Dana - of course I eat puppies, but not EVERY morning.

Classic - I think that's a great gesture but that's just treating a symptom, not finding a cure. Your posts are only a part of the problem so all this really does is reduce the volume a bit or in all honesty really just remove one of the popular targets.

IMO any "fix" that doesn't put us on the path to intelligent interaction (at least most of the time)in the politics and current events is a just a big old fail.

Ahhhh, I hate this damn blackberry! Hopefully at least some of what I was trying to say came through.

Well aside from my interaction with them I think it has been fine. I guess what I was saying is that if all the aforementioned parties agree to the terms then that would/could/should solve the problem.