Another solution might be to divide the Hot Topic column into 4 segments (Gaming, Sales, Website, Off-topic). That way all discussion types would be more evenly represented and it would prevent the entire hot topics column from being swamped with threads on one subject (remember NX speculation threads).
Dividing the hot topics column could allow you to go one further and control the weighting of the hot topic types. For example, of the 16 currently displayed, 12 could be dedicated to Gaming and Sales sections, with 4 dedicated to Website and Off-topic. Doing this would reduce the number of political threads that appear in Hot Topics, control where they appear on the front page, while still making them prominent enough to entice those who are interested.
One advantage of having the four forum sections showing as sub headings in the hot topic column, is that they provide immediate visible links to the forum sections users might be most interested in browsing - something that is only possible via a drop-down to the forum index, currently.
Here's one example of the many ways in which the Hot Topics column could be divided and weighted.
| FORUM HOT TOPICS |
| Gaming Forum |
| Topic title 1 in Nintendo Discussion |
| Topic title 2 in Gaming Discussion |
| Topic title 3 in Gaming Discussion |
| Topic title 4 in Sony Discussion |
| Topic title 5 in Sony Discussion |
| Topic title 6 in Microsoft Discussion |
| Sales Forum |
| Topic title 1 in Sales Discussion |
| Topic title 2 in Sales Discussion |
| Topic title 3 in Latest Charts |
| Topic title 4 in Latest Charts |
| Topic title 5 in Latest Charts |
| Topic title 6 in Sales Discussion |
| Website Forum |
| Topic title 1 in Introduce Yourself |
| Topic title 2 in Website Feedback |
| Off-Topic Forum |
| Topic title 1 in Politics Discussion |
| Topic title 2 in Movies Discussion |
Edit: A second, simpler alternative would be to divide the column into just two areas, "Hot Topic" and "Hot Off-Topic" - one including the Gaming, Sales and Website sections and a second (smaller) column containing the Off Topic section.
Hot Topics advertises what's going on in the community and I think that removing politics discussion or any other subforum from Hot Topics could risk misrepresenting what the community as a whole is currently talking about. Also taking the entire Hot Topics column out completely would reduce the visibility of the community to first time visitors and lurkers. It's too good a feature to lose, I think.
These solutions - if they're possible to do - make a compromise and are flexible - they allow users and visitors to see what's being discussed in Hot Topics without one section overpowering any of the others.
I agree with the OP the simplest solution is for those who don't like seeing politics threads to ignore what they don't want to read, but on the occasions when politics threads are choking the Hot Topics, I can see why they might prefer to just leave the site.
