Should Politics be banned for discussion on Neowin?


  

137 members have voted

  1. 1. Should Politics be banned for dicussion on Neowin?



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I don't venture into the Politics forum all that much. Most of the threads seem to be US issues which neither affect nor interest me, but I don't agree with banning it. Besides, the UK has a general election just around the corner, so a politics section seems to be even more needed now.

I agree with the copy-paste jobs though. Sure, back up your views, but just stealing another website's work seems a bit lazy.

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There is a simple choice:

If you don't like it, then don't go in the forum :)

I don't have a need for the Apple or Linux forums, so I just ignore them :D

You nailed the head on the coffin. Thats exactly right. Rather than be offended with what you read on the forums, whether it be religion or politics, just don't visit them.

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Discussion forum for discussion!

I personally don't pop in to the politics section much but that's not to say it should be removed

They are always discussions with no resolve. Where as in all the other forums most posts are posts that come to some resolve. In the political discussion boards you just have people arguing and flaming each other because they are passionate about what they believe in. No one is changing anyone's mind. Nobody is "winning" or "losing" the argument, just getting angry at people who disagree or don't share their view point. It further factions the board beyond technology related items.

When I see a post from Fresh that isn't about politics, for instance, I know that he is a conservative republican and disagrees with my liberal minded vision of the world. That shapes my response in that unrelated thread outside of the political discussions. I wish that it didn't, but to some degree it does and it does for everyone else.

I think that politics should be removed from Neowin because it is outside of the scope. There are political discussion boards all over the Internet.

It does look like it is a section of the board that is heavily used, and therefor a section of the site that generates revenue for Neowin. So I doubt it is going anywhere.

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No no and no.

It's another place where members share their thoughts and ideas, or those of others. Believe it or not there are from time to time very well thought out and conducted topics. Not all of them spiral into flame wars. Even still members in the area do a very good job of conducting themselves versus the gaming section which was purged how many times over the last four years?

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  • 2 weeks later...

RWI simply needs a few good editors/referees that can reduce the repetitive loud voices that so water down the discussion and ignite such heated response. Throwing them in megathreds destroys the forum if you don't change your moderation behavior as well.

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The problem I have with the political discussion here at Neowin is that it seems to be taken up by the same racists and right-wing nuts banging on about how much they hate Muslims and immigrants and the unemployed. Most of the views on this site seem to be regurgitated from The Daily Mail or The Sun and are generally based on ignorance and stupidity.

However, as much as I dislike the tone of most of these threads I don't think they should be banned. Normal people need a forum to combat the views of these lunatics and Neowin may as well be that forum :devil:

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Why would 32 people CHOOSE to not have the freedom to discuss politics? Why would so many people give up that option? It makes no sense. If you do not like the politics discussion do not get involved. I will never understand why someone would vote to lose an option rather then just ignore it.

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I agree with what most are saying and voting. If it needs more overseeing then so be it. But to eliminate it just because of some bad apples doesn't make sense to me. They make to many laws because of this as well. Well we have a group of people causing an issue because they do this so lets ban it. That's not always the answer. On the other side of it. I myself get to umm shall we say outspoken in political discussions and that's why I rarely if I ever have visited the political part of the forums. I would probably get into trouble so I just don't even go there. There has been a time or two that I have seen a headline and was tempted to post in it or see what's being say but I try to avoid it instead.

Mods: there is a way to ban people from just certain forums right? If so maybe the ones that break the rules there, but are otherwise good forums citizens can just be banned from those forums. If that is they have done so much that you are thinking of banning them anyway. That way maybe it would solves some issues without losing someone that's good otherwise. Because I know to stay out of there because I would lose control and go on the attack. But some might not be able to do it, so you could help them stay out of there. btw, it's just an idea I don't visit those forums as I said so you may be doing a great job there for all I know. Just a thought.

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^ Oh they do. Multiple members have been outlawed from RWI and yet are still members at large whereas others have been outright banned due to their overall negative conduct, mostly in RWI I'd imagine . The mods do a particularity good job in the area, but so do the more active members as well. Things get heated at times, there is no denial of that. Seldomnly, and I do stress this, seldomnly do threads escalate into flame-wars.

In reality how is the discussion of political heads and policies any different than movie stars and their movies, competing OS's, tech companies (Intel vs AMD), or generally any other topic here? And you should stop on by. Can't guarantee who will agree or disagree with you but it is a fun discipline in patience and articulation.

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In reality how is the discussion of political heads and policies any different than movie stars and their movies, competing OS's, tech companies (Intel vs AMD), or generally any other topic here? And you should stop on by. Can't guarantee who will agree or disagree with you but it is a fun discipline in patience and articulation.

That is a really good point and correct I'm sure. I have seen some very heated threads about tech topics that I'm sure would rival that of the RWI topics. Good prospective. And thanks for the invite I may do that sometime soon. Hope you don't regret it. LOL

I'm sure the mods do an excellent job there as they do on rest of the forums. I would sometimes find it hard to be as patient as they are with some people but overall they do an excellent job. I don't always agree with them, but I'm sure they even disagree with each other at times on decisions. It's a tough job they have, no question about that.

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I think the thing that bugs me most (and I see it particularly in politics and religion) is that some people argue just to seem to argue. I simply refuse to waste my time debating these people.

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I've actually changed my political stance and outlook on different issues because of informative posts alot of people make in that section. At first you see an arguement you don't agree with and then you research it and see where the person is coming from, I probably wouldn't be paying as much attention to news and politics if it wasn't for some of the heated debates here on Neowin. Besides, you can't really shut down one of the most active parts of the site.

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I agree. Those discussions generally don't lead anywhere, and generally bring up the same arguments over and over again.

Much like hardware and software fanboy flamewars... :)

Mac vs. Windows?

Sony vs. Nintendo?

Firefox vs. Chrome?

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The management of Neowin has stated loudly and clearly in the past, that RWI and such are here to stay. If any member is bothered by such banter, then they should just stay out of that subforum. We do have moderators who look over the posts, but the entire point of these areas is to post opinions freely, as long as they do not break the Community Rules. Abusive, racist, or flame-baiting posts are dealt with in the same matter as if they were posted in other areas. Disagreeing with someone for a post and posting a mature response is one thing, attacking them for their views is another.

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As someone who was a past moderator of the RWI section of Neowin, I would hope it is not banned and as Barney says, is here to say. There are hundreds of debates on there between members of all different parts of the political spectrum that are great, but only a few bad apples. The political talk was restricted to only be available to those that are registered as to not flood the board and as such, nobody is forced to read the threads.

In all reality, RWI is probably the only part of the forum I visit, so I voted no.

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I've got my own personal preferences, as do we all. I wouldn't lose any sleep if we didn't have a Sports section, but I'm not about to suggest others can't enjoy it.

That's something I've always like about Neowin, on the surface we're a tech community, we all share that. But we cater to so many different interests and types of people. I believe that's what makes this a great community.

No. Neowin is a community that caters to almost all comers, and I would like it to stay that way.

+1 they just need a little bit more of attention from teh mods is all.

Seriously "banning" topics that aren't warez is just dumb ( no offense to those who voted yes), it's what makes the community rich, sure there will be an argument here and there, but that's the point to it :)

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having politics on here is great, it allows us to discuss and link to the truth rather than what the corrupts govts and mainstream media tell us is the truth. The more people that know about the truth the better chance of fixing our governments.

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Yes. Ban both politics and religion.

Not because the threads finish being just fights.

Because this way the mods can focus on other areas.

The discussion would just move elsewhere and make it harder to moderate, since it is banned, and now loads of posts need to be checked they're not infringing. Banning healthy discussion on a forum? Absurd.

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As someone who was a past moderator of the RWI section of Neowin

Has every old member been a member of staff at one time or another? It sure seems that way sometimes.

/offtopic, I know.

There are hundreds of debates on there between members of all different parts of the political spectrum that are great, but only a few bad apples. The political talk was restricted to only be available to those that are registered as to not flood the board and as such, nobody is forced to read the threads.

If politics and religion was banned, I wonder how many members here who love those discussion would be forced to move to other boards?

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