I've always thought a politics thread would be a good idea, given that some of us so love to talk about it, while it makes others flee screaming. And with the upcoming US elections, I expect political subjects to come up more and more. It makes sense IMO to corral the topic in one place for those of us who want to discuss it.

That's my rationale, and probably all I'll have time to post, what with everything going on in my life right now....

There might be.

Personally, I like the idea. That way, for those who don't care or don't want to discuss can ignore it the way you sometimes can't in Natter or other threads. I, for one, have enough OCD that I have to read every single post. My bag, I know, but if I wanted to discuss it, it would be easier to catch up in that thread than wading through the regular Natter, etc stuff to find discussion points.

That's my rationale, and probably all I'll have time to post, what with everything going on in my life right now....

Like what?? *w*

There's one suggestion I'd like to make. If this passes, I think it should be named something innocuous, like Jets and Sharks, so that the concerns of those who think it possible that Random Googler will come join up in order to flame will be at least partially laid to rest. And I think that the name, oh, style, if you will, should be part of the proposal language.

And I think that the name, oh, style, if you will, should be part of the proposal language.

Okay.

I am hereby asking for help on writing this proposal as I have bugger-all experience with this.

I'll help to the extent I can, but I'm not going to be around for much of the discussion and voting because of Sabbath and Passover. I honestly don't think you'll have a shortage of people willing to help you write it (and grammar check it.) We are the Buffistas, after all.

I honestly don't know where I stand on this yet, so what follows should not be taken to advocate one stance or the other.

Pro: Politics would be theoretically kept out of other threads. People who wished to talk politics could do so, and people who wished to avoid politics could do so.

Con: Yeah, right. In the history of the board, the only topic that's been successfully quarantined is Spoilers. We still talk about movies, music, and LotR in Natter, why should this be any different?

Pro: Politics has been a traditionally divisive issue. The conflict-avoidy could avoid the Politics thread, and the rest of the board would be that much calmer.

Con: Do we really want everyone who enjoys a good political argument in one thread all at once all the time? Wouldn't this just be the most flamebaity thread ever?

Pro: We could finally stop arguing over whether or not to have a Politics thread.

Con: The more threads, the more posts. Can we afford to increase posting volume, given that our dedicated server status is only temporary?

Pro: I think it might be a really good thread, if we gave it a chance. We have so many smart and well-informed people here, who wouldn't want a place to discuss important political issues with them?

Con: Every new show thread we've added has attracted newbies. For the most part, this has been a good thing. But I'm a little frightened of the kind of newbies a Politics thread might attract.

Moving this over where it belongs...

Okay, here's my opinion on a politics/war thread, recapping McHundreds of previous posts.

It's a bad idea because concentrating the heated debate spills out to the other threads and causes more splits and divisions. Instead of ghettoizing the negative vibes, it will amplify them. Personality clashes became even hotter with political rhetoric and the resentments that build up get carried elsewhere.

It's a bad idea because it drains interesting discussion out of Natter.

It's a bad idea because we shouldn't be adding new threads right now until all our coding issues are done.

Also I agree with all of JessiMoon's Cons.

But I'm a little frightened of the kind of newbies a Politics thread might attract.

I agree and suggest that the thread be called something non-ME related. Would it be possible to NOT have a slug for it, that way it wouldn't show up on a google?

It's a bad idea because it drains interesting discussion out of Natter.

I think there is as much a chance of this happening as the period talk leaving Bitches.