i would think a separate election forum is better than a separate political forum, but then you have the issue of where a thread goes.

for example, i think the affirmative action/abortion/etc threads could stay in Other where poll/debate/candidate threads go in a subforum.

the non-moded forum seems like a good idea on the surface. an "enter at your own risk" type of thing, but i could easily see it turn into a giant flame fest and pad fest that would kill the servers.

for the most part, the political threads stay civil. there are a bunch of new members we have that haven't learned civility yet (they are on both sides of the aisle)

My suggestion:
get a Brantley forum. Or maybe make use of the warning/suspension/banning features of the board. Dems and republicans alike have noted the offensive trolling, and it's not slowing down at all. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say it's starting to drive me away from here....I know I could use the ignore feature, but that doesn't fix the problem.

dave

Give me banning power. I'll take care of it.

Give me banning power. I'll take care of BandoButters.

As it's been stated -- a new political forum doesn't need mods. The current political threads don't appear modded much as it is.

If it's "too much work" for the current mods, what's the big deal about throwing more men (or women) at the problem? This board seems way too big for the current number of mods we have anyway.

Keep in mind that I'm not posting in this thread to bitch or whine, but to try to make my voice heard and possibly bring back some of the community feel that this place has slowly lost in the last couple years. A separate political forum gives the argumentative buttheads (oops, I meant head-butters) their own place to pointlessly argue with each other. It also gives the non-politicos some more "breathing room" in the Other Forum.

Why not at least try it out for a month? I doubt the world would stop if a political forum was at least given a trial!

Coming from someone whos been suspended eight times.

i still think 90% of the problem would be solved with banning a couple of members

Maybe a News Article forum. ANYONE that wants to just post topics that are quoted news articles, can do so in that sub forum.

We should turn the forum into a popularity contest where next to your name there are always 2 icons: + and - . You have the potential to vote for or against someone once for every post they make. If someone gets to -50 or so in 24 hours, they are suspended for 24 hours. + gets you nothing, except erasing one - . Think of the fun!

Can that double as the new [BANNED] forum?

You have my sword in this matter. Politics are destroying the otter forum. As leader of the Otter forum team 7, I can not let this stand. where are the other defenders of the otter?

FWIW, this is being discussed in the moderator forum. I think that sword thing was the post that swayed us.

I'm not sure how this could work, since so many aspects of life have a political component. If there's a Politics Forum, most religion threads would probably end up being moved there eventually, as would threads about economics and the environment. But what about things like the recent Mars threads? Sooner or later someone questions whether it's worth spending money on things like that and now we're into politics. In a recent tax advice thread, X made a joke about Democrats wanting to increase taxes -- would that get the thread moved? Or someone might start a thread about losing his job and another poster might blame Bush and again we've crossed over into politics. Threads about SUVs and McDonald's-type lawsuits wouldn't last long, either. What's left -- threads like "Poll: What's the longest turd you've ever made?"

Hey, that wasn't a joke! It really wasn't.

We were talking income tax withholding and the factors that could influence how many exemptions you should claim.

I do agree about the difficulty of determining what would go into that forum though.

And here I thought you finally had a good one.

that's why i suggested an election forum instead of just a political forum...although there are grey areas there too.



how would you measure your turds anyway?

I had one that I think passed 14 contiguous inches once.

Drop a measuring tape into the bowl? After that thread has run it's course, you could also measure for girth.

After all this time, I've finally come up with an idea that resonates with DVDTalkers.

Although I don't think we need a separate political forum (too many subjects have political components) I am now officially changing my opinion and voting for a temporary "Election 2004" forum. It should start now and end after the last recount.

Could somebody hand dork a warning at least?

His ratio of joke:serious posts has been wavering lately.

So has yours...

yeah, something needs to be done. groucho and dork are both posting seriously in political threads

For once I agree with El Scorcho!!