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

I don't your first statement has been definitively proven. And I think, since many shows have been cancelled, and we're on a new server, this doesn't need to be as big a consideration as it was in the summer. Though I don't mean to discount it completely.

About the new server thing - this server was never meant to be a permanent fix. We're only supposed to be here until we fix the code to the point that we can return to a less expensive host. It's been strongly cautioned a couple of different times since we've moved here that we shouldn't add new threads until the code problems are fixed.

As much as I think I lean in favor of this thread, particularly after the Minearverse incident, I'm probably going to vote down this proposal on the above stated grounds alone.

The fact that Angel is ending and our two main show threads (plus Spoilers) will be effectively dead might balance it out. I don't know.

And now that the deathmatches are over, isn't the Quoteables thread going as well.

I also think that, depending on how the 2004 presidential election turns out, will have a huge impact on the thread. I think that if Pres Bush wins, it's gonna be a largely posted in thread. If Pres Bush loses, it won't be as much.

I thought the dedicated server thing was something we were always striving for, kind of like moving into our own house instead of being in an apartment all our lives. I didn't know it was temporary.

Huh.

My initial instinct is Pro. Sometimes a person feels like talking politics and other times not so much. I have never felt that I could not mention movies or music in Natter, because Natter. If I was looking for concentrated conversation I would move to the appropriate thread, and probably find Natter.

As concerns scary newbies flocking to the political thread, the same rules that protect the existing threads would apply in a new thread.

I'll be skimming the thread for the next few days as I am still on the fence, unlike the big vote. This is a very important election and many of us will feel a need to discuss the process.

As usual, I don't care which way this goes.

However, I do put this challenge down.

Can arguments in a politics thread STAY in the thread?

If you think they can, I'm all for it.

Refresh my memory, what's our annual cost on the dedicated server?

Can arguments in a politics thread STAY in the thread?

Meaning, not bleed over into other ones? I think for the most part, yes. There might a bit of crossover like with other subjects brought up, but if a bigger scale discussion rows from the initial cross over, say a GWB joke or something, at that point, as members of this community, we should say, "Toepick" and the discussion could be moved or, if the participants did not want to continue, then it would die.

Can arguments in a politics thread STAY in the thread?

I don't see how. Part of the reason people are talking about the thread is because political discussions in other threads almost always turn acrimonious, right?

The first time someone calls someone else a fascist or a neo-pinko commie scum, I think it's going to cause a fracture, and it'll be felt elsewhere. (Yes, I am ultimate Non-Confrontation Girl.)

Have people had experiences at other boards with maintaining polite relationships with those they argue with in politics threads? Anyone got some anecdotes? Was anyone here active in politics at TT?

If this passes, let's call the thread Las Vegas. Because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

We hope.