VGPolyglot was running a retro gaming thread, but let it die and left the thread and the site altogether because of politics. That could have been the start of a really major thread. A lot of people expressed interest. He requested a permanban. I can't actually be absolutely 100% sure he did it for political reasons, but I'm pretty damn sure based on what he said on his wall. Didn't want to have to name names, but there's one that still pisses me off. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Politics only became a potent force in the decay of the community starting around 2016, and it should be obvious why that's the turning point. Obviously the site had its ups and downs before that and they had much less if anything to do with politics back then. But now is not then, things really feel like they've changed. If we reach a point in the future where politics isn't that divisive, maybe I'd be fine bringing the Politics board back, but if it were up to me I'd remove it for now.

The whole "I'll post negative news for the camps I'm not part of but shit all over good news for those camps" is definitely a problem, but it's been a problem for a long time, and the dynamics of which fanbase gets the most abuse has changed over time. It's Xbox fans now, but it's been Nintendo fans too. I don't think things ever got all that bad for Sony fans, but they weren't always in quite the place they are now and the tides kind of feel like they're changing a little bit to me. I'll definitely agree that gaming threads aren't as enjoyable as they could be because too many of the threads focus on cheerleading for a side, instead of honest, open ended discussion of a subject. It's too tribal, much like everything seems to be these days. Removing politics, one of the most tribalizing effects on our thinking, from the equation could only help the atmosphere in the community overall, make it less combative.

I was never a mod, no. I'd do it, but I don't think they'd want me. I've gotten better, but I've been pretty opinionated in the past and sometimes a bit too...passionate. My avis have generally been colorful, though I haven't changed it in a long time. My posts usually have had maybe too much depth of thought. They ramble on and people don't want to read them. You were always pretty thoughtful too, always had an interesting perspective.

I'm with super_etecoon in terms of the effects this has on the mods, and I feel that's not good for a community for the mods to feel that way or for people to feel that way about the mods. I'll support them no matter what they do, but I really think we should consider moving all discussion of politics to a Discord server for VGChartz members, perhaps multiple such servers to accomodate multiple sets of tastes in how political discussion should be handled. Don't like the anything goes server? They probably don't like you, try the more heavily moderated server. Feel like the moderated server is stepping on your free speech? Go to the anything goes server. I don't see why everyone couldn't be satisfied with that. I get that these discussions need to go somewhere, but if you moved it to Discord like some of the NSFW threads did, people still have a place to express their opinions in a way that doesn't turn off potential newcomers to the site. You don't end up needing more mods for the site since the people that want the discussion to happen would create the servers and make the rules, and could make a new server if they didn't like the rules. Things would settle eventually, and the main site would lose all the controversy that's dividing us. If people tried to bring politics into other discussions, threads could be locked, warnings could be given out to anyone that forgot or didn't know the rule, it wouldn't have to be that big of a deal.

If we kept the board, definitely hide it from guests, but I'd say it should be opt-in, not opt-out. The same logic of "if you want politics, you can see it" applies, but no one is ever slapped in the face with it on the daily, and newcomers who don't know any better don't have to learn how to filter out shit that makes them feel unwelcome. If anything, at the very least it would make it less likely for people to leave before they get attached to the community if the first thing they see isn't toxic politics. If they start by exploring the gaming discussions and only go to politics once they grow to like the place enough to stick around and get to know people and are curious about the other boards, you'll see less of them driven away. There are certainly several ways of handling this, but the concern should be on growing the community and keeping members, not the right of current members to blast their ideas as loud as the site will allow them to. Who cares if politics is opt-in? Like I and many people have said, this is a gaming forum, so who cares if there's politics at all? If it's going to be here at all, it's no cost to anyone who wants to participate in politics discussions to have to click one or two more times to opt-in to the politics board.

Thanks so much for opening this topic and letting our voices be heard. I think we'll all support you no matter what decision you make. I'm really glad you guys decided to do something about it though. Not that I ever doubted it, but it shows that you guys have your fingers on the pulse of the community.

Thanks, sorry, I didn't know...

Would it really be that much harder than the video game forums though? There's a thread going around right now that's along the lines of "I never use my switch" or something like that that and it manages to be both critical but calm and understanding while if I posted something like "the switch is actual garbage and I regret buying it" it probably wouldn't last long. I really don't think navigating political opinions and all of the potential trolling and toxicity that come with it  is really that much worse than some of the worst I've seen come out of fanboys for console makerso

You mean you've never visited the forum index page? The one that just lists all the boards? You can't filter that. If you can, just make it so you can't then. It doesn't display topics, and everyone checks it out at some point and would notice a board they hadn't been to and check it out. To me, opt-in would require the least work for the most effective outcome of allowing people who want it to look for it while never bothering anyone else. And how is it a detriment to the currently existing members? Like I said, it's one or two clicks, and in return, they get more members of the site, members who will eventually discover the politics board and decide for themselves if they want to hang out there.

@CGI-Quality

What are your thoughts on the problems within Political discussion? Along with your opinions on what could be done to rectify said problems? Other mods have offered some input, I'm curious on what you think regarding the entire situation.

The biggest problem we have is that we've managed to attract some very aggressive extremists who view this site as another way to disseminate their particular band of propaganda. Sure, these people are always in and out of bans, usually because they can't refrain from forcing their views into threads where it doesn't belong, but I think we could cut down on the problem, and the need for constant moderation, if the potential punishment for these people had some real teeth.

For example, we have one member who keeps making inflammatory threads with childishly written original posts that really just boil down to them bashing "the other side," often with unsubstantiated or flat-out wrong information. Their threads often get closed, even if there exists actual grounds for discussion, because their OP is terrible and their thread title is intended as flame-bait. Give these people harsher punishment. Let them know that they need to either stop being tools or they'll be gone from the forums entirely. This should also, hopefully, result in less work for the mod team.

Can we move it away from the Hot Topics parts? at the front page.