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Posted by: jacob crawford
I can see people not wanting religious threads. I saw one that went well over the weekend, and that was it. Just one. Political threads, however, have gone exceeding well. Nearly 5000 posts, and I have yet to see any flaming or anything go wrong.This is a poor example. This thread had far more to do with current events than politics. Even the limited number of posts on U.S. foreign policy tended to be observational rather than opinionated. Furthermore, there is flaming in the very first post on the most recent page of this thread, thus directly contradicting the entire reason you used this thread as an example.
Regardless, I personally think that pointing out examples of political discussion with little or no flaming is pointless. I realize that Achronos has strongly hinted previously that flaming is one of the reasons that religious/political discussion is prohibited on the public forums here (example), but I suspect that this is only one of multiple reasons. He has also noted that the highly emotional/personal nature of this kind of discussion, which has no right or wrong answers, also just makes it "inappropriate" for discussion here (example).
While flaming in these threads seems to definitely be one reason they are prohibited, I don't think it's the only one, or even the primary/main one. Personally, I think it's about the fact that this is the kind of discussion that is inappropriate for a website that is primarily for and about video games and this video gaming community -- a notably lighter topic of discussion. There are tons of other places -- even right here on this website -- where you can discuss religion and politics. There is no need to bring it into the public forums, and the fact is that the guys in charge don't want it here.
I don't think this is a matter of "convincing" them. I think it's about people needing to accept that this is not a "free speech" or "talk about anything and everything" forum. It is a video game developer's website, and its public forums have ALWAYS reflected that nature. We have 13 public forums here and only ONE in which video games are not directly or indirectly the only allowable topic for discussion. There is no reason -- either in the history of this website or using common sense -- to think that the Flood Forum should be a place with no boundaries and where highly personal, emotional, and/or controversial topics can or should be discussed.
You can't change the nature of this website; it's time to accept it and discuss your religion and politics in private groups or elsewhere on the internet.
[Edited on 10.24.2011 9:03 AM PDT]