VinVega

We are going to wrap in Religious discussions into the existing Politics and World Events forum. Why are we doing this? Well there are a great many readers of the other forum who have expressed their desire for the more contentious discussions to be in their own forum. We did this with Political discussions a few years ago and many of us have seen the same kind of heated debate over Religious topics. Our intention is not to create a forum where these topics will "go to die," nor is it to censor those who truly enjoy discussing these issues. Traditionally the other forum has been a place to unwind and enjoy more light hearted topics like the wonders of Florida and the special kind of dumbness this state can bring to us all.

So we're hoping that this will allow Religious discussion to continue without thread sidetracks like "Why do we have so many damned Religious threads?" and also keep the spirit/culture of other intact as it has been over the years. Thank you for your attention.

kvrdave

As a person who posts often, I think you should create a subforum where they can go to die. If there is legitimate interest, people will engage and go to that subforum. If these threads are really just places for people to troll and engage in "you're wrong....no you are!", then they will die like they should.

As it sits, I don't want to go into the politics subforum now because I don't want to think, "Oh fuck, look at this stupid shit they are going over now."

If there is a legitimate interest, this can stand on its own. Don't fuck up the political forum with it.

I blame moviefan for this, and now we won't actually have the occasional good religious discussion in Other. Thanks a bunch.

Groucho

The Buddhism discussion is a good one. But don't take my word for it, watch this two hour video on YouTube instead:

kvrdave

The good will be far and few between, and mostly ignored because of what the religious threads are overall.

I'm assuming you were being serious and not just making a joke. It was a good joke.

Pharoh

I guess I don't understand what is so hard about ignoring or not being being bothered by threads, or even posts, that you are not interested in?

kvrdave

Nothing other than cluttering up a subforum that currently holds it own anyway. Why not throw it in the "Political Films" subforum and see how it does? I really enjoy the Politics subforum. I don't want to see it hurt by this move and I believe it will be. While people talk about "politics and religion" being things that you don't discuss at the dinner table, it isn't because those two things go together. And I don't believe the people who enjoy discussing one necessarily enjoy the other. So why clutter up a good thing when there are other subforums that barely get looked at? Maybe adding religion to them will actually start some discussions on political films because people will actually go there.

It seems like there is little to be gained by the Politics subforum and more to lose.

Pharoh

You haven't been to the Politics forum much lately, have you? Take out the Trayvon/Zimmerman activity, and what is there? Perhaps the religion threads can do for that forum what you say they might do for other subfora. It needs it.

I also feel you are overestimating just how many religious threads there will be in time, particularly given the absence of posters who will not go into the Politics forum.


For what it is worth, I was torn on the choice to move them, but believe that ultimately it up to the posters. And I still don't get why this would preclude you from going to that forum. You don't have to enter those threads, or you could enter and just converse with those you wish to.

LurkerDan

rabble rabble I agree with Dave rabble rabble

Shannon Nutt

I agree with krdave too...what does religion have to do with politics? Ever hear of separation of church and state?

I agree it needs its own separate subforum.

Shannon Nutt

Fine. Let's throw it in the Movie or TV forum then, since you believe users shouldn't have any issue ignoring threads/posts. See how that goes.

How hard is it to make a new subforum?

Bandoman

I disagree with Dave on principle. But I think the threads should be allowed to stay in Other. But I am NOT agreeing with Dave, because I never do that.

Pharoh

Because that is almost the same thing.

Well, with the differences being that there is much overlap between religious and political thread, especially here, and that the Politics subforum has very little activity compared to TV or Movies. I also think Vin did a very nice job of explaining much of the rationale in his first post.

My question is, while most of the members seem to be in favour of the move, what are do the detractors not like about it? Is it going to ruin the vibrant Politics forum, as some here have suggested? Or does it mean that the religious threads will now not be as inclusive and active? Or do you simply want those type of thread to not have a place here at all, which honestly would happen if there was a specific subforum for them?

kvrdave

There is a point that the threads will not be as vibrant or inclusive. Currently we are just dealing with some stupid general religious threads. If we had continual general political threads like, "Why I'm a Democrat" then the subforum would wither and die as well. But it is essentially news driven. That is the problem. Other is a great place for news stories that have a religious theme in some way. And you won't get that out of Other, unless you also get rid of gay threads, as they often turn religious. The next time a priest is boning some kid, does that go into Politics/Religion? Lots of people seem to like those threads.

Hell, I guess I don't give a shit. I'm just tired of the same old stupid shit from moviefan. And I don't see it changing. So where I enjoy Politics now, I don't want to open it and say, "Oh for fucks sake, this again?"

And yeah, it is petty and selfish on my part because I choose to continue to hang out here. I'd rather we have no religious discussion at all than have what we are currently dealing with.

VinVega

Dave I get your point, but the same rules apply to Religion thread posters as to anybody else who posts in any of our forums. If a Religion poster has one thread that is just blown up with activity, that happens. If a Religion poster tries to monopolize the forum with 10+ threads, some of them are going to get locked for that reason. We've done that in the past with posters who have an agenda and the same applies here. There are a few posters here with an agenda who annoy me and many of their threads have predictable responses. I just don't bother posting in them.

You're just as active in other as you are in Politics, so the annoyance level would probably be the same if these threads were in other vs Religion/Politics, no?

Before we go making another sub forum, let's see how this goes.

NotThatGuy

I vote to merge the religious threads with the Book Forum. They both involve books and 99.5% of the forum couldn't care less about either topic. Problem....solved.

Music

Yep put in the book forum and if you want to get really crazy, create a subforum in Book Talk just for Fiction!

kvrdave

BAH!

Shannon Nutt

Yes, I was being sarcastic to make a point.

WCChiCubsFan

I'll throw my vote as one that is disappointed in the change.

Some of the comments do not make much sense.

On the one hand we are told that people were complaining about the religious threads in Other and on the other hand people who are objecting to the move are told, "How hard is it to ignore the threads?"

Why can't the people in Other just ignore the threads?

I would vote for a sub forum just for the religious threads so they can go to die without cluttering up the Political forum.

kvrdave

Mammal

Oh, please, please get religion into a place of its own? Politics are fun. Religion is of interest to...somebody, I'm sure, but not me.

BearFan

I am in favor of a separation of politics (forum) and religion (threads)

CRM114

Brilliant Idea. Name it "Politics and Religion" just like the topic you are told to never talk about in general conversation. A voluntary anonymous forum is the perfect venue for discussing these topics without the normal pressures of polite society.

Groucho

Maybe we can put salary discussions in the sub-forum as well.

brayzie

I agree with kvrdave. I had been purposely staying away from the sudden influx of religious threads in the Politics forum because I did'nt want to up threads that previously wouldn't have belonged there. I did however respond to dvdjunkies thread because it involved local government.

Anyways, if the forum continues to be "Religion, Politics..." I'll be staying away from it. Right now all the new threads seem to be strictly about religion. Yeah I can just ignore them and hope more important threads get more discussion, but if not, I can also just ignore the forum altogether. Right now it just looks like Christians and secularists throwing rocks at each other.