Should The Political Discussion Board Remain?

[DonFerrari]

HylianSwordsman said:

Bofferbrauer2 said:
I don't think the discussions would stop without the Political discussion board, they'll just move to the General discussions. As such, removing the Political board doesn't seem to reach it's target. At worst, since it's not always obvious that there's a political discussion going on from the headline, unassuming people might wander into those threads without noticing in that case.

I agree however that there should at least be an option to not show those threads in the hot topics for those who want to stay (or have to due to actions sanctioned by mods) out of politics on the forums.

 

SuperNova said:
Most of the political discussions on this board turn intro trashfires quick, wich is why I've been trying to stay out of them, personally.
Badly researched and borderline disingenious threads with sensationalist titles dont help much either. In that sense I'm not particularily attrached to the politics board, but I don't neccessarily think it should go.

Like others have pointed out, removing the board entirely is probably not the solution. The removal might alianate users who enjoy the politics board and discussions might just bleed over into general and gaming.

If the goal is to make the site appear more inviting to newcomers, then the politics board shold not be pushed on the mainsite. Members can adjust their preferences to have it appear, but by default politics threads should not appear in the Hot Topic section and non-members should not see politics threads unless they seek them out.

That has to go hand in hand with tight moderation, not only of the politics board itself, but also consequent moving and penalizing of threads that are created in the wrong section.

 

DonFerrari said:
I see no reason to remove it, no one is forced to enter then and people that want to talk about it can enter there. But if you remove these people will either be making threads placed in the wrong place or stop posting.

I'm generally against prohibitions.

We banned porn, even from the NSFW board. We can't even link to porn. Why not ban politics too? Get rid of the discussion board, and if it shows up in other boards where it doesn't belong, moderate the users. People will stop posting the stuff eventually once they catch on that it's being taken seriously. There's plenty of other stuff to talk about besides politics. It's a gaming forum, lets talk about games for crying out loud. Or games sales. Sure, some people enjoy it, but they can go enjoy it somewhere dedicated to politics. They'll get more enjoyment out of it that way, if they're honest with themselves. Meanwhile here they'll be forced to contribute something related to games. The site will be richer for it, not poorer. If they're only here for political discussion, and willing to leave the community if they can't talk about it, let them leave. I highly doubt they will, but if they did over something like that, they're not worth the trouble. I don't care what their opinions are on politics, I care about their opinions on games.

I saw no benefit but saw you wanting to decide what other people are allowed or should do.