Political thread-Question for GM

[SaintHacker]

Whilst I respect GMs decision to stay away from politics, its increasingly difficult given current affairs and their deep rooted politics in general.This clearly gives moderators a hard time and we see some fairly uneven moderating at times in my opinion, which is understandable given its down to someones opinin what crosses a line and what doesn't.
Another forum I visit regularly had the same problems, so instead of banning it outright they created a 'politics hampsterwheel' thread. The thread is obviously moderated but with a bit more leeway given, and posters enter knowing that the gloves sometimes come off a bit, in other words don't enter if easily offended or you're incapable of disagreeing without hurling insults. However on the plus side it pretty much self polices the rest of the forum, which just stays politics free of its own accord, and cuts down a moerators workload a fair bit.
Perhaps something we could trial here? Thoughts @MikeH and team?

 

[Kellfire]

Not sure how it would work as I’m pretty sure they just want to distance the magazine from political views completely. GM will want to expand their reader base with a younger market and the younger generation on average leans the opposite way than the older generation. We live in such a politicised world these days that it just leads to division and arguments.

 

[backwoodsman]

If one wants to discuss politics, I'm sure there are plenty of other fora on which you could do it? Why drag a golf forum into it when it's not necessary?

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

If one wants to discuss politics, I'm sure there are plenty of other fora on which you could do it? Why drag a golf forum into it when it's not necessary?

Because we are in lockdown, can't play golf and all going stir crazy? ?

 

[Deleted member 16999]

If one wants to discuss politics, I'm sure there are plenty of other fora on which you could do it? Why drag a golf forum into it when it's not necessary?

Surely that’s the whole point of Out of Bounds, none of that area has anything to do with Golf, ie, Rugby, Music, Football....shall we bin that whole area?

 

[Deleted member 1418]

Because we are in lockdown, can't play golf and all going stir crazy? ?

Is lockdown a political decision; or a scientific decision?? ????

 

[IanM]

It's not worth the Fallings Out!

 

[DanFST]

It's not worth the Fallings Out!

Then don't.

Politics can be discussed in a civilised manner. I don't know when it turned into "you have this opinion on something. You must be x or y.". It's a shame. On the whole, even before the ban the threads were pretty civilised and a good discussion.

 

[Blue in Munich]

If one wants to discuss politics, I'm sure there are plenty of other fora on which you could do it? Why drag a golf forum into it when it's not necessary?

Because we are in lockdown, can't play golf and all going stir crazy? ?

And because we are discussing them with, in a lot of cases, people we would normally meet on a golf course whom we consider to be friends. That is why; we would not know most people on the boards suggested so the discussion would not be the same. As has been said, it is what Out of Bounds is for.

 

[theoneandonly]

It's a strange forum, there's a huge list of rules but clearly they don't apply to everyone, but other times the moderating is massively overbearing.
Rather than ban specific topics, just deal with the 2 or 3 uber trolls who constantly stir things up.

 

[Imurg]

Shouldn't you be out playing golf? ?

Yeah we should ...but thats another story...

 

[backwoodsman]

I'm only saying that if one wishes some politcal debate, then one is hardly deprived. There plenty to be had, but just not here. I think we can live with that?

 

[theoneandonly]

Shouldn't you be out playing golf? ?

Would love to, but managed to injure my shoulder sledging a few weeks back and its taking a while to heal.

 

[funkycoldmedina]

Would love to, but managed to injure my shoulder sledging a few weeks back and its taking a while to heal.

Tim Paine is that you??

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Would love to, but managed to injure my shoulder sledging a few weeks back and its taking a while to heal.

How did you manage to injure your shoulder whilst verbally abusing someone? ?

 

[Liverbirdie]

The politics arguments have the power to split the forum irreparably, and has to a lesser point over the last 2 years, believe me.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Over the last 3/4 years the political threads on here dominated the forum and each thread got worse and worse as well as even more divisive

First there was the Scottish Independance thread then it was a General Election then the poo really hit the fan with the thread on the EU referendum thread - that add huge divisions within the forum , that was then enhanced when the result happened and further deepened when another GE happened and the place was toxic beyond belief

There are a lot of posters with some clearly deeper knowledge politically but they end up being drowned out by a certain few who just dominated every single thread where there was any level of politics - and it’s just ruined the forum for a while - I’m no saint but even I would have been embarrassed to see it.

Overall I think GM made the right choice in curtailing political discussions for the time being

I have no doubt if they believed people would act responsibly in any political thread it would be allowed but I don’t think that can happen yet with everything still raw.

I’m sure we can all discuss plenty of wide range of issues without the need for it to be political

 

[Pants]

Being a "nomad" for many years, my golf has been "entertaining" clients, societies, and as members' guest. One piece of advice I was given which has stood me in good stead was "never discuss religion or politics". This Forum would be a better place if everyone followed that advice.

There again, there are always those who seem to enjoy being wind up merchant keyboard warriors

 

[Blue in Munich]

Over the last 3/4 years the political threads on here dominated the forum and each thread got worse and worse as well as even more divisive

First there was the Scottish Independance thread then it was a General Election then the poo really hit the fan with the thread on the EU referendum thread - that add huge divisions within the forum , that was then enhanced when the result happened and further deepened when another GE happened and the place was toxic beyond belief

There are a lot of posters with some clearly deeper knowledge politically but they end up being drowned out by a certain few who just dominated every single thread where there was any level of politics - and it’s just ruined the forum for a while - I’m no saint but even I would have been embarrassed to see it.

Overall I think GM made the right choice in curtailing political discussions for the time being

I have no doubt if they believed people would act responsibly in any political thread it would be allowed but I don’t think that can happen yet with everything still raw.

I’m sure we can all discuss plenty of wide range of issues without the need for it to be political

I'll disagree Phil; I think the right decision would have been to clip the wings, or cage, those certain few who spoiled the threads. A lot of people got a lot of knowledge & pleasure from sensible discussions with others with whom they had diametrically opposed views. And that has been taken from them. Why should the many suffer for the misdemeanours of the few?

I fully respect the rights of MikeH & GM Towers to run this as they see fit, & equally respect the efforts of the mods, but I think the wrong course was taken.

Today we had a thread discussing something non-political which one poster tried to turn political & the mods had to step in. Had this been dealt with by dealing with the offenders previously rather than banning threads would this have happened today? I think not.

 

[Hobbit]

I love a good political discussion but, at times, it went too far here. I'm guilty of it at times, and its not a place I want to return to. The forum is close on 6 months without political discussions and has survived quite well without them.

There are other forums out there, thousands of them. Many tolerate political discussions, and some do so without the rancour we had here. Yes our bestest buddies might not be on those forums but there's nothing stopping anyone from making new friends or inviting some friends with them.