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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8327108" data-attributes="member: 6750502">Sadly there's huge sections of the population that view the existence of certain groups of people as a political issue. So oftentimes a lot of spaces fall into one of three categories in terms of online moderation for "no politics" stuff. At least based on my own personal experience.1. Regurgitating ethnic/sexual/gender identity statements, stereotypes, and such is not 'political' if it reflects the status quo. Complaining about or pointing out how such things may be outdated or even harmful is 'political' because by necessity it brings it to the forefront and confronts people with how society is structured. So people either talk about it and thus real-world politics and the attitudes of others in the subculture, or they just plug their ears and complain about "politics." These rules are inevitability biased against minority and disenfranchised groups as it allows for one-sided political conversation.2. Race, gender, sexual orientation, and the like are an aspect of one's identity that are not chosen and by default doesn't imply a specific worldview like an ideological or religious choice. Such groups don't count as "political" because they can run the gamut of viewpoints. In some cases they may be politically biased, in much the same way that the existence of black and Jewish people was a political issue in the 1800s and 1930s and thus pushed said groups towards certain parties and organizations due to survival. As a result, these communities tend to not have "no politics" rules, and are quite often on the left side of the spectrum in that they realize that certain political issues can and do affect such people. Thus it would be unfair in muzzling such groups from discussing things that have relevance to their lives and to their gaming spaces.3. A less common one is "no politics, except for X." In this case they may allow for LGBT people to talk about adventures with respectful representation, or how it's okay to have Nazis and alt-right chuds as villains in a modern RPG, or some other thing the community and/or mods have agreed upon is acceptable for the ideal forum culture. Such groups may not want to get bogged down in debates as to an ideal tax rate or regulation of big business, but have enough common sense to not ban people for wanting to talk about Blue Rose or material which has homophobic villains motivated by a warped interpretation of religion.I think that "no politics" as a rule just on its own is way too vague, and needs greater specifics. Sadly in this day and age, the existence and equal rights for certain groups of people is a political issue (even in Western countries). So just in my view, I adopt the mindset of "okay it's political, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it, especially when it's issues that affect a sizable percentage of our fellow gamers."</blockquote>

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