Political discussions in your forum

Do you allow political and religious debate in your forum? A lot of people I know don't, but in my two forums it seems to get members really excited and causes lots of new posts/threads/ and perhaps even members. It also causes rifts frequently among members.

Sure it makes some members offended, but it also keeps most of them coming back to debate.


Your thoughts?

Absolutely. IMO, nothing brings a forum to life like a good political or religious debate. But you have to keep a close watch on them, at least on my forum. People are too easily offended and slide head first into the name-calling, demeaning, bashing, flaming trap. When we see the first signs of this, we immediately pm everyone involved and gently remind them that this is just a debate, not personal, and demeaning another member and their opinion isn't acceptable. We invite them to take a deep breath, get it in perspective, then jump back in.
Using these tactics, we've had some pretty interesting, informative and lively debates.

I usually have to go in and remind them - WE'RE ALL FRIENDS HERE and ATTACK THE ISSUE NOT THE PERSON

exactly

<shudder> I guess I'm way too paranoid and concerned about liability. So often these discussions cross the line into outright hatefulness. No thank you!

LOL.. yes they can. That's why if you're going to allow them, you have to keep a tight rein on them. We have some very lively political discussions on our site. It gets.......... interesting ;)

I have separate forums for Politics and Religion so people can block them out easily if they don't want to see those discussions.

Yes on all my sites... even my political one!

lol...

Never seen people get so interested or interesting as they do when they tread the realms of politics, religion, and/or sex.

In the Land of the Free, perhaps you ought to allow your members the freedom to associate on your sites and to debate most anything they want - just so long as they keep it civilised and moderate in language. Occasionally, you may have to step in but, unless your defamation law is very different from ours, you are not at much risk legally as long as you 'make reasonable efforts' to moderate and restrain unwarranted abuse.

My static site is deeply defamatory of some people, And I make no bones about that and offer no apologies. The facts stated there are either provably true or fair comment offered in the public interest (the best known defences against a defamation suit).

My BB is different but it's quite simple to edit or restrain. Only in the most extreme cases would I ever contemplate banning. I have done it only to the one person as far as I know.

That's my never humble opinion, anyways, since you asked Joey.

Regards

Biggles LLB

My wife and I were moderators at a "large political forum" that will go nameless for the better part of a year. Political forums can work, if constantly moderated, and the staff providing a clear, binding set of rules and expectations for your site.

I have found that if you follow the practice of "Majority Rule, Minority Rights" you can go very far.

Do you allow political and religious debate in your forum? A lot of people I know don't, but in my two forums it seems to get members really excited and causes lots of new posts/threads/ and perhaps even members. It also causes rifts frequently among members.

Sure it makes some members offended, but it also keeps most of them coming back to debate.


Your thoughts?

I run a political site and some of the debates get too heated...to the point where people are insulting eachother, etc. A lot of the members have become good friends with eachother, but occasionally one or two might explode.

I'm considering making another forum more off-topic such as autmotive or technology where they can all cool off.

I like politcal forums. It's so easy to amuse myself by taking the side of the issue that garners the most controversy regardless of my postition or the truth for that matter. :D

our site has a debate forum, but it's rarely used for much. and what it is used for is very rarely anything too heavy.

it all veers off into banter soon enough! lol

We have a strict no politics or religion. We've experienced the trouble it caused among members when we did allow these debates.
I would like to allow it, however our Moderators are set against it.

Less hassle . ;)

aww pro... but it's FUN!

Yup it was. What wasn't fun were the endless PM's from those who thought their point was the only valid one. Will you delete, ask soandso to kindly keep their comments to themselves, etc. etc. Worse still if you replied and said it is an open debate and all are allowed a comment. = Off they go in a huff, stamping their feet and slamming doors . LMAO . :p

And in that case, my reply to them is:

"don't let the doorknob hit ya where the good Lord split ya"
They come back ;)

And in that case, my reply to them is:

"don't let the doorknob hit ya where the good Lord split ya"
They come back ;)

ROTFLMAO - Nice one

It's all fun and games until you get an inconsiderate prick offending either an individual real bad or an entire religion. Where I moderate we had death threads going beyond reputation/pm/the actual board. Both were banned temporarily and the one continued the threaten the other on IM.

"P&R" forums are indeed great for getting people to participate but it often requires a sledge hammer to keep control. But it ofte ngets too big to follow it all yourself so we just rely on reported posts to find out when someone has gone overboard and use infractions t owarn them about their behaviour.

Yep, we have a current affairs forum that sees many a good fight ... erm ... I mean debate. :)

I love a good fight - uummm - debate. I think a political (and religious) forum have a place on just about any site. However, imo, they should be contained within a forum, and not be permitted to spill over into other areas of the forum in general.

Yes, I do. I let people to discuss politics and religion.

Gay marriage debate is by far the worst when it comes to any type of debate. Reported posts thrown left and right in that forum! :(

When it comes to religion and or politics it is going to be a major debate because it affects everyday it is not something that happens once or every two years. Some people that it more serious than others and that's when the moderadtors come in and have to calm the situation down. Yes I agree it does get out of hand sometimes that one member calls another member a nasty name when it very neccessary everyone has their right to their opinion but it must be done in a respectful matter and not childish my calling someone out a name rather than their username.

I do allow it, I just keep a close eye on it. I detest the back-handed insults. "The fundies are ...", "The wacko libs are ... ". The response is always, "Well, I'm a fundie/wacko/whatever and you've always liked *me*. So there." Heh!

I make them edit out the slang terms because they are too broad in their scope and just hurt feelings; but a good political debate, or a debate on a news story is always lively and interesting.

I allow them in mine :p

Wellllll...I'm sure we'll have one or two good ones here coming up pretty soon, what with the different ones coming out to say they're going to run for Prez.....

God help us all... :hide:

We have a dedicated political thread in our mods-only area, and politics otherwise comes up in other mods-only threads. But there isn't much political talk on the public side, and we don't get flareups. Religion never shows up at all; we don't ban it, it just never pops up. Being a Subaru board we have a gay contingent but they generally keep it low profile and nobody bothers them.

We get a lot of refugees from other boards with nastier atmospheres.

Still going strong although I think its time to add a few things. ...


Any suggestions?

the more controversial, the better :)

I've seen more than one BBQ board turn into a flamewar, as in "tell us where you live so we can pay you a visit."

True, but that's where moderators come in. It's their job to not let it get that far.
There have been times when I've had to close a thread for a few days to make everyone cool off. Then I opened it again, on a trial basis.

We allow them in the off topic forum. They tend to get heated and go too far.

I've considered it but don't think it would be a good idea to have a dedicated forum instigating the discussions.


-Raymond

Religion is discussed on my forum, but then, that's kind of what it's there for.

Politics however, I rather dislike and have thus far refused to have anything to do with it. I have not benned it's discussion, but if I do find a member getting overly political I'll point them to a few politics forums I know and kindly remind them that they are posting on an 'occult' forum.

On the other hand, discussing religion (and the occult) within politics is often a very fun and informative thing.