Why no politics or religion?

[Algolei]

I'm just curious as to why politics and religion are taboo or banned subjects on this forum, and the other EN World forums too?

When it comes to politics, I'm a big dumb jerk and so is everybody else.

 

[Staffan]

Noted.

So, in the future, should I still reccomend NTL?

It's still a pretty funny place to talk politics and religion, yes. It even has a forum especially for volatile stuff (Exculcero Sermo).

 

[Belen]

I think they should include trolling and flamebaiting in the ban, but hey, that's me.

One man's troll maybe another man's half-orc.

 

[Zander]

The ENWorldian Catechism:

In the beginning Eric created the Grandma, and she was good. She acted as a natural respector of peers, and the people did know how to obey her. And the rules were without form, and void, and people understood the implied rules of civility.

And yea, as the board did grow, so did the implied respect become lost in the telling. And so to combat the most spurious of arguments that caused flames, did Eric craft the Adamantine Rule: No Politics or Religion, lest ye be cast into the void that is rec.games.frp.dnd. And the Grandma filled in the rest.

And the Morrus did come, and take over for the Eric, and he took upon himself the Adamantine Rule and the Grandma, and it was good.

That wouldn't be a religious post, would it?

Just kidding.

Seriously though, I do feel that the mods are sometimes a bit too quick to close threads that verge on being political and/or religious but aren't properly. Talking about real world politics or religion as it relates, for example, to a particular player in someone's RPG group or gamers in general is not by itself political or religious. It's the difference between politics and political science/political sociology; or for that matter, between religion and theology.

 

[diaglo]

One man's troll maybe another man's half-orc.

true OD&D trolls bred with gnomes to create gnolls.

 

[William Ronald]

That wouldn't be a religious post, would it?

Just kidding.

Seriously though, I do feel that the mods are sometimes a bit too quick to close threads that verge on being political and/or religious but aren't properly. Talking about real world politics or religion as it relates, for example, to a particular player in someone's RPG group or gamers in general is not by itself political or religious. It's the difference between politics and political science/political sociology; or for that matter, between religion and theology.

There have been some good discussions that were related to religion. For example, I participated in a discussion with other Jewish gamers on the boards about how we deal with following our faith and gaming. (I think the impetus for this was a discussion about what to do on a Saturday at Gen Con.) I think it is one thing to talk about how religion relates to a particular player, and another thing to discuss the validity of various beliefs.

 

[Merlion]

I understand the reasoning behind it, but since people can and do get in equally heated and unpleasant arguements about the very topics of the boards...gaming, fantasy/sci fi/horror books/movies/television, or various other non-religious non-political topics such as various socialogical, gender, or sexual issues or what have you, I dont really see how it does much good, and really just puts limits on things. But thats fine, it is a privately operated site and therefore only the operators opinions really matter.


I do however think that it some times needs to be remembered more that 1) fantasy is based on and about things that ~were~ "religion" after a fashion, at one time and especially now with the rise of "paganism", to some still are and so some mixing of "religion" and fantasy is almost impossible to avoid. Same to a lesser extent with politics. Not to mention discussion of in-game alignment that relates directly to issues of morality and ethics. And 2) for many people there beliefs and there interests are tied together very strongly and discussing anything of interest while totally avoiding things considered to fall under "religion" or politics can be hard.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I understand the reasoning behind it, but since people can and do get in equally heated and unpleasant arguements about the very topics of the boards...gaming, fantasy/sci fi/horror books/movies/television, or various other non-religious non-political topics such as various socialogical, gender, or sexual issues or what have you, I dont really see how it does much good, and really just puts limits on things.

Yes, but politics and religion start WARS...real wars, too. Not just the flame wars that can result from the other stuff.

 

[Morrus]

I understand the reasoning behind it, but since people can and do get in equally heated and unpleasant arguements about the very topics of the boards...gaming, fantasy/sci fi/horror books/movies/television, or various other non-religious non-political topics such as various socialogical, gender, or sexual issues or what have you, I dont really see how it does much good, and really just puts limits on things.

The difference is that those things can, sometimes, potentially cause arguments -- but politics and religion do, almost always, 95% of the time cause arguments. Maybe it's the nature of the internet, but the phenomenon exists. And moderators don't want to, and can't be expected to, spend all their free time monitoring these things.

 

[Merlion]

Yes, but politics and religion start WARS...real wars, too

I disagree entirely with that, at least as far as "religion"...or rather faith. But I digress

The difference is that those things can, sometimes, potentially cause arguments -- but politics and religion do, almost always, 95% of the time cause arguments

I can only partially agree with that. However, I am a person who loves to debate so that may have something to do with it. I just dont, personally, believe that there would be all that many more fights than there are already...to me its a matter of the specific people, not the subject. People who are going to be civil are going to be civil, and those who arent, arent.


But, like I said, its your site, so you can do whatever you want, and it doesnt generally bother me or anything...I was just stating my view. As long as its understood that those subjects...especially "religion" because of the nature of fantasy...cannot be totally avoided, it doesnt bother me. Although there are times when I wish courtesy were enforced as totally as the no politics/religion rule (although I must say since I've been back at ENworld this time around, I've seen a lot more of mods pouncing on rude posts which I apreciate hugely)