There are people with extreme opinions posting in political threads but it should not be offending anyone and it is only a small small number of people from each side of the discussions,please dont shut down opinions on a site that thrives on opinions because few choose to be offended rather than ignoring those threads.

Personally I have removed politics from my Hot Topics and that has greatly increased my enjoyment of VGC. Of course, it has also led to me seeing fewer active topics, but that is a trade off I'm willing to accept. My biggest problem with that forum and those threads is that it taints my view of some posters and I'd really just rather concern myself with what consoles they like and which games they prefer. Those things are silly and irrelevant and don't matter at all. Politics, on the other hand, is the most important thing going on in the world right now and therefore we all tend to take it far more seriously.

My vote is to remove it from hot topics by default, but that it can be manually added in for those who want it in their feed. Removing the forum altogether would just make those topics end up in General Discussion or if nothing else to spill over into gaming discussions.

Yeah, I think this is the way to go - good suggestion.

In general, I would say yes. The goal of a forum should be to facilitate discussion, not hinder it. Politics might be a discussion that people have a tough time detaching themselves from, but ideally that just means the mod team pays closer attention to keep the threads on course and from getting heated or toxic.

Now that being said...I also know from personal experience that no one wants to touch that steaming pile of burning caca with a 9.5" pole if they can help it...me included. Different people have different definitions of what constitutes toxic behavior when it comes to politics, and the mod team is no exception. Everyone has different political opinions, which I wouldn't want to see changed for the world...however that also makes reaching a consensus hard. I can completely empathize with the idea of removing politics from the forum...its really the most objective way to solve the problem from a bipartisan perspective. The moderators are unpaid volunteers, and while they're all here because they care about the community, it should go without saying that dealing with gray area issues will take longer to resolve in general.

I feel the best idea of all is to on-board moderators for the sole purpose of managing political discussion, as someone said earlier in the thread. Whether or not that's practical...I couldn't say...but having individuals with a vested interest in the topic would be a start.

Nuke it! This is a gaming forum and the politicals will always be too divisive, especially in this climate atm.

Miss you too man! Hope things are well in mod-chat.

Sense from the man who has probably made the most money for ioi via clicks. You know what's up.

The way I see it the politics thread are a big money spinner for ioi. More money means a longer vgchartz before it dies. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. In fact take the politics section and try make it even more popular. If it's too hard to police hire another mod just for that section. 

This coming from a guy who barely ever creates political threads. 

If Politics is for free speech, then it needs to be Mod free. I am not sure which users you guys think cause this “toxic” environment. I post there all the time and can’t say I have seen anyone who’s toxic.

I'm honestly surprised at how many people think the rotten cesspool that is politics should remain on the forum.

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.