Animation Source Forums

This is a slightly more appropriate version of Anaiyak's rant. I do agree with him that the mods on this site are a little too sensitive.

For starters, the "no political topics" policy is kind of over the top. I don't see why people's opinions on social matters cannot be discussed as long as they are presented in a mature way. Having discussions on these subjects is a very intelligent, and healthy thing to do. If the topic turns into a flame war, just lock it like any other thread.

I have also seen several topics that have been locked just because the OP does not agree with a popular opinion. For some reason, the site thinks that simply going against the grain is flamebait. If I'm not mistaken, silencing anyone who thinks differently is dramatic censorship, one of the elemets of facism in some countries.

If this topic gets locked, it simply proves my point.

You're correct for the most part here.

I believe the reason that no politics are allowed is due in most or in part to the simple assertion that the younger crowd on this site cannot handle a mature debate. They may claim they can, but I'll bet it's a much different story.

Well, you're probably going to find that the mods on most sites are like that anyhow. But I do agree that it is a little too frequent here. Mods seem to lock things too quickly, or not quickly enough. It's an offense to defend yourself against others, and it's a matter of not being able to rationalize with different sides of something. In my opinion, the topic that you replaced by making this one(and thank you for doing so), should not have been locked. Sure, it was a little hostile, but the mods should take its meaning to heart instead of a grain of salt. The public is pissed at the way this site is moderated, and rightly so. The public itself doesn't know what a flame is if they had a candle in front of them, and then the administrator leaves for two months, comes back for two weeks to try and make us either forget or to think otherwise of his absences. We have people bringing back up old topics and the mods doing nothing to stem it. Surprise surprise. We've got problems.

Prepare to have your point proven. :/

Political topics aren't quite approriate for BS which is populated by mainly kids. There wouldn't be a proper, healthy and good debate it'd be a flame fest.
A few members are capable of and no doubt would enjoy a proper debate but the majority would reply with their opinion in the form of:
"OMG!!1 How can you say that!? DDD< *whatever* RULES!!! Screw *whatever*!!! "
As proved in loads of topics about things as small as movies and music.

As for the topics getting locked.
I am convinced that the problem lies in the mentality of most of the members these days. (I know people are going to say "You're only saying that coz you're a mod! >[" ...-.-).
These days it seems no one can take anyone having a differing opinion which you're aware of first-hand RB with topics in the music section.
I remember when I joined and even when I became a mod that topics weren't getting locked nearly as much.
Nowadays if you have an opinion different to the generic one: "OMG LYK EVIL!!!1! D<".
That includes if someone "popular" has posted in a topic and someone disagrees with their opinion, all too often you get their friends or people who juts plain want to be their friend will almost attack you or at the very least spam the topic agreeing with said popular person and making stupid, sarcastic digs at anyone who doesn't follow suit.

No doubt even this topic won't escape it with at least one person saying "Well at least they're doing their job! You should be grateful! D<" or the even better "You're only saying that because you want to be a mod ".

Dude, you shouldn't come to a board like this if you want to be entertained. Honestly.

Anyway, there do actually exist forums especially built just for politics. They probably wouldn't be too much of a blast, but they do exist. Give it a shot, you might find out why political debate is a waste of time.

And about the Mods... At least from what I've seen, they only followed the rules when locking topics. I must ask you, have you taken five hours of your time to read all the rules?

I'm glad we don't discuss politics here. I mean, most people here MIGHT not be able to discuss politics maturely. Most are kids here anyway, they may watch the debates and stuff, like me, but they might not know how to discuss it maturely. It depends on the person though. :]

I would enjoy debates and all that...But, sadly, I know it wouldn't work out, cause you're right...This site is populated mainly by younger people and therefore, logically, the maturity is\can be lower sometimes. (No, I'm not saying ALL kids are immature jerks who can't express themselves properly)

What's sad is, if I hadn't added in "(No, I'm not saying ALL kids are immature jerks who can't express themselves properly)" I'd be attacked for saying that younger people can be more immature, it's happened before.

But yeah, some members would just end up spitting useless insults around. Sorry RB, but I think it's just better not even to go there...Don't get me wrong though, I'd like to have some normal, non-flamed debates, but I don't think that can happen here. =|

Unfortunately, that's the kind of thing you have to deal with on a site like this, especially with the large, unrestricted volume of users. I'm not saying having a large volume of users is bad, but sometimes this is a problem you face, especially since there aren't really many requirements for joining other than you have to be a Balto fan. Again, no bashing the site, just stating a fact.

Lol nice.

It's good to know other people can see this too =|

I don't always agree with ya but this time ya are right. We should get to have political talks on here but the main reason we don't is that people think the kids on here aren't suited for those kinda debates yet.

Also, I do think the mods are a little "trigger-happy" when it comes to locking topics and are slow to respond to the one's that need it the most.

First off, read some of what was posted on the thread before you. Second, think of it this way: Say that there are 1,000 people on the site (Just go along with the number. I know there are more people on this site than that, but this is for illustrative purposes). Say that you know yourself and five others who are your friends to be mature enough to discuss politics. Then you start up a few political topics, and see what happens. If all of them become flame wars, and they're all not instigated by the same person, then it's pretty safe to assume that there's a considerable number of people on the site who are not mature enough to discuss politics without being inflammatory.

Now, as to Raging's secondary point on going against the grain:

Going against the grain is not against the rules. It would be against the rules if whoever says stuff that goes against the grain also starts flaming/blatantly insulting those who go with the grain, or brings up religion, or threatens/proposes violence, and the like.

To avoid people thinking of your against the grain posts as flamebait, simply try to word it politely. For instance, in a topic about band X, if most of the posters like the band, rather than posting "I hate this band! Their music sucks, and everyone who likes them is stupid and doesn't know what real music sounds like!" post something more like, "I don't like band X; I'm not really a fan of their kind of music." or "I don't like their style too much."

I did read the other post first(I always do).

Ya know what's wrong with your statement? All the "if"'s in it. It seems like having political topics on here has never even been tried so how can we know for sure if it will or will not work out?