Politics threads

[3_Octave_Fart]

EDIT: I moved a bunch of posts asking about politics threads here, as they were derailing other threads. - Jeff, Site Admin

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I ask this in humility.
Welcome.

I will be direct: Can the Politics Thread, often filled with great wit and fun stuff harmful to NOBODY, along with its weird/fascinating sociology, be reinstated?

One guy poisoned that thread. One guy took it to Creepytown.

Please give us a fresh chance. Please let working professionals discuss the current events that affect our lives and times. Please treat us as professionals, scant though we may appear, and allow us to interact.

Respect,
Fart

 

[SJ Staff]

...Can the Politics Thread... be reinstated?

It's a good question.

I don't know much about the history of political discussions in this community, but when I introduced myself to the mods earlier this week, a few of them specifically mentioned that the politics threads have caused more harm than good, which doesn't really surprise me.

My general observation from other communities is that political discussions often result in a more abrasive and argumentative community culture, which is the opposite of what I'd like to foster.

So I fully support the mods current policy that politics as a topic are not allowed on the board.

Sorry it's not the answer you wanted.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Jeff, it's a better and more courteous answer than any we've gotten. Thanks and take it easy.

 

[da man]

I ask this in humility.
Welcome.

I will be direct: Can the Politics Thread, often filled with great wit and fun stuff harmful to NOBODY, along with its weird/fascinating sociology, be reinstated?

One guy poisoned that thread. One guy took it to Creepytown.

Please give us a fresh chance. Please let working professionals discuss the current events that affect our lives and times. Please treat us as professionals, scant though we may appear, and allow us to interact.

Respect,
Fart

Congratulations, Jeff. In just one day, you've managed to do the impossible.

No one else has ever been able to get 3OF to do anything with humility.

Also, does it make anyone else chuckle that such an impassioned plea to be treated as professionals is signed "Fart"?

 

[Versatile]

Hi, Jeff. Consider the thread in your decision on politics discourse: http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/92290/

Rampant and accepted sexism and (less obviously) racism has been a much bigger issue than political difference.

 

[Riptide]

This board polices itself pretty well, with or without the mods. The Politics thread is not for everyone, but anyone who goes there knows what to expect. It's wide-open debate, arguments and -- yes -- inflammatory situations at times, but Welcome to America, eh?

It's also brilliant, fast-paced discussion every day, at a much higher level than you'll find most anywhere else, and there's a huge void left when we can't engage this topic every day, and week to week. Suspend those who go too far -- for a week or a month, whatever -- but don't deny us the Politics thread in an open forum as good as this board is.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I ask this in humility.
Welcome.

I will be direct: Can the Politics Thread, often filled with great wit and fun stuff harmful to NOBODY, along with its weird/fascinating sociology, be reinstated?

One guy poisoned that thread. One guy took it to Creepytown.

Please give us a fresh chance. Please let working professionals discuss the current events that affect our lives and times. Please treat us as professionals, scant though we may appear, and allow us to interact.

Respect,
Fart

Congratulations, Jeff. In just one day, you've managed to do the impossible.

No one else has ever been able to get 3OF to do anything with humility.

Also, does it make anyone else chuckle that such an impassioned plea to be treated as professionals is signed "Fart"?

My mother raised me to return respect that is shown to me.
And yes, I am a professional. This board is not real life. You do know that, I hope.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Politics is the adult professional's sport like college football is the blue collar fanboy's sport.

I excused myself from being emotionally invested in either of them many years ago. No point in wasting my time getting upset, excited, angry, happy, etc. over a bunch of bull****.

I could care less if politics is ever discussed here or anywhere. You won't see me involved in it.

 

[Boom_70]

Jeff - a serious question / observation: If the idea is to create more page views in hope of generating
more revenue then why ban political threads? It seems counter productive to your goal.

If you look at past history political threads typically had more page views than most threads.

If increased revenue is your goal then removing the politics ban is going to get you there a lot quicker.

As a quick study just go look at some of the "quasi" political threads that have been allowed like Ferguson
discussion.

 

[SJ Staff]

Jeff - a serious question / observation: If the idea is to create more page views in hope of generating
more revenue then why ban political threads? It seems counter productive to your goal.

1) You are right that politics spikes short term pageviews/revenue.

2) Having a pleasant culture matters more to me than revenue. Historically, political threads have brought out the worst in quite a number of folks.

3) Mods burn out faster dealing with politics threads. That's a show-stopper right there.

4) Xenforo lets people be banned from specific forums/threads, so I won't say that it political threads will never happen--we could permaban folks from those threads--but I really don't see a reason to open that can of worms other than short-term revenue.

 

[YankeeFan]

I hear you on wanting this.

First, the reason I changed it to 12 is to generate more pageviews, which means more ad revenue--this site doesn't make a ton, but it helps cover the time I put into working on the site and helps put food on the table for me and my family.

However, I totally get that if you're an extremely active user, the 12 posts per page and 20 threads per page may be limiting.

So the other option here is I could create a "Supporting Member" user group that skips all ads and lets you adjust your settings to view as many posts/threads per page as you want. I really haven't put much thought into it just yet, but it'd probably be around $20 a year.

Very open to feedback on this...

This is a really disappointing answer. It negates any other improvements you may make to the site.

On a popular, fast moving thread, it's just a major pain in the ass. I end up spending half of my time loading new pages. And, if I'm looking for a post I saw earlier that I'd like to respond to or quote, it will now take me four times as long to find it.

Most disappointing is that you could make the change, but just don't want to.

Good content is what will drive page views. This is like doing a reverse stock split, and proclaiming you've gotten share prices up.

The board's been dead the last several days. Making it less user friendly will not drive page views.

It's about "stickiness". You need people to stay on the site longer. Giving me a frustrating user experience drives me away from the site, and will lead to fewer page views.

 

[Songbird]

I come for YF (and Boom) (and because my goal is to see if oop laughs just once in his lifetime while posting) (and for reasons that I'm not at liberty to divulge) so perhaps you can indulge YF his one wish here. Afterward you'll say to yourself, you'll say, Jeff, that felt right.

Plus, he'll give you a fat discount next time you need to repair the espresso machine. Get it? Because he's just a coffee repairman!!! 11!11!!

 

[Boom_70]

This is a really disappointing answer. It negates any other improvements you may make to the site.

On a popular, fast moving thread, it's just a major pain in the ass. I end up spending half of my time loading new pages. And, if I'm looking for a post I saw earlier that I'd like to respond to or quote, it will now take me four times as long to find it.

Most disappointing is that you could make the change, but just don't want to.

Good content is what will drive page views. This is like doing a reverse stock split, and proclaiming you've gotten share prices up.

The board's been dead the last several days. Making it less user friendly will not drive page views.

It's about "stickiness". You need people to stay on the site longer. Giving me a frustrating user experience drives me away from the site, and will lead to fewer page views.

"The boards been dead for the last several days" How about the last several years. Perhaps stagnant might be a better term and as a result
people leaving or rarely posting any longer because there is little of interest to them.

As much a Jeff and the Mods don't want to hear it what has driven the place from the beginning even when it was part of Sports Pages.com
was free wheeling discussion on current events, much with a political overtone.

Jeff it's a real contradiction to say that you don't want politics yet you want page views. The numbers speak for themselves. Look at
the metrics for the last political thread before it was locked. In a year there were 663,384 unique views. There is not even another
thread that is close.

Not allowing political threads throws the baby out with the bath water. The reality is that a few have ruined it for everyone else that wants to
have an intellectually honest conversation and the Mods have been too quick to accommodate them by locking threads to fast.

In the end it's your place and you can do with it what you want but I've been here from the Rich Johnson days and have always found the place
more interesting when there was a lot less regulation and control. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Songbird]

To affirm what YF and Boom said, Jeff, I highly encourage you to activate the politics thread
and if certain ****ing idiots posters can't handle being there without the butt-hurt then just ban them from that thread.
It's really very easy. Trust me, you will see a huge (HUGE!) spike in traffic if you open that up again.
5 bucks says some of the blowhards from the Other Funny Farm would come out to play
because, you know, they're the mostest-smartest of the bunch when it comes to politics.
Well, Zeke, knows his stuff from an historical standpoint and argues well enough in that regard.

But anyway ...

You want cash money to feed wifey and baby?
Well, you need page views.
Need page views?
Open the politics thread
and be ULTRA specific about the conditions re: posting IRT getting banned.

My suggestion is this: blowhards who blow too hard get a 15-day timeout from the thread on first warning.

A second warning means permanent ban from the thread.

My other suggestion is this: let people play hard and nasty in the thread with only one general rule: no outing.

Because you can't talk politics -- both sides are idiots -- without it getting heated. Let it get heated.

Just don't ****ing out anyone, idiots.

C'mon, it'll provide a hefty dose of comic relief here.
Democrats talking like they know what the **** they're talking about. They don't.
Republicans talking like they know what the **** they're talking about. They don't.
The rancorous back and forth.
The vilification of each other's souls.
The lust and the romance of the political dance.

That's my 2 cents, though it's only worth half that since the Republicans gave the other penny to their tax-evading business friends to squirrel away off-shore.

 

[Boom_70]

Haden Panettiere Gives Birth - 350 views since Sunday.

Threads like that are not going to pay your light bills and draw people to the
place.

 

[Songbird]

Haden Panettiere Gives Birth - 350 views since Sunday.

Threads like that are not going to pay your light bills and draw people to the
place.

Light bill? Have you seen how much a jar of Gerber's mushed carrots goes for these days?

 

[Vombatus]

I'd like to see the creation of a third major section called The Water Cooler (in addition to the existing Sports and News, and Anything Goes sections).

The rules for the Water Cooler would be pretty simple. No outing, no borderline images. More importantly, NO REPORTING to mods, no whining, no butthurting. Enter at your own risk, no holds barred, free discourse. Less moderating. You get offended or butthurt, that's your problem and the risk you took by entering the Water Cooler.

And of course, the WC would be the only place where political discussion would be allowed.

Anyway, just an idea. I've seen it work on other sites.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I think people forget what a cesspool that politics thread was.

 

[Boom_70]

I think people forget what a cesspool that politics thread was.

Respectively disagree.
One thing I've never understood is if people don't like the tone of political discussion then why click on the thread or even go to
that board?

It would be like someone against nudity going to a topless bar and then complaining about it.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I understand perfectly that we could have a pretty productive discussion, then call it a day and go to sleep, only to wake up and find the night crew had vomited all over the previous nine or 10 pages with their "You're gay for being a D! No, YOU'RE gay for being an R!" shtick.