Quote:
Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen
My approach to them would be the same; create a master Obama thread for all of the discussion. Hell, even sticky it. This way, the people that want to talk politics get what they want, and the people that don't want to wade through all of those individual threads get what they want. I know that this may not be organized enough to make some happy, but let us face it; political discourse is less Napoleonic warfare and more bar room brawl.
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I would support this. I keep pushing for a separate political subforum. It is getting a bit much. I could understand if the individual threads were actual deep thinking discussions, but rarely are they. Some are simply cut and past from news services (as if we don't have the ability to read the news ourselves) and others are simply rehashing what has already been discussed on other threads.
Your idea of a Obama sticky, while a good idea, won't work because it removes the ego satisfaction of some of the posters. They don't want their opinions "buried" in some discussion form with everyone elses opinion, they want
their opinions in
their own thread, with
their name, on the front page. To some, this is important.
This is one of the reasons I think a separate forum for political discussion would work then everyone who wants to participate by flooding new threads can do so, while the other members can still enjoy the GT forum. A win win solution in my opinion.
Politics is a very emotional topic. There is a reason why in polite conversation one never brings up politics nor religion - Many people can not discuss either without getting emotional. Let's face it, most people consider their opinion to be the "right" opinion and really can't/won't understand that others may have a different opinion.
We have, in my opinion (which is the right opinion of course!
) four options.
1. Forbid any political discussion on SubSim. Not a good solution. It would be one where the cure is worse than the disease.
2. Have an Obama Sticky (your idea). The discussions about Obama are too varied for one sticky. This site would have to have a number of Obama Stickies addressing the full spectrum of Obama topics from one extreme (I hate Obama because he is Black) to the other extreme (I love everything Obama touches) and everything in the middle. It would be a nightmare for the moderators to handle.
3. Have a separate political sub-forum. This the solution I would prefer.
In this new forum, everyone could continue to do what they currently do, spamming Obama topics as they wish. Little extra work for the moderators. Any one entering the political sub-forum knows exactly what they are getting into. People who wish to post on matters political have the opportunity. People who have no interest in reading these type of posts won't have their "GT experience" affected.
4. Do nothing. The easiest solution. Most of us here are big boys and girls and we have the ability to not open up a thread. I am a big political interest guy. My interests are professional and academic. I love discussing politics! But honestly, I read the first 2-3 posts in a political thread and I can decide whether it is worth following. Most of the political threads I don't open. Sure it is annoying to see the thread titles listing yet another "I hate Obama" topic, but I am a big boy and I can simply read the threads I like and then select from the quick links "Mark forums read" to gray out the threads I did not want to read.
Censorship on the Internet Tubes is a complicated and emotional topic in itself. In a perfect world, the members of this site would decide for themselves to self manage the thread topics. But this is not a perfect world. People will post here with an agenda, with their personal biases, and even with their emotions. Remember sites like this are probably the only place they can spout off their opinions. That is one of the unintended consequences of the Internet Tubes - Every one now has an ability to post opinions. And many people really like that.