Originally Posted by
harbor
I’m pretty much apolitical and against censorship; however, I’m with the moderators on this one. Here’s my rationale:
1) The owners/administrators/moderators of .org decided a while ago to drop politics from the forum for whatever reason. So, whether we agree or not, .org is dedicated to Crossfire discussions only, less politics. PERIOD. There are plenty of other forums out there to discuss GOP vs Dems, birth control, religion, gay marriage, etc… just not this one. That’s part of the deal.
2) The MB/Chrysler thread quickly skidded off the runway toward political issues, despite a post by one of the moderators to stay on course.
3) IIRC, some of the deleted posts were clearly political, if not inflammatory. (Note: I’m going from memory here, so feel free to flame me if that makes you feel better. I surf through a lot of forums and don’t memorize the posts verbatim).
4) Accordingly, we should all have been surprised if the admin/moderators did not delete the political posts in question. They were just doing their job per the forum policy.
I have no horse in this race, just weighing in with my $.02 .
Thank you for the input.
I'll try to answer these in order:
1) While this is true, many have agreed that this hinders discussion. How many topics in today's times are truly sterile from political impact? What's the tolerance limit? One post? Three posts? Zero tolerance? Or does it simply depend on whether the mod agrees with your stance? I've seen many posts/threads receive zero critique as long as the active mod has no beef. If two members attempt to have a civil discussion and it's relevant to the OP, what's the harm? THIS is the grey area.
2) There are countless threads that do this. And when multiple people (not just me) perpetuate the discussion, perhaps that's a sign that we need somewhere to vent?
3) Of course they were political. "Inflammatory" -- well, that depends on how tender you are. Some people can get along just fine with sunscreen, others need a Nomex racing suit. Should we tiptoe around the wusses?
4) Since the original picture and (catalyst for discussion) was deleted (and not because it was political, FYI -- it was Calvin p!ssing on a car company), the *logical* thing would be to simply delete the thread. Instead, certain posts were gleaned and stripped as one moderator saw fit, and we were left with a skeleton of a thread that made no sense. Some posts were deleted immediately, others were left to marinate for a day or two, warranting further responses (and not only from me). It's a moot point now because no one really cares about that thread anymore. But, it certainly won't be the last.
The intention is golden -- "create an environment free of dissent and polarizing thought". And that's about as boring as plain oatmeal. Sure, it's healthy -- but you'll die of boredom before you realize the health benefits.
If the only thing we're allowed to discuss is our favorite brand of oil and "I washed my car today" -- you can plan on me posting elsewhere. The dynamic nature of our forum is what made it great. The stagnant future promised through political correctness and sterility will be its demise.