Yes it was. I need to watch it again.
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Us and them, is my favourite subject.
Must have been a stealth vote.
Roger that, Pete. 
But you are right there are a few contradictions that often leave you scratching ones head. It’s obviously a difficult job to keep a forum on a steady course.
I’m talking to myself over here if anyone is bored:
Yes religion and politics are really just analogies for ‘subjective or personal convictions’, it can be applied to many different topics…
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I looked at that earlier I don’t really have any answers. I have my main system where I listen, the other systems generally are only for background music (although not all the time). Think you’re just going to have to listen and see what works out best for you.
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It is not contradictions, or disagreements, that are a problem, it is when they go beyond simply stating or backing up a view or experience, becoming abusive or making personal attacks. Some of the cable threads in particular did go that way, but other threads like the current CD vs streaming one have remained as discussions, sometimes reasoned, sometimes purely statements of preference, but none of the posts I have seen so far have been abusive or in any way unpleasant.
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That’s correct things have been very quite recently and Richards job much easier. I found the B thread was the worst, apart from it being a UK thread some members were completely out of line.
I think the problem with religeon and politics is that views are often very emotionally bound, based on fundamental beliefs rather than reasoning, and with politics in particular they may have very significant personal impact on people (e.g. economic).
…Maybe discussion of cables is not so very different after all! 
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I think that was a perfect example of one where people felt very strongly because they believed one or other outcome would have a significant direct effect on themselves or their loved ones. Unfortunately rather than simply debating, some people did make personal attacks on others - and I fully understood Richard’s dislike of having ti deal with it.
I avoid conflict at all costs, I’m really not interested in a war of words with people I really don’t know. Life’s to short.
I recently saw this video about how belief systems work, it’s a good watch if you’re interested. It features interviews with experts from various backgrounds.
We like to think that we are rational, that what we believe is what is true. But we often believe because of our belief systems, and “how we believe” may be more important than “what we believe.”
I knew some academics profoundly disagreeing with each other not just on reasoning. The more alpha / social science it gets, the more ‘interesting’.
One of the students that I taught some years back was a reasonably able student at the time. a few years later I came across him, and he was very changed - his speech had changed (he wasn’t able to articulate his words properly) and he seemed somewhat befuddled. It turns out that he had smoked a lot of weed. Whether that was the cause or not I don’t know, and I don’t know what other drugs, if any, he took. To my mind, your brain and its functioning is what makes you who you are, and differentiates us from other animals. Messing with it seems rather silly. And I say this as someone who drinks some alcohol, and has tried weed in the past, though not a great deal. Didn’t find it particularly good, TBH. Or bad. Just didn’t do much. But it is amazing that our brains work as well as they do, all things considered. Buggering about with it doesn’t seem to be a great idea.
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At the same time though, many of the greatest artists and musicians that we admire created their best work under the heavy influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
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Possibly. Though many others don’t. I’m not convinced it is necessary. Would those that did indulge have been unable to produce what they did? Perhaps, in some cases, but all? In any case, I’m not sure that it a recommendation - certainly not for most people, who can just get messed up.
That’s something that’s often left out the story, I’m pretty sure most “geniuses” have been addicted to one substance or another.
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Creative art has always been a strange thing!