Like a few have already mentioned, if the political forum seems to be that big of an issue, I would for now, stop it from trending on the front page altogether. Hot topics, latest topics, doesn't matter. That way users who want to get into political discussion have to 'go out of their way' to get there specifically, so there aren't exactly a lot of excuses if someone isn't happy with what's being said in that forum, aside from those who are new to that forum. It should at least stop any users from being annoyed or triggered who see it on the front page and don't have the option to remove it from what's trending. If users did have that option, that may be something to look into, but it doesn't solve the question of, are existing and non users being brought in because of it, being turned off because of it, or do most not care because they came here for gaming related information and discussion? This can be a slippery slope however when it comes to all the non gaming related forums if people have issues with them, now or in the future, especially since politics these days seem to be slowly leeching into everything else regardless, even gaming to a degree.
I wouldn't just drop it at this point without trying a few solutions where it still exists, and I wouldn't heavily moderate it beyond what's being done now, because you will end up with the same type of push back social media is getting right now in terms of censorship. That would totally go against politics in general, and political discussion in a political thread, within reason of course. A political forum is all about free speech and if that's not something you can handle, then you should stay out of it. Everything has it's upsides and downsides. Trying to make slight changes so everybody can still enjoy their experience as much as possible makes sense, but creating 'safe spaces' is not a good idea in general. While that may fix the problem here and now, it will almost certainly raise new issues in the future because of it. I wouldn't be surprised to see a rise in politically based topics, as minor as they may be, leeching into the other forums much more often and quickly if there wasn't a specific political forum to post them in, and I would have to assume most would agree that would be worse than what exists now. Stricter moderation could of course fix that, but how many users will be pushed away from the site because of it?
If you will not tolerate being burned, messing with fire in any manner is a bad idea, so you stay away from it. You don't ban fire from existence though, because it certainly has it's uses.
PS1 - ! - We must build a console that can alert our enemies.
PS2 - @- We must build a console that offers online living room gaming.
PS3 - #- We must build a console that’s powerful, social, costs and does everything.
PS4 - $- We must build a console that’s affordable, charges for services, and pumps out exclusives.
PRO -%-We must build a console that's VR ready, checkerboard upscales, and sells but a fraction of the money printer.
PS5 - ^ -We must build a console that’s a generational cross product, with RT lighting, and price hiking.
PRO -&- We must build a console that Super Res upscales and continues the cost increases.
