UPDATE: Politics/Religion no longer permitted again!

[Jhaelen]

I don't think I've ever participated in a discussion about politics or religion in real life that ended calmly - much less so on the internet. Good riddance, I say!

 

[Ovinomancer]

I don't think I've ever participated in a discussion about politics or religion in real life that ended calmly - much less so on the internet. Good riddance, I say!

Heh. Most of my conversations about politics in real life end pretty calmly. Much less so on the internet. I think it's less likely to hurl baseless epitaphs at people IRL than with the comfortable anonymity of the net. Also, granted, I don't engage people in discussion that I know are rabid about the topic, and I'm rarely rabid about the topic (free speech being a noted exception), so perhaps that's it. It's not my choice of discussion partners, though, as I most often discuss politics with people that don't hold my views. I tend to find it very tedious to discuss subjects where everyone agrees already.

Religion, on the other hand, I just avoid, period.

 

[Morrus]

Reminder - tomorrow's the day we close the threads. I don't know at what time - whenever we get a spare moment, I expect. So you should look at finishing up your conversations today.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

The threads may be only a handful at a time, but they are very busy threads and tend to overwhelm the various feeds with political content. That makes them nigh impossible to avoid if you use a mobile device or the What's New? feed. I can't imagine what first time visitors think when the first thing they see on the site is some of the less pleasant viewpoints frequently expressed in those threads.

Nah, I think it was a worthy experiment, but it failed.

To be fair, political discussion worked much better here than other places I've seen on the internet, meaning that there was some actual discussion going on rather than just people CAPS screaming at each other.

Still, I'm glad you're ending it. For me, it was a real turn-off from the site. I've been participating here since before 3E's release and one of the big reasons I'm still here is that there are people here I chat with that I rather like. Well, with the politics experiment, I've seen that some of them are actually fairly dreadful people with really dreadful views on the world. With the political threads frequently on the top of the "all threads" view I've found myself less and less interested in coming here even to check out the RPG conversations.

 

[tomBitonti]

Nah, I think it was a worthy experiment, but it failed.

No experiment fails if it provides useful data. I think the experiment was worthy, and you are correct to collect the results and act on them.

I agree that the forums should stop allowing politics/religion. It was initially interesting, but of late the conversations seem to degenerate very quickly. And they do seem to fill up the first page of the forum, making them hard to avoid.

Can you update this thread title? A person not reading the thread would not notice the immanent shutdown.

Thx!
TomB

 

[Istbor]

While I am new here, and rather just enjoy reading threads more than participating most of the time. The section in question is a mixed bag to say the least. While sometimes interesting and thought-provoking, it can also be very disheartening and distasteful.

I can get behind the decision to turn off the switch before things get worse.

 

[Umbran]

Can you update this thread title? A person not reading the thread would not notice the immanent shutdown.

Well, I was expecting to un-sticky the thread, so it'll rapidly fall out of view. But, it isn't a bad idea, and I'll make sure it gets updated when the discussion is officially closed.

 

[Staffan]

A small suggestion:

Could you please make a new thread announcing the end of the politics experiment? I wasn't following this thread, and had no idea it was ending until someone hinted at it in another thread. It seems like the kind of thing that could use its own announcement, instead of being on page 7 or whatever of a half-year-old thread.

It probably doesn't need another thread's worth of discussion though - any discussion could be directed here, or at least have potential debaters pointed this way so they can see what's already been said.

 

[Umbran]

Could you please make a new thread announcing the end of the politics experiment? I wasn't following this thread, and had no idea it was ending until someone hinted at it in another thread. It seems like the kind of thing that could use its own announcement, instead of being on page 7 or whatever of a half-year-old thread.

Easy enough. Again, when the discussions close, I'll make sure there is an announcement-sticky-thread at the top of the forum for... a few days, at least.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Easy enough. Again, when the discussions close, I'll make sure there is an announcement-sticky-thread at the top of the forum for... a few days, at least.

He was asking for a notification that the threads would be closed BEFORE the threads close. I think it's a fair ask, not that you're bound by such things.