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Reminder - Decorum in Political Threads

garb811

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After a period of relative calm and keeping things above the belt within the political threads, there have been some instances where the DS have allowed a bit of a looser rein on the debates.  Unfortunately, the last couple of days have seen a regression towards some of the bad habits of the past, in particular attacking individuals directly vice the arguments.

As a reminder:

Mike Bobbitt said:
...
Given that we are by nature not a political site, the argument has been made to shutter the politics boards altogether, and this approach certainly has merit. We believe however that the right approach is to encourage open, positive discourse rather than closing shop on a busy and lively section of the site. By locking the old threads, the intent is to "leave behind" the old tone of political discussion and move forward with a new one.

A while ago, as part of the effort to improve the tone and content of posting, the Staff moved any political threads into their own sub board. We also attempted to crack down on the ad hominem attacks on individuals that are either forum members, or political leaders. Although we have achieved some measure of success, there are still folks who insist on emotional name calling or trolling instead of rational, adult arguments. This causes significant workload for the Staff, and often drags them into a debate where they are accused of taking one side (and then a short while later, the other). It also degrades the credibility of the site, and has the potential to open it (and me personally) to legal action.
...

Further breaches of the rules going forward, including calling individuals (board members or world leaders) names and ad hominem attacks will be dealt with fully in accordance with the policy Mike put in place.  All of those who have been on, or over, the line are individuals who know better; there is no excuse for this.

- Staff
 
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