Shall we ban politics? Take the poll.

Do you want politcs to be banned from this forum?

  • Yes, ban it.

    Votes: 37 50.0%

  • No, keep it.

    Votes: 37 50.0%
  • Total voters
    74
  • Poll closed .
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I don't think it was a good idea to close it. Still wonder why people thought they HAD to read it. I scroll on by when I see a topic I don't like or a person I don't care for. Seems like people don't know how to skip stuff they find offensive. Think I will scroll on out of here for awhile .
 

I think that this has been a very hard decision for an Admin to have to make, and the choices were not without problems, no matter what decision Matrix chose to do.
This does not mean that politics can’t be discussed, because we already have a group (Speaker’s Corner) which is exactly for the purpose of discussing politics, current events, and most anything else of a debatable nature.
This forum has had to have the political section shut down before, and then re-opened again later; so there is no reason why things might not change in the future, once things settle down.
This decision was (in my opinion) a better one than keeping the topic open, and then banning people from the forum altogether.
Everyone can post in the other threads that they enjoy, and discuss politics elsewhere, or in Speakers Corner, or even open up a new and different group to discuss political news and events.
I support Matrix (and SeaBreeze) for dealing with this issue , and also for giving everyone the chance to voice our opinion as to what we thought should happen, and why.
 
I voted to keep it but I can roll with this. It's probably a blessing.
 

terry123 said:
I don't think it was a good idea to close it. Still wonder why people thought they HAD to read it. I scroll on by when I see a topic I don't like or a person I don't care for. Seems like people don't know how to skip stuff they find offensive. Think I will scroll on out of here for awhile .
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Maybe if you read the entire thread (the one we are on) you will understand things better, or not, I don't know but just a suggestion.
 
terry123 said:
I don't think it was a good idea to close it. Still wonder why people thought they HAD to read it. I scroll on by when I see a topic I don't like or a person I don't care for. Seems like people don't know how to skip stuff they find offensive. Think I will scroll on out of here for awhile .
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Stick around Terry. Lot's going on here besides the now defunct politics.
 
To quote from The Dark Knight:

“Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”



 
The thought occurred to me, having watched a tv programme about combatting Alzheimer's disease, and I think it was possible those who took part in the political debates were maybe inadvertently assisting ourselves by warding off the disease (?).

On the other hand, there were some doubts expressed as to whether some of us had already succumbed :eek: (a few unnamed individuals jump to mind :D ).
 
:sosad: I am feeling rather disappointed with the decision but I respect Matrix and his reasons. :thankyou:

Unfortunately I am now hesitant to raise any serious issue because I doubt that I can do this without straying into politics. For example, the row going on about "bending the knee" is getting coverage over here but cannot see how it can be discussed without mentioning the President.

I will continue to monitor traffic is the groups section but I will be very quiet elsewhere. Please understand that I am not ill, nor angry, just at a loss to know how I can safely contribute to the forum.

I think I will be spending more time in the garden from now on.
 
Hope your gardne does well.......

Warrigal said:
:sosad: I am feeling rather disappointed with the decision but I respect Matrix and his reasons. :thankyou:

Unfortunately I am now hesitant to raise any serious issue because I doubt that I can do this without straying into politics. For example, the row going on about "bending the knee" is getting coverage over here but cannot see how it can be discussed without mentioning the President.

I will continue to monitor traffic is the groups section but I will be very quiet elsewhere. Please understand that I am not ill, nor angry, just at a loss to know how I can safely contribute to the forum.

I think I will be spending more time in the garden from now on.
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Hope your garden does better with extra attention, and obviously the physical excercise will be as good a therapy as our former brain excercises trying to figure out where each other was coming from in the politics section :confused:.

As I think one or two forum members have said, maybe we will benefit from watching and listening to what others now do in response to the political situation developing in the USA, rather than thinking we can contribute anything by pouring forth our ideas on it :) .

Is it possible to grow pineapples where you live, and if I could economically send you some "organic fertiliser" I would be glad to shift it :eek: .
 
Thanks for your interest, Graham.

Too far south for pineapples where I live.

We are holding our church Market Day in early November and I have decided to nurture some seedlings to sell. We have a new community garden attached to our child care centre and we plan to sell some of produce which we will grow ourselves or buy at the markets. I will be helping to organise inspection tours of the CCC and overseeing the teens who will be selling the plants.

Today I thinned out some mignonette lettuce, capsicums, tomatoes, basil and chocolate mint. I only have three weeks until my next shoulder operation so I need to get a move on if I am to have enough little plants to sell.

After this next operation, when I have the use of my right arm back again I think I should spend a lot more time outdoors instead of posting on this or any other forum.
 
Warrigal said:
:sosad: I am feeling rather disappointed with the decision but I respect Matrix and his reasons. :thankyou:

Unfortunately I am now hesitant to raise any serious issue because I doubt that I can do this without straying into politics. For example, the row going on about "bending the knee" is getting coverage over here but cannot see how it can be discussed without mentioning the President.

I will continue to monitor traffic is the groups section but I will be very quiet elsewhere. Please understand that I am not ill, nor angry, just at a loss to know how I can safely contribute to the forum.

I think I will be spending more time in the garden from now on.
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Warri, I suspect there will still be a fair amount of discussion that includes a political bent. Let's face it, much of what we're dealing with in the world today involves politics in one form or another. Today I arose to news about (in no particular order) 1) the president's speech in Alabama and resulting reaction, 2) the "take a knee" reaction in response to the president's words, 3) the healthcare bill that at the moment seems doomed in the Senate (and which likely impacts some members here) 4) the hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and the seeming lack of help for all those citizens.

All of those issues have an element of politics and they are important news items. I think the fact that a dedicated political sub forum exists may just be a subtle reminder that discussion needs to be rationale, civil, polite, etc. I welcome a place where one can debate the important issues of the day without that discussion devolving into name calling and labeling of the other side.
 
I am personally disappointed. As long as there's no name-calling or outright nastiness, what's the harm in a lively discussion? As Warri and Bob just pointed out, it's nearly impossible to keep politics out of all discussions. Living where I do, in the shadow of our nation's capital, that seems to be the only topic right now.

I'm also interested in hearing the opinions of those who do not live in America, and maybe learning something about their political situation as well.

Or maybe I'm misunderstanding the "no politics" restriction? Does it really mean we cannot venture into any political opinions in our discussions? Or does it just mean that one subject has been shut down? I've never really understood the difference between the "Politics" subject and the "Hot Topics" subject, anyway.
 
There were also several other topics that were “lumped in” with politics, simply because they were controversial, not because they all pertain to politics. There is now no area to discuss God, or religion anymore, not that there was ever a lot of discussion anyway, since most of that area of the forum was taken over by politics.
I feel that this was maybe a necessary solution at this point; but that it can be re-vamped and the political section re-opened in the future.
I think that both sides, liberal and conservative, thought that they were being targeted by moderation and banning; which probably means that both sides required it about equally, and just didn’t think that the opposing viewpoints were under moderation as well.
Probably, most of the people on both sides of the issue intended to have a peaceful discussion, but whenever that first “flaming” arrow hit someone, then both sides attacked, and from that point on, neither side actually heard whatever point the opposing side was trying to make.
I think that it might be time that we started seeing each other as friends, and realize that , liberal or conservative, we both love our country, and only want to see Americans with a government that actually cares about the people.
 
Could someone please tell me where and what Speakers' Corner is? (I know about the one in London, even visited it once. But is it also a part of this Forum?)
 
Aunt Bea said:
I think we are just going through a bit of a normal grieving process while we learn to fill the void created by the closing of the Political Forum, it will pass.
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Thats how I see it also and hopefully some lurkers who didn't like the nastiness and negativity will now decide to join. :)Yes, some will leave but that's the way it goes on forums.
 
It is a group in the spirit of Speakers Corner in Hyde Park.

I started it to cater for people who wanted to discuss serious topics. Every viewpoint is welcome but belittling the viewpoints of others is not. Also, derailing a topic with frivolity is not allowed.

Here is a link to the topics on offer https://www.seniorforums.com/group.php?groupid=2

Anyone can read but to contribute you must first request to join.

I also started a group called Of Matters Spiritual to discuss topics that can loosely be classified as Religion and Ethics. It is not meant to be a place where we argue about religion or try to convert anyone to our faith or lack of it.

https://www.seniorforums.com/group.php?groupid=2

To see all of the groups available see here: https://www.seniorforums.com/group.php?cat=1

The JOIN button is found in the last link.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I think we are just going through a bit of a normal grieving process while we learn to fill the void created by the closing of the Political Forum, it will pass.
Click to expand...

Heh, heh ... Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.

Denial: NO, NO, the Politics forum CAN'T be gone! That's just a rumor, a false-flag operation!

Anger: ARRRGGHHH! They took my Politics away! GRRRRR!!!

Bargaining: "Matrix, if we all play nice, will you keep the Politics forum?"

Depression: No Politics forum ... *sigh* ... I'm going to go have a stiff drink, then go to bed. No point living anymore ...

Acceptance: Well, Matrix made his decision. Guess I'll just have to live with it.
 
SifuPhil said:
Heh, heh ... Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.

Denial: NO, NO, the Politics forum CAN'T be gone! That's just a rumor, a false-flag operation!

Anger: ARRRGGHHH! They took my Politics away! GRRRRR!!!

Bargaining: "Matrix, if we all play nice, will you keep the Politics forum?"

Depression: No Politics forum ... *sigh* ... I'm going to go have a stiff drink, then go to bed. No point living anymore ...

Acceptance: Well, Matrix made his decision. Guess I'll just have to live with it.
Click to expand...

During my working years we called the process Form, Storm, Norm, Perform.
 

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