RB Political Discussion Meta Thread

[Mjmd]

Ya I wasn't going to engage, but I agree with Rusten.

If we are going to keep it, I think Charr's suggestion is a good idea (especially moving it from top of page).

[superdeath]

Because we aren't run by stupid cowards like you who spew out verbal sewage filled with nothing but emotional manipulation and buzzwords in response to a trigger stimulus without providing any argument, especially when the very thread is open, and when there are good arguments to be made.

--- insulting Anskiy

Stuff like this (just what i saw quickly), and anything that is outright a verbal attack on someone is why the politics thread is a pita. Bias's are fine, everyone has that. Political views are fine, even when they are beyond mortal comprehension. (Bing) I like the politics thread for that early morning jolt of activity to get me awake. I do believe moving it south is best for the sanity of those still here, and for any random person that happens to come across our website once a year.

[BING_XI_LAO]

As one of those expressing offensive attitudes, I would like to say it's nothing personal. 
MJMD's posts are the ones which make me the most butthurt, by far, and trigger me into wall-o-texting, but he seems like a perfectly good chap. 

I really like the politics thread, as it's the last place where I still interact with opinions reflecting the Western mainstream. (though there is also a very broad spectrum of views)

Everywhere else I post, it's either, like,
-Linkedin: using my real name, so the furthest I can leave the reservation without getting in trouble is just saying nice things about China
-Reddit: dozens of subreddits I used to visit deleted, banned from 200 subs, half a dozen banned accs.
(The final straw was a news story on r/australia about some aussie schoolboys who got suspended for making a list ranking the girls in their year from "Wifey" to "Mid" to "Unrapeable", I said they did nothing wrong and everyone who punished them should be blacklisted from having jobs in the education system, now I'm seemingly IP banned from reddit.)
-Some right-wing forum/discord ghettoes, which are fine, but doesn't provoke me into writing some massive, histrionic text wall like MJMD's posts do. (I enjoy it). And it doesn't have the mainstream Westerner viewpoints.

This is a videogame forum not a politics one, but it's kinda weak and lame if people can't handle eccentrics getting butthurt and flinging insults. Isn't that actually the normal baseline of any political debate? So I hope the thread can survive, maybe just by demoting its placement in the forum.

By the way, a Volkish Asatru pagan and an anarcho-socialist who views the former as likely terrorists had an argument in a little discord server I run, and I got a bit butthurt at some things which were said, but didn't feel the need to shut discussion down. So there are leftists who can tolerate my presence, and I can tolerate theirs. Maybe certain people just need to grow a pair? (I don't mean scooter or Rusten, I mean Anskiy et al who rather more aggressively want specific viewpoints shut down)

I can understand the politics thread is "toxic" at times, but couldn't you avoid just the particular thread, rather than dislike the whole forum for it? It's not like I or anyone else starts throwing shit for political reasons in the actual videogame-related threads. You could put some kind of satirical trigger warning in the thread title.

[darrelljs]

As one of those expressing offensive attitudes, I would like to say it's nothing personal. 

I've never had any issue with someone holding "offensive" attitudes, but quite often the back and forth is personal.  Courtesy costs nothing...and if the objective is to persuade, has better outcomes than vitriol. 

Darrell

[Zed-F]

Never mind that there are certain posters here in this thread whose entire purpose is to offend.

[BING_XI_LAO]

I don't think anyone purely intends to cause offense. The offense-causing comes from disagreements in the moral dimension of politics, as well as personality differences such as contrarianism versus conformism.

[KingOfPain]

If you are talking about moderating it because you don't like the viewpoints in it... take your censorship somewhere else.  You can find any echo chamber hive mind anywhere else that matches what you want to think.  The way you combat disagreeable viewpoints is in the free marketplace of ideas and discourse.  Not by banning it, that's just might makes right.

Rather than making it a prominent feature right at the front door, move the forum to the bottom of the page with a clear warning—Enter At Your Own Risk or Expect Strong Opposing Views. etc., etc.
That way, engagement is entirely intentional - You have to seek it out to participate. 

How much protection do adults really need from reality and differing perspectives?

 

We have administrators to assist with site maintenance and support the organization of RB games - not to oversee or regulate post content.

Moderators have never been necessary in the RB forum, even during its most challenging times in 2001. Were there casualties? Sure. But that is a small price to pay compared to censorship.

And let’s be mindful - the accuser is often the offender as well.

[Charr Babies]

And let’s be mindful - the accuser is often the offender as well.

Words!!!

From the wake of 9/11 to Desert Storm, forum discussions became battlegrounds for truth and deception. Those who dared to question the official narrative were immediately vilified - branded as conspiracy theorists, accused of being unpatriotic, heartless, and even hateful bastards. Rational skepticism was dismissed as dangerous dissent, silenced under a wave of outrage and blind allegiance. Yet, as time passed and evidence surfaced, the truth proved undeniable. The very people who had been mocked and condemned were the ones who had seen through the fog of misinformation.


.

[The Black Sword]

Maybe we can keep the emotional censorship rhetoric to the thread that is apparently supposed to contain it? Nobody is taking away people's votes, there are surely plenty of places on the internet to discuss politics without negatively affecting this forum. The thread has already become its own little echo chamber by driving away people who don't want to deal with ... the tone and content, as Adrien diplomatically put it. There's clearly a cost to keeping it open, so we might as well acknowledge that and decide if it it's worth paying.

Personally I don't think the thread is worth any casualties to the rest of the forum (which have already happened to be clear), so if it matters, I'd vote for 1.

[T-hawk]

there are surely plenty of places on the internet to discuss politics without negatively affecting this forum.

There's really not much. Pretty much everywhere is an echo chamber that will censor and downvote and suppress anything they don't like, on both sides. This is one of pretty few places where we actually see competing viewpoints.

Personally I don't think the thread is worth any casualties to the rest of the forum (which have already happened to be clear), so if it matters, I'd vote for 1.

I can flip this around as easily - I could say I don't care about forum hosting for gamers who can't handle opinions they don't like. (I'm not advocating this, but pointing out the equivalency of the argument.)

That said, I'm leaning towards the arguments about moving it to the bottom at least. I'll agree with that unless there's some other mods/admins who want to keep it at the top, but I don't think there are any.