So...regarding what is acceptable

[Patrick425]

I noticed the "and if you disagree" board got locked because of religion and politics.

 

We can't talk religion and politics?....Not even on the off-topic board?

 

Maybe there should be a "religion and politics for the thick skinned" board.

[TooLiveBrew]

Patrick I just sent an email in, given that my post was obviously a big reason for the thread getting locked.

 

I knew politics were off-limits, but I don't consider a discussion of scientific facts politics, although I do see the gray area. I also made a comment on irony, involving religion, and honestly had no idea we couldn't talk about that subject.

 

As far as the X-mas post, I really don't see anything riot-causing there, and am still surprised the thread was locked.

 

I understand that a huge reason BF.net's fan forum is incredible is the close monitoring of decent interaction. I'm sure the moderators have learned the hard way that the two aformentioned 'off-limit' subjects are better to avoid, but I just wish Brian would have warned us, as opposed to instantly locking the thread. I feel, given the circumstances, that would have been the appropriate action.

[paul253]

i think people are a little overly sensitive with politics and religion, which is why it got locked. i dont have a problem discussing either as long as arguments dont get personal

[colbyjack]

Discussion concerning religion and politics have always been banned, just because you are bound to offend someone and the talk rarely remains civil. Toby started a separate forum during last year's election (or the year before, whenever the last Presidential elections were held), which basically served as a free-for-all for that kind of discussion.

 

Please refer to the FAQ:

 

p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...=576.topic

 

What kind of discussion is not allowed?

Please try to keep politics, religion, and sex off the forum.

[Nader Raider Tim]

While I am a politics junkie and love chatting religion I fully understand and am fine with the banning of Religion/Politics chat. I know that odds are if we got into a disscussion I would have views that would offend a large grouping of people.

 

With how heated the Doug Davis arm injury ??? thread is getting, imagine if real issues were being disscussed? Oh the fury.

 

All that being said by someone who probably pushes the boundries in acceptable chat all to offten.

[Brian the Automator]

I don't think many people were around back in '04 when the elections were happening, which caused the rift. Never has discussing politics or religion/faith here resulted in anything positive. Someone always gets offended, insults fly, and it leaks into other threads.

 

Unfortunately, that's just the way it is. I wish it wasn't, but my policy is to head it off at the pass so I don't have to deal with an uglier mess later.

[Patrick425]

Ok, point taken..

 

I have always enjoyed Brewerfan.net because of the way it monitors its baseball discussion. I very rarely visit the the brewers.com message board anymore. Sometimes that site sounds like a bunch of pre-teens having a slumber party.

 

I guess I just wasn't aware that the no politics, religion, sex guidlines applied to the off-topic board as well. Not sure that I agree with it, but hey, what choice do I have. I guess I just thought that if one is entering an "off-topic" discussion board that one would be aware that people may have opposing views about topics (inclucing sex, politics, and religion). Although, on the other hand, I guess I can understand the moderators desire to stay away from some of the "over the top" things that are posted on boards like in "craigs list".

[1992casey]

I just thought I'd add that even the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel lacks a forum discussing politics.

 

I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the '04 campaign talk, but I can imagine the headache for the moderators.

[homer]

'Politics' is sort of a broad umbrella including a lot of hot button political topics - global warming, racism, etc.

 

I like talking issues as much as the next guy, but it inevitably gets hostile. I'm glad we keep it off this site.

 

Quote:

---

I'm sure the moderators have learned the hard way that the two aformentioned 'off-limit' subjects are better to avoid, but I just wish Brian would have warned us, as opposed to instantly locking the thread. I feel, given the circumstances, that would have been the appropriate action.

---

 

I thought people had to read some kind of FAQ before they registered, no?

[JoeHova]

Quote:

---

Discussion concerning religion and politics have always been banned

---

 

 

not exactly true, if I remember correctly.

[colbyjack]

not exactly true, if I remember correctly.

 

Regardless of when the ban started, the discussion of these topics has been banned for quite some time now.

 

As homer already mentioned, new users are required to read the FAQ, as this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

[brewcrewreview]

Wasn't there a seperate political discussion page a while back or something like that? Maybe creating one again would be a good idea as long as people understand that their feelings may get hurt sometimes.

[1992casey]

There was a separate Off Topic (Politics) forum that lasted a week or two. I would assume that the only purpose it served was to concentrate the incendiary stuff in one place.

[mothershipconnection]

Maybe there should be a "religion and politics for the thick skinned" board.

There was, as was mentioned, a site just for politics created by Toby. It pretty much flopped because nobody but me and maybe 6 other people went over there. People don't click through to other forums, a lesson repeating itself with the "football threads/please post at lambeauleap" issue.

 

 

Wasn't there a seperate political discussion page a while back or something like that?

Yeah, but it always got stupid and ugly. Several of us would have a great, very intelligent (or at least civil) discussion before it would be interrupted by either

 

"You deamocrates R a bunch of idiots and are just sooooo stoopid. All hail the great presudint BUSH!!!!!!!"

or

"Nuh-uh, Jesus is just a big skam NEways. Why don't U republikuns go back to lynching minoroties!!!! ".

[igor67]

It's worth noting that if you go way back the I believe early on Brewerfan was able to have more discussions of hotter topics. But as the number of posters grew and we became less familiar with one another it became much harder for people to self regulate, which makes the job all of the moderators do here even more impressive.

[rluzinski]

Disagreements were spilling over to the baseball side, hurting the discussions there. Our baseball discussions get heated enough sometimes!

[dadofandrew]

To be blunt, what you can and cannot say is extremely inconsistent. I've been called a tool and a robot, and no one deleted those posts. Some get away with much more than others as well, including one dear friend who repeatedly ripped others, who recently penned a "so long" post. I've asked 3-4 mods the same question, and got opposite answers.

 

Religion and politics can be brought up as well, but if it goes that way, it will be locked eventually.

[pogokat]

its a big job, and i think were all trying to be as fair and equitable as possible...

[dadofandrew]

Pogo, I know it's a close call at times, but as I said, some name calling is acceptable, some making fun of others' sites is OK...and some is not.

 

One mod told me he had deleted a post of mine due to the "tone" of it, and in that long post on Davis' arm, someone takes several posters to task numerous times, and they remain.

 

I asked how "tone" could be described, and I never got a reply, by the way.

 

EDIT: Misspelling.

[1992casey]

I think that as a general rule, we really, really, really, really don't want to delete posts.

 

(Deleting duplicates, posts where users have changed their mind and cleared out the contents, etc. would be easy exceptions. Those deletions are more of a 'service' to members. Yuku will give Brian the option to allow users to delete their own posts. I believe he plans to make that available.)

[dadofandrew]

I think that as a general rule, we really, really, really, really don't want to delete posts.

 

Again, that's fine, but I have been told that name-calling is completely unacceptable. If it remains, it's acceptable.

 

The problem to me is it remains a fraction of the time. Again, I understand there is a line to be walked, but when one person calls another a name for (sigh) disagreeing with his opinion, and it does not get removed, the line is about as blurred as it can be.

 

As I said, one poster formerly here used to mock and tease with nearly every post, and was never touched, to my knowledge.

[homer]

Some people mock others by name and others just respond arrogantly in general. To me there's little difference.

[PeaveyFury]

Namecalling and such is almost never edited/deleted unless there's swearing or vulgarity. Simply calling someone a 'smart ass' or 'moron' like there was in another thread today will usually get just a message in-thread or private message.

 

Posts are deleted or edited quite rarely and as a last resort, unless it's something blatant.

[dadofandrew]

Peavey, again, that's almost the exact opposite of what I was told by another mod a while back. Anything that "puts down" another will be removed ASAP, with a warning sent to them, to paraphrase.

 

This was in a general discussion about things, not a post I had written.

[PeaveyFury]

Well then, that's not how I do it, and I'm fairly sure that's not how it works most of the time. Not sure which mod you were speaking with, but I think the general policy is to avoid deletion/editing unless there's swearing involved.