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Politics Forum....?

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Nobody_Important said:
I could be mistaken, but I think he addressed this a few pages back. Basically all politics and any form are forbidden. That includes any discussion of policy regardless of what it's about and seemingly any side effects of said policy.



Which to be honest I feel like it's a good call because of how easily that slope could become awfully slippery. With the way that politics usually works on here we could have a thread talking about biden's new tax plan and two pages in we are suddenly arguing about whether or not abortion should be allowed or how much Trump pays his flings. Any topic could basically devolve into complete anarchy almost instantly when it comes to politics.
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Honestly I agree especially considering I know how much you personally got piled on by some just for having a slightly left point of view. I guess I'm personally just not posting anything news related that isn't sports, hobby, entertainment or game related. I shall miss you fellow GunGaffers unless just keeping the topic to going to the range and sport shooting is okay?
 
MrMephistoX said:
Honestly I agree especially considering I know how much you personally got piled on by some just for having a slightly left point of view. I guess I'm personally just not posting anything news related that isn't sports, hobby, entertainment or game related. I shall miss you fellow GunGaffers unless just keeping the topic to going to the range and sport shooting is okay?
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I believe there is a gun thread in communities or off topic.

Found it:
www.neogaf.com

Gun nuts of GAF. Family photos, nerdy discussions, homebrew loadings, funstore experiences, etc.

My personal collection. Rifles M1A Scout Squad S&W M&P 15 gen 1 Marlin 1895 Guide in stainless Marlin 336 Ruger 10/22 Takedown WW2 production Mosin Nagant Sporterized (Bastardized) Lee Enfield Mk 4 Kel Tek Sub 2000 in 9mm Lyman Great Plains Rifle in .54 caliber with a 1-60 twist roundball...
www.neogaf.com www.neogaf.com
 
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It's too bad for the tab. I used it and the OT as my daily source of US news. I gave up on CNN and USA Today as my sources. My internet browsing is typically games, sports, business and jobs and CP24 for local news. And often Wiki if I see an interesting topic and you go there and keep linking to other material.

I learned a lot about US politics the years I've been on this site. And not for the obvious left vs right (which is common across other countries). But things like how electoral voting works, how each state has their own ways and rules for tabulating votes, how state governors have a lot of power vs. federal government for things during the riots etc....

But I can understand getting rid of it. It could get one-sided sometimes.
 
DeepEnigma said:
I believe there is a gun thread in communities or off topic.

Found it:
www.neogaf.com

Gun nuts of GAF. Family photos, nerdy discussions, homebrew loadings, funstore experiences, etc.

My personal collection. Rifles M1A Scout Squad S&W M&P 15 gen 1 Marlin 1895 Guide in stainless Marlin 336 Ruger 10/22 Takedown WW2 production Mosin Nagant Sporterized (Bastardized) Lee Enfield Mk 4 Kel Tek Sub 2000 in 9mm Lyman Great Plains Rifle in .54 caliber with a 1-60 twist roundball...
www.neogaf.com www.neogaf.com
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Thanks man its a fun hobby if nothing else and honestly I don't really like the politics of either side. It's a fun hobby and self defense tool that can be discussed without being a mouthpiece for the NRA on the right or Everytown on the left.
 
Hindsight is 20/20 and all but part of me wonders if this shouldn't have been the move from the outset before all the bans of the past several months? Or would have it gone down exactly the same anyway?

The whole internet is turned up on politics to an 11 all the time these days so it'll be interesting to see where this change goes.
 
Vestal said:
At the end of the day, the problem was that you couldn't have an opinion in the politics forum without being painted as either right or left. Sadly the issues have been hijacked by politics in which you can't be Socially liberal but still have conservative leanings in economic policy for example. But it wasn't even that broad, if you took 1 side or another on any issue you would get ganged up by the same posters. It happens on Ree as well, and its just impossible to have an educated discussion.

In order to have a good discussion there has to be nuance. I'd say in the last 5 or so years it has become more and more difficult to bring nuance into any political discussion without being shit on.
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Excellently put. Lot of times I'd be interested in discussion but then the dogpiling started. Sometimes from the right leaning members, sometimes from the left leaning members. I would just bail out at that point, no reason in arguing with a wall.

I think some people who are upset forget that it's the duty of business owners to adapt to market conditions, or collapse. The politics forum had a good run but was quickly turning into a mess. It's okay if it's removed for a while (or permanently), and it's okay if it comes back.

GAF has had an incredible rebound from the darkest days, I'm sure the admins have already had a lot of discussion on the pros/cons of keeping the politics forum when the breaking point occurred. I don't plan to leave for their decision, that's for sure.
 
Is it fair to say it's pretty obvious this wasn't a decision made overnight? EviLore EviLore has probably been considering this for a while. Especially with how out of control things got right around the time of the capitol riots and the thread on that.

Obviously I'm not in his brain, but I don't think any one day or one thread just makes someone go from 0-100 in a decision to lop off an entire section of the site.
 
I do think the people visiting that section kept deeming topics like human rights as political issues, so they could play devil's advocate and upset people for their own sick enjoyment and not have to discuss or be challenged by their own toxic viewpoint.

On the other site, you'd just be banned.
Here you have the opportunity to be challenged and have a healthy debate, but the wrong sort of people in this forum just wants to play devil's advocate, trolling people without the fear of being banned. Because apparently doing so would be making a "political move" and this site apparently shouldn't a stance on anything to keep discussions equal and healthy.

These type of conversations are hard to moderate and the site can be responsible if these conversations get out of hand.

These aren't just people taking a more right or left leaning. These are people who are taking extremes to hurt, persecute, rally for hate and intolerance, & contribute to creating a echo chamber with like-minded people with the same ideas and beliefs in mind.

If you don't think that's fair, then take these conversations elsewhere.
If this move by staff feels like a personal attack, your probably are one of the wrong sorts of people we don't want on this site to begin with.
 
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No more politics section? Hmm. So no political discussion allowed anywhere on the site? Perhaps it's for the best, but it's going to be a pain to enforce.
 
The right choice. Nothing of value has been lost. You wanna talk about politics then go else where! This is a gaming forum so let's talk about games.
 
JeTmAn81 said:
No more politics section? Hmm. So no political discussion allowed anywhere on the site? Perhaps it's for the best, but it's going to be a pain to enforce.
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Did you read the warning? Bring politics to the rest of the site and you'll be removed. How more simple can that be?

Any political talk you will be banned.

A pain to enforce? Not really. It's simple. Anyone talking about politics will be banned.

of course I ain't a mod but that was my interpretation of the warning.
 
Goro Majima said:
Hindsight is 20/20 and all but part of me wonders if this shouldn't have been the move from the outset before all the bans of the past several months? Or would have it gone down exactly the same anyway?

The whole internet is turned up on politics to an 11 all the time these days so it'll be interesting to see where this change goes.
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Nah I think this had to happen the way it did. I hope this doesn't get me banned but....

I am an alt of a banned account from a while back. I asked for a self ban because I was mad we couldn't discuss conspiracy theories. Funny thing is I still spent most my time here lurking because I really enjoy this forum. I thought the management telling us what to discuss was trying to censor people but after seeing all the bans of people who couldn't adjust to the new rules, I 100% agree with the management. Overall Neogaf is just a much better website than almost anything out there even without the politics and wild conspiracy theories. I think finally nuking the politics section had to happen. If this would have happened without the past few months as proof I feel a lot more people would be angry.
 
Always sucks to see discussion being stifled, but it's probably for the best. I had the forum on ignore but that didn't keep me from peeking in at times, which I would often regret. At least it'll prevent me from doom-scrolling and wasting time. Appreciate all the effort that went into the experiment. It'd be interesting if it could be rebooted at some point to work as some kind of no-reply bulletin board as another poster suggested, though that kinda goes against the whole point of a forum.
 
I wonder what the politics sub forum would have looked like if you had to complete a questionnaire and 30 re-Captchas before every post you made.
 
That's a shame. Where else can someone with conservative view points go? Obviously not resetera because any small inkling of conservatism will get you a perma-ban there.
 
I think it's a good move to remove it. I think it was really too much of a distraction from what neogaf should be about, and that's gaming with a dash of offtopic threads. If people want to do heavy politics get a Twitter account and knock yourself out.
 
Can we discuss politics in the stock thread at least? Changes to tax laws on capital gains has a direct relation with the stock market. The stock market and politics are actually pretty closely intertwined.
 
CloudNull said:
You're the the man and thank you. Sorry for all my conspiracy theory shit in the past. The past few months haven't been easy for you and the mods. I'm stoked for the future of this place.
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Ugh i remember the kraken and people believing it to be real. It was like some shit just broke in people.
 
The Pleasure said:
Ugh i remember the kraken and people believing it to be real. It was like some shit just broke in people.
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Absolutely, people buying into conspiracy theories for months and even years is unbelievable. It's like, do you not need any tangible proof to keep those fires burning.
 
The Pleasure said:
Ugh i remember the kraken and people believing it to be real. It was like some shit just broke in people.
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Yeah man it was like the best reality tv ever created. Nothing like eating an edible and then discussing everything online with some randoms. Some people just can't let things go or admit they were wrong though. I see why the topics have been banned.
 
CloudNull said:
Yeah man it was like the best reality tv ever created. Nothing like eating an edible and then discussing everything online with some randoms. Some people just can't let things go or admit they were wrong though. I see why the topics have been banned.
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The Kraken is like a nerd with an online girlfriend. They claim its coming but nothing ever came.
 
Honestly I'm relieved the politics forum was nuked because every thread was a shit show. You don't want something like that to create the wrong impression for newcomers. This will mean the community will actually talk about things they're passionate about. This is an enthusiast platform, not a ResetEra but on the other side of the aisle.
 
The Pleasure said:
The Kraken is like a nerd with an online girlfriend. They claim its coming but nothing ever came.
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Still people out there waiting for Q to show up lol.

No one has time for that. So many great technological breakthroughs coming down the pipe that the future is looking bright. Gaf made 2020 much more manageable even though I went down some wild rabbit holes. I wouldn't do it any differently.
 
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CloudNull said:
Still people out there waiting for Q to show up lol.

No one has time for that. So many great technological breakthroughs coming done the pipe that the future is looking bright. Gaf made 2020 much more manageable even though I went down some wild rabbit holes. I wouldn't do it any differently.
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Don't worry. Namek will still explode in five minutes. Once that happens Q will come out and say "why are you following the guy in the gimp mask in 3rd strike?"
 
The Pleasure said:
It is okay, potato. We all all divine potassium in this world of protein.
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what-the-fuck-is-going-on.gif
 
EviLore said:
It was a source of major friction and drama within the community. It was attracting the wrong type of people to GAF, and pushing away the right type of people. It was a nightmare to moderate. It was frequently an embarrassment to be associated with.

It's gone.
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Whoa! What a boss move.

I partook regularly and didn't see anything as egregious, but then I only stuck to topical conversations. Can't say this is pleasing being here for both the low brow fun as well as the more meaningful.

That's my feedback in a nutshell.
 
DragoonKain said:
Is it fair to say it's pretty obvious this wasn't a decision made overnight? EviLore EviLore has probably been considering this for a while. Especially with how out of control things got right around the time of the capitol riots and the thread on that.

Obviously I'm not in his brain, but I don't think any one day or one thread just makes someone go from 0-100 in a decision to lop off an entire section of the site.
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As far as I can remember most of both GAF's left and right sides were in tune at that time and deplored the rioter's actions.
However thats just what I saw at the time.

In the end I understand when the mods say the Politics section was a horror to moderate.
Too much friction on a day to day basis, as it was a magnet for Resetera dropouts (of the worse kind) and a magnet for radical right.

Yes there was a lot of sane and tempered discussion too.
But if the negative greatly overshadows the positive its understandable that a decision has to be made wether it is worth to keep.
 
I can't say that I'm sad to see it go. I'm actually kinda happy. I found myself gravitating towards the politics section once a day to "catch up" on political events. Lately it had just been upsetting me. Most threads painted a political apocalypse in the US that, quite frankly, I never experience when I close my browser and leave home to work for the day. I hope the banned users find peace, and the mods get a well deserved vacation. Personally, I will be reflecting on self control, since I kept willingly going there.

OP, I understand why you feel there should be an official announcement, but all the stickied threads explaining new rules in the politics board eventually got locked. Plus this is the site owner's house. Ultimately it's his rules and he doesn't have to explain himself. I think that's part of why this site is as great as it is.

I'm sure it will still be perfectly acceptable to open a dialogue on the political themes in specific video games, given that it stays within the bounds of the game's themes and doesn't bleed into unrelated territory. Assuming it stays cordial, of course.
 
TheMay30thMan said:
I can't say that I'm sad to see it go. I'm actually kinda happy. I found myself gravitating towards the politics section once a day to "catch up" on political events. Lately it had just been upsetting me. Most threads painted a political apocalypse in the US that, quite frankly, I never experience when I close my browser and leave home to work for the day. I hope the banned users find peace, and the mods get a well deserved vacation. Personally, I will be reflecting on self control, since I kept willingly going there.

OP, I understand why you feel there should be an official announcement, but all the stickied threads explaining new rules in the politics board eventually got locked. Plus this is the site owner's house. Ultimately it's his rules and he doesn't have to explain himself. I think that's part of why this site is as great as it is.

I'm sure it will still be perfectly acceptable to open a dialogue on the political themes in specific video games, given that it stays within the bounds of the game's themes and doesn't bleed into unrelated territory. Assuming it stays cordial, of course.
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Yeah following political news is like a virus. It infects the mind causing you to think the world is ending. I found myself in this loop for awhile during the winter. Shifting what you focus your energy on really changes your outlook on life.

I grew a lot from some of the debates in politics but the good never out weighed the bad.
 
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