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The politics are stepping on the 'Off Topic' topics. Can you make a Politics Section?
Plus, they are not Off Topic, because their topic is Politics.
Then, it will be easy for those who want to participate, and easy for those who want to ignore them.
thanks
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I second that motion. Political discussion need to be marginalized immediately - I mean recognized.
One more for the motion to banish... er, move all that political yap yap to its own cage.
This seems smart. If I could turn off that section, I might avoid temptation. And I don't mean the Callous Jack section. (Sorry CJ, but you've already got the best cult...what more would a section give you?)
Dear God please no.
If you wanna talk politics there are news sites with plenty of forums, and RPG.net for RPG flavored political discussion if you're not easily offended.
Well, that's not stopping anyone here. The point is to give them they're own place, to move them out of off-topics.
Yeah, I haven't read off -topic in weeks since Hannity & Colmes took it over. It used to funny and diverting. Now with all the political dog fights I've had to turn the off -topic section off.
I would happily kick my mom in the face if you would move the political crap away from Off-Topic. That's one of the main reasons I've just been staying away. It's like watching a very frustrating trainwreck.
LOL. Now that's dedication to a proposition!
I would happily kick my mom in the face if you would move the political crap away from Off-Topic. That's one of the main reasons I've just been staying away. It's like watching a very frustrating trainwreck.LOL. Now that's dedication to a proposition!
I'd kick my mother in the face, kill her whiney dog...AND make her watch "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane"...whiles SOBER...
I'd kick my mother in the face, kill her whiney dog...AND make her watch "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane"...whiles SOBER...
I actually liked that one scene in Ford Fairlane when he's falling off the building, and on the way down he's incredibly relaxed while doing a Tony Manero impression. "My hair... my hair."
Not a bad idea, but you'd have to name it the Ticking Bomb thread. Sad thing is there are some interesting points/counterpoints raised but you have to sift thru a lot of 'other' stuff.
This seems smart. If I could turn off that section, I might avoid temptation. And I don't mean the Callous Jack section. (Sorry CJ, but you've already got the best cult...what more would a section give you?)
Thank you for acknowledging the greatness of the Jacks. You should pop in for a few beers sometime.
CJ has nothing we cant just take away from him......Including the initials CJ
CJ
Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery CJ
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A politics section would be okay, but I disagree that they are stepping on the other off topic threads. By my count there are only thirteen political threads that have not fallen into the archives and two of those are locked. Only about three have people actually posting to them. Thirteen out of one hundred threads doesn't really constitute stepping on in my book. In fact, as I write this, not a single one is showing on the main messageboard page.
Thank you for acknowledging the greatness of the Jacks. You should pop in for a few beers sometime.
Dear Mr. Hammer,
In regard to your thanks for my acknowledgment, you are welcome. However, it raises the question, who does not acknowledge this? Where can one go where people know not the names of Panama Jack, Hungry Jack, Jack Hammer, Callous Jack, among the other great Jacks? However, Mr. Hammer, I am a very busy wizard, much taken with research in arcane libraries and my laboratory. Recently, I've whipped some magic into some of Panama Jack's lotions...he's a long acquaintance of mine and a fairly regular customer. But my own research calls, and so I cannot spend any time boozing and smoking with Jacks. Please accept my begging off your kind invitation.My Best Wishes,
Politics discussion is bound to happen anyway, so you might as well give it its own space... all we'd need is a sticky where Paizo denies that any oppinion posted reflects the company's.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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Not to spoil anyone's fun, but I am against a dedicated political section on the boards for several reasons:
- it really has nothing at all to do with Paizo, Paizo products, gaming or other hobby-related topics.
- It quickly becomes a hotbed to attract the more, say, competitive posters. Think the 4th Edition board was a flamefest? Wait until you hear people talking about "really important issues!!!!"
- I think the political threads do not need a board of their own. They do not overcrowd off-topic, where they belong, and while there is a certain regularity of them, I think OT handles that volume quite well.
Politics discussion is bound to happen anyway, so you might as well give it its own space... all we'd need is a sticky where Paizo denies that any oppinion posted reflects the company's.
As well as adding to the sticky a quote from Ford Fairlane (because I loved that movie and its good both drunk and sober) "You're 10 seconds away from the most embarrassing moment in your life. "
I would happily kick my mom in the face if you would move the political crap away from Off-Topic. That's one of the main reasons I've just been staying away. It's like watching a very frustrating trainwreck.
Well. You kicking your mom in the face is about as equally amusing as the political threads. I think you need to throw something else in as well. Would you by any chance consider setting an orphanage on fire?
A politics section would be okay, but I disagree that they are stepping on the other off topic threads. By my count there are only thirteen political threads that have not fallen into the archives and two of those are locked. Only about three have people actually posting to them. Thirteen out of one hundred threads doesn't really constitute stepping on in my book. In fact, as I write this, not a single one is showing on the main messageboard page.
To me, this is really about giving us more choices, which makes the boards a friendlier place. There were more than three that had people posting to them in the past week, and there were times that the only posts visible for OT on the Messageboards page were the political ones. It wasn't the end of the world, but apparently I wasn't the only one who had decided to stay out of them who then had to take the extra step to click on "Off Topic" to find what they were looking for. And there are at least some people who, some or all of the time, would like to turn off the controversy without turning off others' access to it.
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The point about the "Off-Topic" section is that it is off-topic. It's where we discuss non-RPG stuff - and that is quite a broad topic. Politics is part of that and from time to time it gets heated, but that is just life and, in any case, doesn't seem to be worse than some of the stuff we have recently seen on other parts of the board. And in the off-topic section at least you can ignore it much more easily if you want, unlike some of the controversy in respect of the reason we actually come here, namely RPGs.
I would personally be against a specific politics section. I don't think the subject comes up enough to warrant it under normal circumstances (and there are not normal times, with a US presidential election, a financial crisis and a deep recession all very close together). It would pretty much invite flaming (and possibly outsiders with an axe to grind), isn't actually what this site is about, and would take away from the free-wheeling nature of the Off-Topic section where you can have anything from discussions about football, to Palestine/Israel, to absurd jokes.
In any case, not everything in the Off-Topic section is to everyone's taste or interest. Personally, sport bores me to death (especially American sport) but I wouldn't suggest that threads about that be hived off to a separate "Sports" section just to preserve the sanctity of the stuff I am interested in. It isn't too difficult to open the tab past the first five threads if you are interested.
Aubrey, I acknowledge that it is "not too difficult". But I wonder if a sports thread has been regularly threatened with getting shut down, much less all sports threads. And I've never seen anybody go stark raving mad because somebody was dissing their professional or college teams -- nobody takes such insults or challenges seriously, not even Sooners. This reaction seems limited to politics, morality, religion, and edition. I like the idea of separation not just because it appeals to me personally, but because it is more likely to preserve the freedom of the fightin' politicoes and make the job of arbitration less onerous for Paizofolk.
As far as organization goes, "Off Topic" is defined by the other categories, so we can just as easily and logically have a Politics section as we have an Arts & Entertainment.
And I've never seen anybody go stark raving mad because somebody was dissing their professional or college teams -- nobody takes such insults or challenges seriously, not even Sooners.
Obviously you've never been to a European (or South American) soccer match! You want to see stark, raving mad, walk the streets of Britain shouting that Manchester United are a bunch of tossers and wanks. It makes Ultimate Fighting Championship seem like a tea party.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I don't think we need a politics section, but if the majority of your posts here are in politics related threads, you should consider finding a board that is actually dedicated to your interests instead of injecting your particular brand of toxicity into an rpg website. An occassional politics thread isn't so bad, but there is a contingent of posters who participate almost exclusively in politics thread. I would suggest that this website is the wrong forum for their dedication to the topic and they should consider moving their handful of rpg-related comments to a politics board's off-topic section rather than coming to an rpg board and posting mostly about politics in the off-topic section.
And I've never seen anybody go stark raving mad because somebody was dissing their professional or college teams -- nobody takes such insults or challenges seriously, not even Sooners.Obviously you've never been to a European (or South American) soccer match! You want to see stark, raving mad, walk the streets of Britain shouting that Manchester United are a bunch of tossers and wanks. It makes Ultimate Fighting Championship seem like a tea party.
As you may guess, Kirth, I love my life, and so I have done little things to seek to preserve it, such as avoiding futbol. (Although, I did bring the nevvies back FCB sweat bands from Barcelona. Bought them from a low risk tourist store.) Thankfully, we haven't seen a Euro/Latin American futbol level of craziness spill over into our sports threads, to which my observation was meant to be limited. Even having said this out loud, I fear that I may have unwittingly spoken the words that will release some power from the deep places, from which none of us will escape.
And I've never seen anybody go stark raving mad because somebody was dissing their professional or college teams -- nobody takes such insults or challenges seriously, not even Sooners.Obviously you've never been to a European (or South American) soccer match! You want to see stark, raving mad, walk the streets of Britain shouting that Manchester United are a bunch of tossers and wanks. It makes Ultimate Fighting Championship seem like a tea party.
I bought my former father-in-law a Man-U jumper for christmas..he's a big Leads man...went absolutely crazy...loved it on christmas morning...
Maybe that's why I don't get to spend Christmas in Cumbria anymore :)
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In any case, not everything in the Off-Topic section is to everyone's taste or interest. Personally, sport bores me to death (especially American sport)...
From what I've seen of American football, it bores even the players to death, which is why they need a half-hour break between each play, to allow them to summon up the will to live.
I enjoy political stuff as much as anybody. I come here for other reasons, though.
Golarion politics would be useful to fleshing out the game world, and there's plenty of it. How's the 5-way struggle for Absalom going?
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Aubrey, I acknowledge that it is "not too difficult". But I wonder if a sports thread has been regularly threatened with getting shut down, much less all sports threads. And I've never seen anybody go stark raving mad because somebody was dissing their professional or college teams -- nobody takes such insults or challenges seriously, not even Sooners. This reaction seems limited to politics, morality, religion, and edition. I like the idea of separation not just because it appeals to me personally, but because it is more likely to preserve the freedom of the fightin' politicoes and make the job of arbitration less onerous for Paizofolk.
As far as organization goes, "Off Topic" is defined by the other categories, so we can just as easily and logically have a Politics section as we have an Arts & Entertainment.
As far as I can tell, most people wanting to segregate political discussion feel it blocks up that section of the board, and they don't like it. Fair enough, but most of what is in th Off-Topic section isn't of interest to me, political or otherwise, so virtually all of it is chaff to me. Also, if people don't like politics, they don't have to read them, same way I don't bother to read most of the stuff that is there.
As to shutting down threads, I fail to see how that is really relevant. Whether it gets shut down or not is down to the participants, largely, and the conversations are usually far more civil than some recent rules discussions. Anyone out of control flirts with a ban, as Paizo outlined in their Jerk rule. A separate section for political discussion changes that not one jot.
In any case, for most of the day, of the top 5 threads in Off-Topic only one (on Tom Hanks and Mormons) was vaguely political.
It's still more exciting then baseball, or it's lazy older brother cricket. ;p
As a former bartender, I was supposed to fake interest in sports. One of the regulars was a good guy and knew how I felt...and one day was going on and on about how wonderful baseball was...I had to inform him as to what I thought was even MORE exciting than baseball...
"When I was a kid in Alaska...we'd get together in the cold....standing approximately twenty feet apart...each with a jar of molasses...and on the count of three, we'd tilt our jars to pour out the molasses...."
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In any case, for most of the day, of the top 5 threads in Off-Topic only one (on Tom Hanks and Mormons) was vaguely political.
And even that has moved away from politics to a certain extent. For myself, I would say one of the biggest problem with the political threads is that some people don't know how to let go. Take the afore mentioned Tom Hanks thread. It is no longer discussing what the original topic was about and should have been allowed to die when everyone had said what they wanted to say. It would have been better if the new topic being discussed had been given it's own thread rather than keeping alive a thread that has outlived it's usefulness. The other problem is that usually what ends up happening is that two or three people take over the thread and use it as their own private fourm to fight with each other. This tends to make the discussions seem more arcrimonius and disagreeable then it might otherwise be.
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It's still more exciting then baseball, or it's lazy older brother cricket. ;pAs a former bartender, I was supposed to fake interest in sports. One of the regulars was a good guy and knew how I felt...and one day was going on and on about how wonderful baseball was...I had to inform him as to what I thought was even MORE exciting than baseball...
"When I was a kid in Alaska...we'd get together in the cold....standing approximately twenty feet apart...each with a jar of molasses...and on the count of three, we'd tilt our jars to pour out the molasses...."
oddly Enough... Baseball is the only sport I like...
Lets go Mets!!!!
It's still more exciting then baseball, or it's lazy older brother cricket. ;pAs a former bartender, I was supposed to fake interest in sports. One of the regulars was a good guy and knew how I felt...and one day was going on and on about how wonderful baseball was...I had to inform him as to what I thought was even MORE exciting than baseball...
"When I was a kid in Alaska...we'd get together in the cold....standing approximately twenty feet apart...each with a jar of molasses...and on the count of three, we'd tilt our jars to pour out the molasses...."
oddly Enough... Baseball is the only sport I like...
Lets go Mets!!!!
BLECH...do you occasionally poke each other at the game to check if everyone is still alive?
Politics... Is that,like, where everyone is really polite?
Eloquaint AND germane to the conversation at hand...well, not exactly...
Change is hard.
Even when it is positive, so I understand why we are being ignored.
Chief Technical Officer
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Change is hard.
Even when it is positive, so I understand why we are being ignored.
If you're suggesting that Paizo is ignoring you, we're not... I'm reading every post here, and collecting data.
The way new forums get added here is either A) Paizo requires them for our own purposes or B) it becomes clear that they're necessary (like the computer games thread).
While I'm still listening here and keeping an eye on the off-topic forum, I'm unconvinced of the necessity; and in fact am currently most in agreement with this paragraph:
I would personally be against a specific politics section. I don't think the subject comes up enough to warrant it under normal circumstances (and there are not normal times, with a US presidential election, a financial crisis and a deep recession all very close together). It would pretty much invite flaming (and possibly outsiders with an axe to grind), isn't actually what this site is about, and would take away from the free-wheeling nature of the Off-Topic section where you can have anything from discussions about football, to Palestine/Israel, to absurd jokes.
Good stuff
Plus, if you created a Politics section, you'd have to create another section for Canadian Politics, cause we're such fascinating neighbours, and that, of course, would lead to your Quebec customers demanding another section separate from the Canadian one because of their distinctiveness, and then the unity and separatists would be all over the place here and bleah! Much simpler to just keep the Off Topic section.
*Snort*Chortle*
I suspect that eventually this will become obvious as a good move. I further suspect that the politicos may be temporarily laying low due to recent backlash.