You know what would immeasurably increase the odds for the thread to work? A MARCIE FILTER. You can cool off any time if you don't have to keep reading the person who provokes you. We have so much money, we could take up a collection and hire somebody to code it. It's valuable.

From my new lurker's perspective, a politics thread would make a great subscription -- links, perspectives, it's like a blog with good commenters. I don't even know what the Buffistas think about Kerry anymore.

We have so much money, we could take up a collection and hire somebody to code it. It's valuable.

We do? Really?

If we need it, I'm of a mind to give it after the events of this week. How much do you think it would cost, ita?

I have absolutely no idea, and am wary of the effort it would take on our (read my, probably) part to have the code commented and specced out for an outsider.

I wish my system hadn't crashed with PaulJ's code, or that he'd replied to my anguished appeal for a resend.

Ah, well.

Oops. Well, if logistics problems and making extra work for you are involved, that's another matter entirely. But if we should reach a point where the major stumbling block is in an area that I can contribute to (being about a 1.5 on the 1 to 10 computer savvyness scale), please let me know.

Having lurked the TT politics threads the way some people lurk the Rules girls (i.e. in horrified fascination), all I can say is YEEEEEAGGGGHHHH!!!! If you ever want to disabuse yourself of the notion that liberals (or, somehow worse, MOR Dems) are as capable of being intolerant asshats as conservatives and reactionaries (and I do make a BIG distinction there), I can suggest at least a dozen threads to look at.

That said, given the enforcements we have in place against obvious trollery, I don't know how I'd vote. But a politics thread is definitely not the place to bring out the best in a person, IMO.

We do? Really?

New server. Magazine ads. Plane tickets. Of course we have a lot of money, collectively. It's really about the will, not the resources. If people want something enough, the PayPal account will fill up, because we have a lot of money. If I wanted it enough, I could do it myself with my forklift-driving earnings. Whether I or we want it that much is a question (edit: see Matt's post for a partial answer), but we definitely have enough money for it.

I'll write the MARCIE stuff. All I need is a description of the desired UI. As I recall, my notion of the way to do it was decidedly unpopular. :)

I'm against a all-politics-all-the-time thread. For mostly reasons others have stated. I don't find it that hard to scroll on by and not get involved when politics gets mentioned in other threads. Nor do I have a problem with adding my own post to a political discussion when I might have an opinion to add.

Thing is--how do you separate "social" versus "political" debates. Abortion is a social issue but also a hotly contested political issue. Same with gay marriage. If I start talking about the social ramifications of an issue, am I going to get bulldozed into the politics thread by people who just don't want to deal with it in Natter or Bitches?

I don't know. I'm just not completely convinced this is a good idea.

How about we open the politics thread for a trial period, say 3 months. See how it goes, what the interest level is, etc. At that point, a discussion could be had as to whether or not it's of interest to keep around, or if it was not a popular as once thought, it gets closed.

If you want Aimee, you can build that into your proposal. If you do think that's the way to go though, do you think it's worth considering waiting until closer to the election?

My only thoughts on this at all (I don't even know if I'll vote, never mind how) are: If this thread idea is defeated right now, nobody will be able to propose it again, until October (6 mos. is the time, right?) and the election is the first Tuesday in November. There might be more support for this thread, closer to the national elections, both from people whose interest is higher around elections, and from people who are sick of politics filling up their other threads. Just a thought.

More mini thoughts:

• I do think if we have it, it should be camouflaged*
• I agree with many of Jess's pros and cons
• I think something should be built in, so that if it causes/increases trouble, the community can request the stompies to close it, ASAP.

(edited way after the fact, because a small part of my spelling center has finally had enough coffee)