i certainly dont want to delete the area but man, it's ugly in there.

granted, any blog that is politics looks really similar, so that just might be the nature of the internet + politics.

i cant imagine everyone will just hold hands and agree to have intelligent arguments, but i think we probably need to do something, i'm not sure what.

suggestions?

Honestly, since there are eight bajillion other forums for that stuff, I'd just as soon you jettison the entire topic from DW. Not that political talk won't leak into other topic areas anyway, but it's obvious that intelligent debate left the room quite some time ago.

I'm glad you're taking the bull by the horns, Mr. D. This sort of crap has the potential to ruin the entire site.

one thing i was thinking of having is some serious moderation happening, and maybe not by me....

not like the very light, sporratic, and spotty moderation that i do with the rest of the board.

I agree with samchecker: shitcan the whole thing.

the answer is staring you all right in the face:


!!!THUNDERDOME!!!



two emoticons enter, one emoticon leaves

Whoa now....what's that hackneyed saying..."I won't run if elected I won't serve?" Yeh, whatever that. I'd rather fuck with the ceiling at Bourbon St and get jacked in the face by Lou.

i would not be opposed to getting rid of the whole area. not solely because it is out of control but also because it risks overshadowing everything else that happens on this site and I don't think you started DW to be a politics site.

I can't say I'd really miss the forum the way it is now, but you'll just end up with the political posts in other forums if you delete it.

You can start by limiting the number of threads you can start in one day. And maybe ask the people who actually enjoy this part of the site to keep the name calling on the monkey bars.

Or just blow it up. I'm playing Wheel of Fortune.

I find the idea of wanting to control what people talk about and how they talk about it very interesting.

Why can't people moderate themselves? They can already put people on a "foe" list which hides the posts of the person they find offensive. Or, the simplest answer: They don't have to click on the Politics forum at all.

Since they already have the option of ignoring the forum, they must find it interesting on some level or they wouldn't even know what was going on here anymore.

Here's the deal: As with everything in life, it's fun if you don't take your self too serious.

No one is absolutely correct here. And instead of finding common ground we are mirroring exactly what is happening across this country.

It doesn't seem like to many people are willing to concede or compromise or risk jepordizing their world view.

This is a strange forum because it prods you into being a jerk to people who you'd otherwise have a few drinks with and be friends with in person.

Some really good points are made in some of these posts. Are a few gems worth all the thrash and Jerry Springer-like communication? Should Mark Walberg's acting career be over shadowed by the Funky Bunch?

I don't care about all the controversy and lies that surrounded Millie Vanillie, "Girl You Know It's True" is still my jam. And I saw them concert.

unfortunately, this forum perfectly illustrates an old political truism:

once you go negative, you can never go back. the cat does not go back in the bag.

unpossibles and hayseed are not going to stop sniping at each other.

timstepford and bnb614 are not going to stop link-warring.

this does not get settled with beer and handshakes. this doesn't get settled with peace treaties. this is a cold war gone hot. mutually assured destruction.

too sad. there is intelligent conversation possible on every topic that gets brought up, but we'll never get to be a part of it here because everything's gotten personal.

they need to go out in real life and get some drinks maybe play some galaga and what not....

i've found that after meeting people that i originally thought were kind of a-holes on the boards in real life, i realized they weren't a-holes at all.

it'll be just like that match.com commercial

it's free to look

There has been quite a back-n-forth (between Jeff Jarvis, Jay Rosen, Ira Glass, Bob Garfield [On The Media] and many others) the last few weeks about moderation and blog comments that might be something you want to read through.

good place to start:
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/07/28/c ... -comments/

I will personally punch everyone I meet in the neck with my Irish wit.

If justin would just stop making sense then we could get back to our political special olympics.

buy a whole mess'a locks, and clamp down on threads the second they get stupid.