One of my favorite message boards has banned political discussion..

[toddzilla]

What a joke. I'm into r/c cars in a big way, and there is a very large message board community connected with a large magazine. Like many boards they have an "off topic" area that is open to anything reasonable. I've gone round and round with many of these people who seem to be either overwhelmingly republican/conservative, or just plain stupid. They are mainly young poeople, with a fair amount of middle aged guys mixed in.

I started a thread about fascism connected with the high school raids a few weeks ago in SC. As of today they have banned all discussions of political religious, etc things in the attempt to make things more "civil" needless to say quite a few people are irritated, while a few are happy about banning such ugly things as political and social issues being discussed. These were not flame wars, and were actually pretty decent discussions about a wide range of issues.

I expect i'll get banned before it's all over because it irritates the shit out of me to quell discussion when it's not out of hand and is an obvious attempt to pander to a few people that complain about something they can choose not to participate in.


this is probably not all that uncommon, but it's still annoying as hell. If you're going to ban this type of discussion, it should be done at a site's inception.

anyway... another stake in the heart of public discourse..

http://www.radiocontrolzone.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=147422&perpage=40&pagenumber=1

there's a link, i went off on a diatribe in page 2 if you're remotely interested.

[Kamika]

1. we'll I think its the right thing to do

Political discussions always ends up nasty, either you ban them, you censor the shit out of them, or you just let your msg board turn into a trashtalking pile of goo.

And since it's a r/c forum I'm sure most ppl are there to actually get away from the political discussions not see them there aswell

[toddzilla]

2. well, it was the "off topic" area...

it's not like we were going into a manufacturer's forum and blasted bush or whatever..

why is it so hard for people to not click on things that annoy them??

The sex threads here were getting a little nuts, but i believe they would have run the course and died off, and there were long periods there where we didn't mention any of the banned topics.


I'm still going to do my "one year anniversary" of the bushco's war on there, whether i'm banned or not.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. I agree.

I've seen a lot of boards and froups destroyed by religious and political fighting. It never ends well, and some feuds have ended up affecting people in meatspace.

Free discourse doesn't mean you can take your fights anywhere you want to, and these off-topic areas are like our lounge, where people can just hang out and schmooze about silly stuff.

There should be some places, like special interest groups, where we don't have to worry about someone poisoning the well.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. It is actually pretty risky to permit it on any board at all

including this one.

In the current climate, as the regime moves inexorably toward formalized criminalization of dissent, already people have lost jobs, been assaulted, expelled from school, etc., it would be almost impossible to permit political discussion without allowing criticism of the regime, which could jeopardize the board's server space, and possibly the safety of the admins.

[toddzilla]

5. which is exactly why it should be allowed

Are you saying that the only way to be "safe" is to not allow it at all? Don't you think it's dangerous to adopt that kind of attitude? This is a prime example of why things are the way they are today, don't talk about it for fear of losing your job, being stalked by a nutball or whatever evil deed you want to put in it's place.

Let me re-iterate.. these were civil discussions on a wide range of topics, not flame wars with threats and rantings. They also banned talk of environmentalism, religion and anything else that is more sensitive than "what's your favorite breakfast cereal" threads..

It's their board to do with as they please, just like clear channel and faux news etc.. get the point?

[DuctapeFatwa]

6. Yes, it is their choice, but today, in the US, that is a mighty big choice

I remember another thread on here once, someone posted saying that they wanted to become an activist, start speaking out, and the advice I gave was before you do anything, make sure you have made provisions for any people who depend on you for food, shelter, etc.

If you are willing to risk your job, your education, your health and your life, that is your right, and some would say, your duty, but at the same time if you have a duty to other human beings, there is no virtue in acting hastily without making sure that they are provided for.

Especially if they are children or incapacitated people, they are not ABLE to make the same choice as you, and choose to share with you the consequences of that choice.

The Resistance does not need people who don't know what they're doing, nor does it need people who have neglected their primary committments to helpless people in their own homes, the very people the Resistance would hope to save!

[toddzilla]

7. i see your point..

a bit downwardly circular, but i do agree with it to some extent.

[Bombero1956]

8. I belong to a diecast board

and political discussions aren't banned, but I stay away from them because alot of these Nascar fans tend to be on the conservative side. It's just not worth it to get into pissing matches with these people. They know how I feel and they aren't going to change my mind.