Actually, I was looking for a compelling title to encourage people to click on the thread and solicit feedback. I am interested in hearing other's ideas, which is why I appreciate hearing the feedback. But, the title does represent where my mindset is at the moment.
To demonstrate the seriousness of what you're considering doing and your genuine interest in and respect for our feedback, all you needed to do was title your thread, "Seriously Considering Ending Political Speech In This Community," or "No More Politics Topic?" But now you have many of us thinking that you've posted this thread as an exercise in seeming courteous in light of your foregone conclusion.
That's the unintended consequence of your titling the thread in an unnecessarily sensationalist manner.
The reasons for keeping a politics section have been stated well here I think, and those of you who'd like to keep it make valid points. I recognize that taking it away will narrow the focus of conversation on the board, and I do see that there is a negative side to removing it. However, these kinds of choices are never clear cut, at some point the scale tips where the risks and negative effects of political discussion outweigh the benefits it creates for the site.
People can visit Astorians.com every day for a year and never be bothered by the Politics and Rants section. All they have to do is not click on it. Those who do click on it are likely to find some agreeable, some disagreeable, some thought-provoking, some upsetting material. But we clicked on it. We made a choice to enter it and, guess what, we can make a choice to exit. All on our own.
Your proposition that Astorians.com as a whole will benefit from removing a section that is completely voluntary is specious. It would be different if people who visited your site were somehow forced to enter the Politics and Rants section, forced to read things they would never choose to. But they're not. All that removing the Politics and Rants section does is eliminate an outlet for local Astorians to share their perspectives and ideas about relevant topics. And I repeat, the site is about Astorians, not Astoria. We are as much what Astoria is about as Astoria's shops and dining options and museums and parks, etc.
Now, if the principal problem is that the moderators are annoyed by the amount of time it takes to read through all of the threads and posts, then that problem is easily enough addressed by changing your moderating approach to that part of the site. But to terminate the whole section is radical.
Of course, you have the right to do it, but dong so is inconsistent with the spirit of free and open discourse that the web represents.
The more I have to ban normally friendly people from the site because they lose their cool, the more it feels that this kind of discussion detracts from the site more than it benefits it. It is especially annoying when I have to ban people who are my friends, and especially annoying when I have to do it repeatedly.
Stop banning your friends, Merm. Just stop banning people. Let us work it out. We will work it out. Cooler heads will prevail. Most if not all of the people on these boards are decent to the core and mature, too. People will calm down and apologize for flaming, other posters will call for a return to arguments instead of name-calling. If you let it be, it will be fine.
As a site-wide policy, if somebody is constantly mean-spirited and always engages in ad hominen attacks and/or explicit bigotry of any sort, ban them for life, don't suspend them. Make that clear and then let the Politics and Rants section govern itself.
I sincerely hope that you will experiment with changing your moderating approach to Politics and Rants before terminating it altogether. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Topic: Politics Topic to be Discontinued (Read 19003 times)
