The Politics Forum and What Makes a Good Political Thread

[WuWei]

@Dem

@WuWei

In your opinion. It was flagged and rightfully so.

Oh, I figured it was flagged. But I fail to see, how a 5 post discussion, in a 240+ post thread, derailed anything.

In your opinion, is your opinion the one that counts in that thread?

Does foreign language require an English translation?

[WuWei]

@Konssurvative1

Sneaky…I’m late to the thread, I have not read the whole thing. I sincerely hope you and the other mods believe that…otherwise troll threads just run the risk of flagging outta control. I don’t want that.

If we didn’t, Fever Dreams would be full.

[Dem]

@WuWei

@Dem

@WuWei

In your opinion. It was flagged and rightfully so.

Oh, I figured it was flagged. But I fail to see, how a 5 post discussion, in a 240+ post thread, derailed anything.

In your opinion, is your opinion the one that counts in that thread?

Does foreign language require an English translation?

Each post had an English translation.

[WuWei]

@Dem

@WuWei

@Dem

@WuWei

In your opinion. It was flagged and rightfully so.

Oh, I figured it was flagged. But I fail to see, how a 5 post discussion, in a 240+ post thread, derailed anything.

In your opinion, is your opinion the one that counts in that thread?

Does foreign language require an English translation?

Each post had an English translation.

No it didn’t. Some did, some didn’t. I looked.

[Dem]

@WuWei

@Dem

This was originally in the Politics section. If we had stayed on topic, it would not have turned into the awesome thread that it became.

What gives you the right to turn his OP into a cooking thread?

Natural evolution of a thread.

[WuWei]

@Dem

@WuWei

@Dem

This was originally in the Politics section. If we had stayed on topic, it would not have turned into the awesome thread that it became.

What gives you the right to turn his OP into a cooking thread?

Natural evolution of a thread.

Disrespect for the OP. If he wanted to start a cooking thread in OTB, he’s capable of doing that.

[Konssurvative1]

Sometimes I’ll say something off base or awkwardly, and it maybe is so awkward its funny, and maybe it calms the tensions. Discussion goes a different way for a while. Is that wrong…if it keeps things from getting heated?

[AZslim]

@WuWei

Can we all agree most of us are here for political discussion? Most of us say we want civil, thoughtful discourse. Let’s talk about some common characteristics of good political threads here.

1. The Title
   A little effort goes a long way. Thread titles can be trolling, even offensive, to whole groups of people. There is a fine line between catchy and crap.
2. The OP
   There is nothing like a good, thoughtful OP to start a thread off on the right foot. Links are good, but not enough. The most important part is the analysis of the poster. We have some members here who really put a lot of effort into crafting a good OP. If somebody did, maybe we should acknowledge it and show a little respect - even if we don’t agree.

“Some dude tweeted this! So and so sucks! Haha!” Is not a good OP.

One thing to keep in mind is what you want the discussion to be. It is very easy to let readers take it in a whole other direction, make it all about something else, because we included one line too much.

3. The posts. Staying on topic is important. Threads naturally evolve as the back and forth happens. If a poster gets off topic, the inclination is to chase them down the rabbit hole they created for themselves until they can’t back.

When the off topic happens immediately, it’s not natural. It’s trolling to disrupt.

There’s nothing wrong with a little on topic humor or even clever - as long as it’s close to on topic. If we do, often by the third reply to clever, we’re headed down the wrong path. If it starts and we feel that strongly about it, we can always start a new discussion; and even link the old one to it.

“In this thread (link) it was said grass is green, I disagree and here’s why”. Now I own the discussion.

There are going to be some “mistakes” made. What we thought would be a good topic might not be. No shame in that. The better we start off, the better we’ll end up.

Courtesy and respect go a long ways.

The politics forum is our bread and butter. If we want our threads and posts to stick, we need to up our game a bit. Or we can discuss it in a different forum…or it gets deleted.

OK, my two cents. I think some of the complaints about trolling are valid (as would be on any political forum) and some of them are complaints from people who want an echo chamber rather than have their politics challenged.

I mods should definitely try to keep it civil and that’s about it. Civility rules are less subjective than rules about trolling but still pretty subjective.

Threads take interesting twists and turns sometimes.

Regardless, I like the mode notes especially when they explain the rule that is close to being broken causing the potential sanction.

I also like the warnings as people do get heated.

I would think a conservative discussion board would be as hands off as possible, right?

[Dem]

@WuWei

@Dem

@WuWei

@Dem

This was originally in the Politics section. If we had stayed on topic, it would not have turned into the awesome thread that it became.

What gives you the right to turn his OP into a cooking thread?

Natural evolution of a thread.

Disrespect for the OP. If he wanted to start a cooking thread in OTB, he’s capable of doing that.

And yet your posts in that thread, were also not on topic.

[SeaManatee]

This feels like Melania’s Be Best campaign while ignoring what actually goes on here.

[Dem]

@WuWei

@Dem

@WuWei

@Dem

@WuWei

In your opinion. It was flagged and rightfully so.

Oh, I figured it was flagged. But I fail to see, how a 5 post discussion, in a 240+ post thread, derailed anything.

In your opinion, is your opinion the one that counts in that thread?

Does foreign language require an English translation?

Each post had an English translation.

No it didn’t. Some did, some didn’t. I looked.

The only post that didn’t was the original by rp5x5.

[LucyLou]

@Dem

@WuWei

In your opinion. It was flagged and rightfully so.

Oh, I figured it was flagged. But I fail to see, how a 5 post discussion, in a 240+ post thread, derailed anything.

It didn’t.

[Dem]

@Konssurvative1

Sometimes I’ll say something off base or awkwardly, and it maybe is so awkward its funny, and maybe it calms the tensions. Discussion goes a different way for a while. Is that wrong…if it keeps things from getting heated?

Exactly, threads have natural evolution to them, as discussion ebbs and flows. Sometimes tangents are short, sometimes long, and other times, it changes the thread completely. It’s part of the natural flow of dialogue.

[LucyLou]

@Dem

Natural evolution of a thread.

Yup. That’s what made this a great place.

[WuWei]

To summarize:

1. You hate Fever Dreams. Easy enough. We gave you the tips on how to keep your posts out of there in the OP of this thread. It’s not a requirement, it’s a suggestion. You don’t have to follow it, you can continue to do what you’ve always done. We will react to each case individually, as we have always done. It was simply an attempt to help.

2. Mod Notes - I’m unsure if you want them or not. We’ll discuss it as a mod group when we get a chance.

3. I will greatly reduce my personal attempts to save you from your own behavior. Understand that means more deletions and possible sanctions.

4. Please don’t try to address moderation in a discussion thread. It’s disruptive. There will be no warnings for it. Community Feedback or PM.

5. For those of you trying, thank you.

6. Thank you all for your civil participation.