The political threads seem to be causing a lot of angst.
Should political posts be banned on the forum?
- Yes
- No
0 voters
Iāve started by voting yes, as one of the offenders. It would make the forum a better experience and reduce stress.
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Voted yes,primarily because itās hard to escape the whole political mess as it is dominating every aspect of life at the moment,this forum is such a welcome bolt hole,donāt need it to become a place for people to vent their political anger,regardless of their viewpoint.
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All sorts of problems defining what constitutes political debate and banning civilised discourse seems OTT.
Also feel itās not up to āusā to decide but Naim - and by extension Richard - to determine. It is their board at the end of the day and forms part of their marketing and communication effort. Allowing some groups of members to influence this is IMO getting a bit above ourselves.
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Well, I voted ānoā
I have deliberately avoided the EU/Politics etc thread. I read the first half dozen posts but since then havenāt even looked never mind read or participated.
I have expressed my views in the āClimate Changeā thread, but nothing more.
In other words, itās quite easy to give any threads that I feel are utterly pointless a miss. But I wouldnāt wish to impose my standards of what should/should-not be discussed upon others. For some people, those threads might well be the relief valve that we all need from time to time.
As for the content of a thread, Richard does a decent job and of course anybody of a sensitive nature can flag a post,
In summary, just ignore the pointless rabble, or flag it up for moderation if you feel it is really inappropriate.
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This reminds me of an un-necessary referendum not too long agoā¦ 
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Yes, Iāve an uneasy feeling it might end up 50/50ā¦
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Iām actually strongly support free speech. My angle was partly having a more peaceful tone in the forum and to make Mr Daneās life easier than having to tidy up threads every morning.
If itās too peacefulā¦ It gets boringā¦
Come to Mumbai
You will see how opposites can coexist
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No: There is no more wrong with them than discussing, say, cables. Personally I have learnt things from the various threads running around Brexit - information my normal life and contacts hadnāt provided - yes I could search out, but unless I knew what was there to search out it would mean devoting a lot of my time to researching just to find out if I know all there is to know - time that is precious to me. The threads havenāt altered my view of Brexit, though if I were in the middle ground I think there is a good chance they would.
But people have to hold back from personal attacks or accusations on other members, and maintain decency when referring to non-members such as politicians.
The Politics thread that was pulled yesterday had been doing very well for over 3 weeks and 1100 posts, with only minor deteriorations along the way, but then two (at the last point I saw) individuals seemed to be getting into a slanging match. And as I observed, that has happened in other threads- e.g language, or even hifi stuff like cables. What is needed I think is to delete those involved individualsā posts from the day concerned and warn them - deleting from the full day would save the moderator having to read all their posts from the day, and instead just recognise the member(s) involved in the poor behaviour and select that dayās posts. But maybe formalise a 3 warnings in 12 months and youāre out policy.
I hope the Politics/EU thread will be reinstated after mideratiion.
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I voted no, itās the kind of thing we talk about in normal conversation, in that situation we donāt get rude or offensive (well most donāt). The problem is the anonymity of the internet that knocks down the face to face polite conversation norms (with some people) It means moderating & full praise to Richard although Iām sure its a PITA to him.
Banning anything on trumpty dumpty seems to have worked OK, as has the cuddly toy PSU subjects, maybe the same when other subjects get out of line.
The Greta climate change thread seem to be getting out of line, & has run its course IMO, once a thread starts going over & over the same old goat trail & drifts off to something else, shut it down I say.
But it would be good to keep the evolving brexit situation running, people just need to back off & keep it civil.
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I think the problem lies with ākeyboard warriorsā, Mike. There appear to be one or two particular individuals who would never, Iāll lay money, have the bottle to say to peopleās faces what they type anonymously on these threads. I donāt know how you best deal with them, other than by adopting a āx strikes and youāre outā policy.
My vote is āNoā. Deal with the individuals, donāt ban the topics.
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100% if Richard is willing
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Agreed, thereās a few truculent members here who would just find something else to argue about instead
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That is not the only difference: In normal conversation I think it is less common to engage in conversation with people having diametrically opposite views - as we see on TV, and ignoring the example set by politicians themselves, discussion of diametrically opposed views leads some people to physically threatening behaviour.
Maybe also significant is that more often than not the people we discuss things with are friends or acquaintances we know well or see in particular circumstances, often knowing far more about them than we do of other members of this forum.
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I think there are more, the language and cultural differences that result in misunderstanding and the problem with forums in that it is very difficult to convey context and people will come away with different understandings of what has been said.
So now we should ask Richard to become āSpeakerā,it must be time consuming enough,just monitoring the numerous threads as it is.Really donāt see the point of burdening him with the mess of politics as well.After all ,it will no doubt just turn into left v right,or worse still āFence sittersā who have no particular point of view but still manage to wind everyone up.Id suggest that if you feel strongly enough about your views,then channel them through your local councillors/MPās,because there the ones who donāt appear,in general,to be listening.
Thats Richards choice, if as āSpeakerā he feels its too much, & I wouldnāt think bad of him, OK ban politics.
.
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So is banning the option ?
Or
Maybe trying to understandā¦ is a better option.
The Ban word is often mis-used and sadly exploited to completely shut down things that donāt need to be.
The onus is on the participant weather to get in or move on.
Already so many bansā¦
Ban this
Ban that
Letās have a place without bans and try to make it better despite our differences