What? No political threads!

Marjorie Suddard wrote: You know what? This kind of well-reasoned, impassioned argument changes my mind. Fine, go for it. But can you guys, the regular regulars, please keep an ear out for the general tone of the party? It's supposed to be fun, dammit. (And MrJoshua, if you're just dying to establish your shiny happy person cred, this might not be the place for you.) Margie

I think this is what keeps this forum so awesome.

Tom Heath wrote: I think we're really pretty light there, thankfully because we have a great community.

Um. Yes, and yes. Thanks for a great site!

Curmudgeon wrote:

1988RedT2 wrote: In reply to Marjorie Suddard: Who are these noobs? Screen names please. We'll make sure they get a proper welcome, see? {shines brass knuckles with polishing cloth}

No, no. Not brass knucks. That's so early 20th century. These days we recharge the Taser.

Hey, what can I say? I'm old school.

I am telling you, Millard Fillmore was one ghastly president! DOWN WITH THE WHIGS!!!

Brick Tamland: I love... Subie powered porches.
...
Brick Tamland: I love... LS Swaps.
Ron Burgundy: Brick, are you just looking at things on the net and saying that you love them?
Brick Tamland: I love GRM Forum.
Ron Burgundy: Do you really love the GRM Forum, or are you just saying it because you saw it?
Brick Tamland: I love GRM Forum. I love GRM Forum.

Marjorie Suddard wrote: (And MrJoshua, if you're just dying to establish your shiny happy person cred, this might not be the place for you.) Margie

The was my best effort to show sarcasm. I hate boards that yell at you to search and treat you like a moron because you are new and inexperienced. I love the boards that are patient with newbies like this one. Regarding political threads: I have stayed away from posting in most political threads for quite awhile now because some of the posters typically know waay more than me and it occasionally bugs me to sound like a passion driven idiot. Seriously though. I really really wan't the political threads. They educate me. Thank you for changing your mind.

rotard wrote: Younger web users will actively avoid boards that practice heavy-handed use of censorship and the banhammer.

I don't see that happening here, ever. At least not so far. I've spent time as volunteer staff on several large forums where it was a good day if we only had to ban spammers. I'm not worried about the way discipline is handled here at all.

[edit] Wups, just saw the several posts below this quote. I for one wasn't trying to suck up to our new overlords at all.

Sha, I'm not a new overlord. I've got tenure.

Margie

MrJoshua wrote: I really really wan't the political threads. They educate me.

Now we just need an apostrophe thread.

Duke wrote: I don't see that happening here, ever. At least not so far. I've spent time as volunteer staff on several large forums where it was a good day if we only had to ban spammers. I'm not worried about the way discipline is handled here at all.

I've saw this happen time and again, so for the most part, it is true. The only places I've saw thrive without am offtopic section are ones with dedicated amounts of people and knowledge towards a specific brand, and usually a specific car from that brand.

I'm happy that the decision has been reversed, as literally, my GRM visiting would be cut in AT LEAST half if not for political threads. I like to watch you 'mericans get all uppity

I still didn't find that last thread nearly as bad as some others that have been on here. While the original post might have been inflammatory, a large portion of the people in that thread agreed, and LOTS of fact-backing-up data was brought to that discussion. Mmm, juicy data

Marjorie Suddard wrote: Sha, I'm not a new overlord. Im just good with a cement mixer and trowel Margie

FTFY

16vCorey wrote:

MrJoshua wrote: I really really wan't the political threads. They educate me.

Now we just need an apostrophe thread.

Ooooooh-the grammar police. If I ever wan'ted to ban anyone on GRM it would be them.

Thanks, Margie.

I signed up a while back, but almost never visited for the first year or so. Then it dawned on me that I ought to try hanging out since although I have a lot of wonderful friends, exactly one of them has any interest in cars, and he's on here...

But what really got my attention, if I recall correctly, was a discussion about Georgia liquor laws. And then some other political and even religious discussion. It wasn't without some rancor, but the overall level of discourse and respect shown blew me away.

So now, I frequently will add stuff into conversations with my non-car friends about what I read on the GRM forum recently. It's also my primary exposure to people outside my little socio-politico-economic bubble.

I think it's possible the political threads have gotten a bit shoutier, but that seems like the sort of thing that may ebb and flow. Hopefully this near-miss with doing away with them will get people back in line, and we can all back it up with the odd "cough, AHEM" self-policing when folks are getting out of hand.

So, again, thanks very much for this forum. It is a tremendous resource across such a breadth of knowledge that it continually bends my mind.

As a 10+ year veteran of various internet forums, automotive and otherwise, and a long-time member of Corner-Carvers, a forum known for it's intolerance of noobs who don't read the rules, I think the answer is somewhere in between.

I agree that it's not a good thing to ban an entire line of discussion from a forum, but at the same time, we must keep in mind that the GRM forum is a bit different from most other web forums that we are familiar with. To some extent, this forum is the public, internet face of a profit-seeking magazine which stays in business by selling advertising. Other forums are just groups of like-minded people and can have more freedom to let people do what they want.

If I may offer a suggestion, if the editors are comfortable with it, perhaps they could appoint a few trusted forum members as moderators so that there are more people lurking the forum to keep an eye on things. Generally speaking, when things get out of hand, it's one or two people, and if they get a PM from a mod, that might encourage them to back down a bit, or maybe a temporary ban if they don't.

Having said that, I generally stay out of the poltical threads, as well, so I have no dog in this fight.

Hi, my name is WorksGarage and I think ......

Nevermind.

Tom_Spangler wrote: perhaps they could appoint a few trusted forum members as moderators

... and call em A mod and B mod

Did I just wake up and have missed something?

fasted58 wrote:

Tom_Spangler wrote: perhaps they could appoint a few trusted forum members as moderators

... and call em A mod and B mod

I lol'd and coffee came out of my nose.

DeadSkunk wrote: Did I just wake up and have missed something?

Not much. I got my panties in a wad because I was tired of seeing political threads and thinking, "Oh, gawd, now how ugly has it gotten?"--truthfully, based more on past history than more recent, and overall more polite, discussions--and decided the forum would be a better place without those threads.

People used common sense and rational argument, ironically, to convince me I was wrong.

Margie

I think it's great that we get some good discussions about current events & real happenings in the world, but the numerous threads that were just "Dems vs. Rs" back-and-forth over and over were pretty irritating. Maybe the philosophy should be "political threads must have a point."

914Driver wrote: Hi, my name is WorksGarage and I think ...... Nevermind.

Oh no you di'int! Be careful, there's still room under the patio.

Alternative viewpoint: The forum keeps me subscribing to the magazine.

While the mag is moving upscale, these ruffians certainly aren't.

Marjorie Suddard wrote: I got my panties in a wad because I was tired of seeing political threads and thinking, "Oh, gawd, now how ugly has it gotten?"--truthfully, based more on past history than more recent, and overall more polite, discussions--and decided the forum would be a better place without those threads. People used common sense and rational argument, ironically, to convince me I was wrong. Margie

Thanks for the reversal, Margie. There's a reason why you and the staff are respected.

I've always found the occasional warning from yourself, Per, Tom, et al to be enough to calm things down but I have no problem with locking threads. I would recommend, however, that a PM go to the offender(s) so they know what crosses the line - even if it's me.

I once said that I thought the political threads were ruining this forum. I still don't think they belong here, but I've since realized that politics wasn't the problem. There are a handful of members here that are just looking for a fight. While I hate the arguing (it gets pretty tired IMO) It's become interesting to see which threads will go off on that tangent.

When I used to take my kids to the barber in our small town, he had a a small sign on the wall that said "no politics or religion". He was a smart guy.