Mods, give me one good reason

[Chris]

Why we are not able to discuss such topics as religion, politics and other inflamatory subjects so long as all parties in the discussion keep the discussion adult. In the past, there had been some very interesting discussions, and everyone understood that what was said was not to be taken personally. Then came the influx of idiots on the board, who took anything that was said as a personal attack. Assuming that people realize that all discussion in such a thread is not to be taken personally, why can we not have these topics.

This is one of the aspects of AO that I much enjoyed, and I dont know what made me realize this just recently. Maybe I am still irate at being kicked from IRC during the party for something that I did not do (I have already talked to the Mod, and I understand their prespective...so no hard feelings, but I am still not happy with it). Maybe it is because I quite enjoy debate, so long as it is done in an adult manner.

I know the reason these topics were banned, but what is wrong with them as long as we have rules governing them. We could place a notice in the subject of each thread, and anyone who would take it personally can just stay out of the discussion if they feel that they do not understand that what is said is not directed at them personally.

-Chris

[shartley]

[Chris]

Shartley, you set yourself up for that one I certainly think that AO has gone downhill with the addition of so many new members. This is not to say that having a large population on AO is bad, but rather that we have a few too many immature folks on the board. I believe that I have been quite vocal on this matter, and therefore dont need to go too much deeper into the subject.

I do have to say Shartley, that we have had many good discussions in the past. And while I may not have agreed with you on some of them, you never took what I said personally. You always backed up what you said, and never attacked anyone personally. I give you all the respect in the world for that.

-Chris

[Army]

Internet history has shown and proven that these particular subjects will, 99.9% of the time, devolve into flames regardless of who is doing the posting.

I would LOVE to have good, long, political discussions. I would also enjoy religeous debates, especially in these current times. But in order to maintain our world-wide friendships and "the AO Family", we simply cannot allow them.

I know that sounds like a cop-out, however there is much internet experience between all the Mods and Admins, and we concluded that the established rules must stand

[Webmaster]

1) they dont belong here

2) every arguement quickly turns into a 4th grade recess fight very quickly.

3) the ammount of time and energy it takes the mods to police these subjects is a waste of our resources.

We dont out right ban discussion - but it is kept on a very short leash...

If you dont like it - you are free to leave - or perhaps find a board more streamlined to your liking - trust me - if its politics or religion you thirst for - there are much more eductated people on other forums.

[InfinatyBPS]

OMG!!! THE IDEA OF THE CENTURY....

DELETE THE FLAMES, NOT THE WHOLE THREAD!!! omg how hard is it to figure that out? I personaly enjoy listening to intelligent disscussions about things that I fell are important, I would have loved to hear the veiws that people made on the John Edwards thread. I feel that it wouldn't have brought up any problems, but instead of making the rule, don't start threads that may cause flames, how about don't put flames on threads that you don't agree with, to me it makes much more sense than what we currently have as a rule. Why block intelligent conversation, when you can just block the stupid people. Does anyone else understand what I'm trying to say?

[MantisMag]

if we had a rule stating no flames but we allowed such topics do you really think that people would not flame? deleting the flames on a topic with such strong and differing opinions would be far too time consuming for the mods to reasonably be expected to do so and still keep up with the rest of the threads. there would simply be too many of them.

there is no specific rule against threads about john edwards but it follows the same idea as the rules against religious and political posts. it's simply something that would cause too many arguments that would degenerate into flames. many people feel very strongly one way or the other about the ability to communicate with spirits. they would undoubtedly come into conflict and there would be a good possiblity that a flame war would emerge.

there have been a few discussions on religion and politics that have been kept open. but how many were closed or deleted? all the ones that were left open were very carefully worded in order to keep the discussions calm and rational. how careful would people be if there was no rule? it's simply not worth the time and effort to police those topics. personally i would love to see some good discussion about these topics but i can certainly understand why the mods are hesitant to allow them.

[Miscue]

Re: OMG!!! THE IDEA OF THE CENTURY....

Originally posted by InfinatyBPS
DELETE THE FLAMES, NOT THE WHOLE THREAD!!! omg how hard is it to figure that out? I personaly enjoy listening to intelligent disscussions about things that I fell are important, I would have loved to hear the veiws that people made on the John Edwards thread. I feel that it wouldn't have brought up any problems, but instead of making the rule, don't start threads that may cause flames, how about don't put flames on threads that you don't agree with, to me it makes much more sense than what we currently have as a rule. Why block intelligent conversation, when you can just block the stupid people. Does anyone else understand what I'm trying to say?

We don't have the time nor desire to babysit problem threads... so we put a cap on them.

So we 'block' the "stupid" people. You think they will go about it quietly? Nope, every last one of them will cry bloody murder and create even more problems.

It's not so simple.

[Chris]

The rule as it stands now is that there are to be no posts on these topics because some people are too damn immature to understand how to make a good debate.

I also understand that there are many many political, religious and other various forums on the net, but I feel that the AO community should be able to voice their opinions on these subjects too.

For the most part, anyone on the board who would understand what the thread is about, should be capable of keeping what they say from becoming personal...maybe give each person two warnings before banning them...I dunno. We are able to keep such sensative subjects friendly, it has been done in the past.

-Chris

[Shaft]

My lodge meetings (Freemasons) are the same way... discussion of religion or politics are strictly forbidden.

No two subjects can stir a fight between brothers quite like these topics.

Don't sweat it. Like everyone said... there are other places.

[Rueben_the_wanderer]

Hmm, I had no idea there was such a rule here. I really don't see how hard it is to close or delete a thread if it becomes a problem thread. No difficult maintainence. Just end the thread.

Some people simply become comfortable with the other people in a given forum, and they enjoy the opportunity for intelligent discussion concerning seemingly controversial topics. Telling people to find another forum if they disagree with the rules seems an unnecessary remark of frustration concerning this subject. I'm just a new guy though, so what do I know?

[Miscue]

Here's the thing. If we let one go and don't camp out by our computers... that thread will have 20+ posts in 5 minutes... people will be in tears, fists raised, and screams of "BLOODY MURDER!" My mailbox will be full of colorful hate mail, people will flame me for days via other forums, accuse me of being a racist, anti-American, anti-this and that - a supporter of the Nazi Party, dogs and cats living together... etc. I'm not joking, I've even spent the time to make a long distance phone call to sort things out with an AO member because of the last stupid religious thread we had.

That pilot light can start a blazing inferno in no time at all. So, we put out that pilot light.

If you note underneath 'Friendly Corner' it says that we can delete/lock things for ANY reason - I repeat ANY reason - regardless of the rules. FC is a special case - and it is noted as such. But of course we don't do things upon a whim, that's silly. Although we don't even have to justify ourselves in FC like we do the other rooms, we usually do you the courtesy anyway.

[Dubstar112]

Originally posted by Webmaster
1) they dont belong here

2) every arguement quickly turns into a 4th grade recess fight very quickly.

that just about summed up my views(me included on number #2)