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)

Aaarrghh. All that over in Bureau, and the vote is about a politics thread?

So, for the record, I would participate in said thread.

However, I oppose creation of such a thread. I think it's not what we're about as a community, and while it certainly is a topic we're covering overall, I don't think having it as a specific thread focus is a good idea.

There's no way I'd vote for a Politics orElection thread. For a variety of reasons, including that I don't think this is the right time to be bringing this up.

As far as the technical side of board health - aka coding/traffic/whathaveyou - as ita goes, so goes my nation. So I am anti-proliferation in general.

In specific, I appreciate Aimeé's offer to put the thread on a three-month trial. If it passes, I think that is the best idea. Also, "Vegas" and "Toepick!" are both very good ideas. I would probably still vote against the thread on the basis of anti-proliferation, but I appreciate the flexibility.

I see this as a mildly significant step in the debate over The Direction Of The Buffistas. I'm hoping someone else understands what I'm trying to say and can expound further as necessary, because I can't seem to.

I like Aimee's proposal of a trial period. It would make it much easier to pull the plug if things go wrong.

So I won't say I'm comfortable with the idea, but I've moved to "on the fence." Because the idea of a Buffista quasi-blog has appeal.

If a Politics thread passes, I'd suggest the header contain the following:

• This is a trial period to see if the board can handle a Politics thread without undue rancor. Include the date when the trial period ends.

• Post links, not entire articles. (Possible exception: Short, 1-2 paragraph excerpts ok if the link will expire soon after posting.)

• A reminder that we all have our political hobbyhorses. Respect that, at least to the extent of avoiding, "Not that issue again!" remarks.

Oh, and Cindy, love your tagline! Yay Meredith Brooks!

New server. Magazine ads. Plane tickets.

The new server we say we can't continue to afford? The magazine ads that I don't know what you're talking about, exactly? And bringing Nilly to the US?

Completely different things -- saying we have a lot of money is not just counting your chickens before they've hatched, you're not even to the bit where birds have evolved yet.

Right now, the money we have is whatever money Jesse has, and that's earmarked for hosting. The other money? Not yet existing, and I can't recommend any course of action that assumes it does.