Where do the local 'istas lists live? Is there a Chicago/Midwest one? What is involved in creating/maintaing one?

aurelia, I don't think there is. If there was, Gus had it. But I do vaguely remember him asking for addresses in Natter....

I dunno. My 'net time looks like it will be curtailed pretty severely, so I'll gladly be on it, but I can't promise swift response.

However, on the "maybe this isn't the best time for this" side of the discussion, I think ita would again point out that the reason for our little move to our current host was to solve code problems we still haven't solved, and until we do, new threads are not necessarily a good idea.

Just putting that out there.

I'm sorry, but this way convoluted.

msbelle - sincere thanks for taking time and trying to help on this. Others who spoke up when they saw direct nastyness - thanks too.

Also seconding Aimee's proposal...

That's four.

A few people said they would second it if it was proposed. I proposed it. If it doesn't get the seconds it needs, so be it. I am not personally attched to the idea.

Is four the requirement for opening up the discussion thread, Sean? I can't remember. (Actually, my brain is saying "seven," but God knows why.)

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.

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.

I don't need to discuss it further. I'll wait until the vote rolls around.

I think the point of lightbulb was to discuss whether an issue needs to be addressed or not. To start debating here about it, even about the timing of it, makes that other thread redundant. FTR, I'm currently meh about it, and I'm really not going to get down and dirty on the issue. But others seem to feel it's worth discussing and that's what I'm supporting.

It may get voted down, it may start even more heated discussion (though not in this thread, I would point out), but then it may not get a fourth second - it didn't before, if I remember correctly...

Doesn't need a fourth second. IIRC, proposal and three seconds is the rule.

Can't you guys let us settle one issue before you fire this up?

Honestly? How is this current issue ever going to be settled? It seems to boil down to some people are nice/some people are mean. The only thing that can really is happen is maybe we all gained new perspective from this conversation and try to think a little more before posting. We're not going to know if it was successful or not for a while.

But I do think that every time a thread drifts into political conversation, it ends in cyberbloodshed. At this point, I'm willing to try anything. Hence the seconding.

ETA: Also, I'm not planning on debating it, either. I did my seconding thing and we'll see what happens if it comes to a vote.