Political-type topics...

Cobaltié · **Posted:** Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:31 pm

Okay, I know political topics are kinda banned on here because apparently the younger members cannot respond correctly even though normally they take no such interest in these things.

But, recently a perfectly valid and reasonable topic was locked when some members got a little bit off the original topic discussion. They stopped, one continued a little too far but then the topic was locked without the usual OT warning that is given.

This is just annoying. I love a topic like this - the discussion is interesting and varied, and everyone respected the rules. Many other people enjoy more mature-ish topics like these... but to me it seems someone was a little trigger-happy here and a good thread was gone. Honestly, we're allowed to have discussion here, yes, it'll go off-topic sometimes, but this is just stupidity.

I'd AT LEAST like to see a little more leniency regarding this sort of thing. Give me an example where a "young member" has been unable to reply respectfully in such a topic RECENTLY and maybe, I will reconsider... but I have seen no such thing for ages and ages, and it seems like it's more of a mods' choice just to make things a little easier.
"Young members not respecting other users" happens in almost every other topic, HELLO! Off-topicness happens ALSO in almost EVERY OTHER TOPIC. Why this one? You honestly can't expect people who actually LIKE these sort of topics to swallow down the ridiculousness of a topic being locked because it is OT when plenty of others even about Balto itself go OT and are not locked.

Sora-Kun · **Posted:** Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:10 am

I would like to see more mature threads, but that probably won't happen because we have to THINK OF TEH CHILDRENZ.

I get there are younger members here; but is it really necessary to suffocate the older members? Some will probably argue since we're on a website about an animated movie, we have to expect rules geared towards a younger crowd. But it's not really fair to the older members that are here.

Ghost-Unit · **Posted:** Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:26 am

I concur with what's been said. I believe that the topic in question got so far off topic because we had a chance to discuss politics, and there were so many ideas that they just couldn't be contained within the constraints of the topic at hand.

Anyways, I believe one of two actions could make things a little better for the community that likes to discuss politics.

1) Relaxed rules about political discussion. (Ex. Locked if and only if it violates the other rules.)

2) A specific, passworded board is created for political discussion/etc, and those who have proven themselves mature and interested in discussing such things are given the password.

Thoughts on these ideas?

UKthewhitewolf · **Posted:** Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:48 am

While my I myself have no interest at all in that type of topic. (personal preference, not a mod thing.)
I can see how and why it's annoying for those of you who do enjoy them and can talk about it properly without just flaming everyone and everything.

I think we should review our take on them. :/

Cobaltié · **Posted:** Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:51 pm

JerseyCaptain wrote:

Cobaltié wrote:

Okay, I know political topics are kinda banned on here because apparently the younger members cannot respond correctly even though normally they take no such interest in these things.

But, recently a perfectly valid and reasonable topic was locked when some members got a little bit off the original topic discussion. They stopped, one continued a little too far but then the topic was locked without the usual OT warning that is given.

This is just annoying. I love a topic like this - the discussion is interesting and varied, and everyone respected the rules. Many other people enjoy more mature-ish topics like these... but to me it seems someone was a little trigger-happy here and a good thread was gone. Honestly, we're allowed to have discussion here, yes, it'll go off-topic sometimes, but this is just stupidity.

I'd AT LEAST like to see a little more leniency regarding this sort of thing. Give me an example where a "young member" has been unable to reply respectfully in such a topic RECENTLY and maybe, I will reconsider... but I have seen no such thing for ages and ages, and it seems like it's more of a mods' choice just to make things a little easier.
"Young members not respecting other users" happens in almost every other topic, HELLO! Off-topicness happens ALSO in almost EVERY OTHER TOPIC. Why this one? You honestly can't expect people who actually LIKE these sort of topics to swallow down the ridiculousness of a topic being locked because it is OT when plenty of others even about Balto itself go OT and are not locked.

I know precisely the topic you are referring to, Cobaltié, and you're right...it was prematurely and rather arbitrarily locked. And that greatly angered me. Almost as much as the baiting by the one kid who actually was causing trouble in the topic, by driving it off-topic as he had (and in this you have the example you requested in the last paragraph of your statement). However, even though another member stepped into the midst of it to put his opinion in, HE and I were on our way to resolving the situation when the staff member who came in just decided he was going to lock it anyway. That was not right. If anything, the offending young member (and his registered member info clearly indicates his age) should have been sent a private warning by a moderator. That would have been the correct action to take. To ruin the topic for those of us who were cooperating and working within the confines of the rules and the topic itself was, in my opinion, poor governance. And very arbitrary. It is compounded by the fact that the staff member in question also removed a selection from a poll that was associated with the topic, which subsequently removed several votes by other members in other options on the poll (in other words, votes they placed for other figures listed in the poll).

It was shaping up to be such a good topic, too (aside from that one member's baiting)...

It really irritates me to always have to dance ever-so-carefully around these issues, and not specifically indicate what we are talking about (ranting about I guess would be the accurate term). *SIGH* But that is Animation Source. Where we say things without saying them, because we don't want to ruffle over-sensitive feathers.

My main irritation with that topic in particular was that the members had agreed to move back on topic and abide by what had been said but the topic got locked anyway. Shouldn't you "reward" your members for coming to a decision to follow the set rules instead of "punishing" them? It made no sense.

Trust me, I hate dancing around issues and literally in real life :lol:

all for the sake of not offending someone with slightly thinner skin.

UK - Ban Cat wrote:

While my I myself have no interest at all in that type of topic. (personal preference, not a mod thing.)
I can see how and why it's annoying for those of you who do enjoy them and can talk about it properly without just flaming everyone and everything.

I think we should review our take on them. :/

Hooray, an open-minded response!

Ghost-Unit · **Posted:** Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:30 pm

We all need our hands held because we are all disobedient children.

Kirada · **Posted:** Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:48 am

Ghost-Unit wrote:

We all need our hands held because we are all disobedient children.

Feels about like it, doesn't it?

I, personally, have little to no interest in politics myself. However, I do enjoy talking about it every once and a while. And with so many people with varied opinions and my liking diversity, well, you can guess the outcome of that! (And surprisingly, it's never resulted in a flame war, those conversations that I would partake in!) And it's not just politics. Some conversations are harmless (not breaking any other rules, or getting to descriptive), and really don't have the "shove it down your throat" mentality that most people expect.

Take Ghost-Unit, for example. Should my knowledge not be incorrect, he's my age (17 years). Yet, he is capable of conversation topics as deep as politics, and a large handful of other things without getting offended or offensive. So saying that "younger members can't comprehend ---- topics" is rather generalized. Even some of the younger members, some of which I talk to who are 13-16, are capable of intelligent conversation.

I, too, would like to see a "Mature Area" for topics like this [that are rule-abiding]. Where members, deemed mature by the staff (perhaps an Admin or Steet himself?) are given the password to participate in conversations that aren't limiting them to "small," mundane topics. (Though not all topics are mundane, most of which are here on the site. Which comes to show some things, I suppose. But it shouldn't limit the ability of all members.)

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