Should we get rid of the Off Topic section altogether?

[Birdbuff]

I don’t mind the off topic section but I hate to see it get personal. Many ppl these days get easily offended. At the end of the day what feeling of accomplishment does one get pushing a Boulder up hill? We are entitled to our opinions, but everyone must remember that’s all it is, just an opinion. It’s not right, it’s not wrong, it’s yours.
Politics are and will forever be a sticky discussion. There’s no harm in debating them, but like sports it’s just your favourite team versus someone else’s. Never feel that you can change someone’s favourite team. No team is perfect either, so a bit of humble pie goes a long way. Oh, and Pride is just a 5 letter word, nothing more.

I do enjoy the more helpful off topic threads that don’t go political or get personal. I think it would be a shame to lose that content and forum.

I do think it’s slightly embarrassing that the forum is open to anyone to view. I would prefer to see it locked to just the members. This way the general public that do peruse this site won’t think we are all agitated and waiting to pounce. It does become a bit much after 20-30 pages of the same thing.

Just my thoughts.

[fishermccann]

Fantastic post BB. I agree with most of it. I would just like to add, that what I see, is the 'fans' of one team, trying to prevent the 'fans' of the other team from even being in the conversation. It's to disruptive. Only allowed to be fans of one team here. I agree it should be members only.

[MikePal]

I would just like to add, that what I see, is the 'fans' of one team, trying to prevent the 'fans' of the other team from even being in the conversation. It's to disruptive. Only allowed to be fans of one team here. I agree it should be members only.

I thought you had a grasp of the concept...I guess not.

If all you are doing is Trolling...purposing string the pot...and adding nothing of content to the discussion...then don't bother. And that is why there are community rules that request /require you don't.

It might be your right to voice your opinion..but the forum has the right to stifle it.

Like Meghan said...familiarise yourself with the rules. If you know your post is going to, and I quote you " I've really got them going today'" content, it's a pretty good indicator that it's against the rules.

[fishermccann]

You are correct, the forum mods 'can stifle', it. Not the members who disagree with your view. To post something that other members might disagree with is not, stirring the pot, or trolling. It is voicing an opinion, if others are 'triggered' by that opinion, who's fault is that? I will say again, if someone says the cons are best ,and I say no, they are not. Are you are saying that I am trolling? Could that not be said of the poster that said cons. are the best? Trolling for a reaction from the other team? When they post their comments, pro con, do they just expect everyone to agree and nod their heads? Do only those with a majority view , get to speak? Because otherwise it is to disruptive. I don't usually agree with Mosq. but he gets it.

[MikePal]

I see you edited out the part I agreed with :

"You are correct, the forum 'can stifle', it."

But in regards to your comment "

" Not the members who disagree with your view."

You're failing to acknowledge or accept that the forum has moderators who are from the membership (volunteers who understand the rules and apply them when appropriate) and by the membership itself that has the ability to also voice their opinion on what you post (flaging a post).

We've had some complaints about the Trolling occurring in the Off Topic section. We would like to take the opportunity to remind everyone of the Forum's guidelines, lest there be any further confusion. We'll also remind members that flagging repeat offenders is the best way to promote change in the Forum; it's your community to shape as you will.

So yes the majority can rule what is posted, regardless if you think what you posted was adding to the discussion. They can decide if it was trolling or violating one of the other rules.

Then it becomes: do 'we' close the Off Topic forum or moderate is more diligently to 'stifle' the 'instigators' that cause the problems...

As was quoted earlier :

“The problem with today’s world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion AND have others listen to it.
The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!”
― Brian Cox

[Bushmoose]

If Gilly and fishcan speak in the forest, are they still wrong?

[onelessarrow]

If I was to put politics and society into a game category, it would be baseball.
And just like baseball, it can draw fans that aren't diehards for either side.
Unfortunately the umpire in this game is the media.
They're currently refusing to call balls and strikes evenly and they'll avoid calling obvious out's on the left while creating out's for the right.
One would never tolerate watching a real game like that let alone playing in one. But here we are....
So if you're wondering why a fan of the left can't fit into a conversation of 9 opposing fans, it's because the nine opposing fans were actually watching the game while the left fan only listens to the game on the radio.
When they do try to join the conversation all they do is point to the scoreboard and laugh, ignoring how their team is getting favorable statistics.
No game or society or even a forum topic can function that way.
Despite the banter I've learned a hell of a lot in the off-topic section to be honest.
It's one of the few places I can go to read like-minded individuals perspective on what's going on in today's upside down world.
I'd like to thank everyone here that contributes and are simply looking for truth, we're in desperate need of it.

[JBen]

Hard to believe you bunch are going at each other on Christmas day! God bless you all and Merry Christmas!

And in this thread, of all threads...................Unfortunate, but predictable and illustrative.

The take away for me, is
1) It can happen anywhere, in any forum, any topic...
2) It doesn't take "much" to knock a thread off the rails.

People can think whatever they want of me, don't much care. My tolerance is zero, has been for a long time..I think I created my sig, years and years ago.

Unfortunate, but entirely predictable.

[mosquito]

Interesting to see what has been getting said.... no one is forcing anyone to use that section yet there are some crying it should be gone even though only members that are logged in can see it....


They kind of fit Aldous Huxley’s indictment, “Most of one’s life... is one prolonged effort to prevent thinking,” or perhaps even...
"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it" - George Orwell

While the others are split into the camp that would fit best or those that seem to be nothing more than dedicated trolls or fiction spinners...

"Truth eludes us if we do not pursue it with constant attention." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

and there are three quotes in this post that were together in my notes from a writer who got infinitely wiser as he got older ...

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."- G. Orwell

Just recently when Pierre P. made a comment about the Liberal's wanting to censor the internet a top Liberal voiced his support for that censorship... I suspect it isn't the whole Off Topic more the Political section that some want shut off more than discussions on COVID and BBQs even if they don't have to go themselves and the are like that Liberal MP and perfectly fit in the first group.
"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it" - George Orwell

Back to Judges suggest with my revision ... limit it to say 5 posts per thread or per day. There is probably a property setting that can be set in the forum to block people from some categories, that is as far as I would say SHOULD (some idiot will always go further than SHOULD) be needed.

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” George Orwell

[Species8472]

If Gilly and fishcan speak in the forest, are they still wrong?

Depends on who's campfire it is and how much scotch is involved.