Politics in OTW

hellbringer · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 82

Political discussion is fine for me, although many a times it includes a lot of name calling, but then, I really don't care about that.
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SlicerDicer · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 7:20 am Post subject:

plate · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 9:32 am Post subject:

Care for a mod's viewpoint? I don't think you'll like it, but since you asked: No, there's never too much political debate. Unfortunately, the quality of arguments in this forum is deplorable.

We always had users loitering in OTW to fight boredom between two emerges, mind you. It's just that before the big Gentoo popularity rush in 2003, OTW was dominated by people with interesting opinions, excellent manners and impeccable writing style. Moderating consisted basically of sorting out the duplicates and moving threads from one forum to the other, in order to better their chances of getting an answer. We also had the occasional hothead, of course, but unlike today those got taken care of by the other users rather efficiently*. In general, no moderator intervention was needed, no banning of user IDs, and certainly no explicit OTW guidelines... Personally, I used to enjoy discussing politics a lot in OTW, and just like starting to use Gentoo had been an incredible learning experience for me, I got to learn a lot here, in an exceptional atmosphere created by knowledgeable, friendly people from all over the planet.

Today, all I do in OTW is teaching manners to brats whose intellectual horizon ends somewhere around their belly buttons, and closing threads that got out of hand because somebody thought they'd turn it into a phpBB version of the Jerry Springer show. This has nothing to do with the amount of politics being discussed, only with the mindless logorrhea displayed by the participants in the debate.

You know, these forums were once famous for the absence of flame wars, especially OTW. Makes you rather sad, doesn't it... Oh well, Kindergarten teacher wasn't part of the job description when we got hired as moderators, but we have quickly adapted.

* Best practice award goes to "drowning flamers in puddles of condescendence"

EDIT: Moved from OTW to Gentoo Forums Feedback. :roll:

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

There's a really simple solution to the number of political threads. DON'T READ THEM. Unless of course you want to.
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klieber · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 2:39 pm Post subject:

stonent · Veteran Joined: 07 Aug 2003 Posts: 1139 Location: Texas

abzs2k · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 7:02 pm Post subject:

klieber · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 7:10 pm Post subject:

stonent · Veteran Joined: 07 Aug 2003 Posts: 1139 Location: Texas

puggy · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 9:04 pm Post subject:

stonent · Veteran Joined: 07 Aug 2003 Posts: 1139 Location: Texas

I think that all who agree should put a link in their signature line denoting that they will not be ones who will resort to threats, personal attacks and name calling.
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feliperal · Apprentice Joined: 09 Mar 2003 Posts: 168

These days on the forums, people are always too touchy and sensitive....Flames can easily rise while debating subjects like War in Iraq, U.S. Politics, and Cultural Differences, Religion vs Abortion, Religion...

I agree that the forums shouldn't have any threats and direct attacks against anyone. Heckling and harrassment is wrong. But, what for example, I want to refer to those people who beheaded Nick Berg as sick fuckers who deserve to be killed? Some peopl, who are anti-war, could be strongly offended...

One of the posts I made in a thread I created was venting my anger of the brutality, and encouraged strong U.S. action against the people who would support or harbour these miscreants.

Even an indirect comment such as calling someones ideology (liberalism or conservatism) as BS and stating why could be offensive and cause a storm of flames.

People need to stop harrassing and heckling people and, if pissed off at the person, go take a cold shower or meditate to cool off.

den_RDC · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 10:04 pm Post subject:

I agree with plate - although i am not a fulltime debater (see old join-date and low postcount), i remeber the good old times when the political discussions in OTW were actually pretty civilised and pjp was still called canuslupus (i hope i remebered this right). I think i actually saw people changing/adjusting their position back then. But the current political threads have become a pissing contest (or pingpong match). If someone succeeds to post something insightfull without insulting anybody it tends to get lost in the sheer amount of piss

And it creates a climate in wich everbody get's annoyed and all people (regardless of right/left) with a remotly moderate opinion leave and only the hardliners are left to produce even more piss. Maybe a temporary ban on pissing is in order, or we'll just have to wait till it stops.
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really · Guru Joined: 27 Aug 2002 Posts: 430 Location: nowhere

Mnemia · Guru Joined: 17 May 2002 Posts: 476

AlterEgo · Veteran Joined: 25 Apr 2002 Posts: 1619

I feel much better, doctor,
since I gave up lurking @ OTW

lagrima · Posted: Fri May 14, 2004 6:49 pm Post subject:

it wouldnt be called otw if it wasnt just that lol

Ben2040 · Guru Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 445 Location: UK

Hi

I don't think there is anything wrong with any arguament, here at least, as it can't degenerate to the level of violence....

Ben

srlinuxx · l33t Joined: 22 Nov 2003 Posts: 627

geeezusss, there is too much politics everywhere. the joke newsgroups have been ruined by them and there is way too much here as well.

but opinions are like assholes.... I know some folks enjoy it. but I just feel like it's hopeless. it don't matter who gets elected, one's as bad and corrupt as the other. The country's going to continue to deteriorate along with much of the freedom our parents enjoyed. I wish we could do like do like George Washington said and every two hundred years, dissolve and recreate the government. But even mentioning that is considered terrorism. What can anyone do? What has become of freedom? What has become of our country?
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moocha · Watchman Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Posts: 5722

AgentMascan · n00b Joined: 04 May 2004 Posts: 29 Location: Idaho, USA

Yeah, there are some individuals that let their strong opinions dominate their tone. Most of us have strong opinions; some of us choose to try and exercise decent behavior, and some just ignore the option altogether.

It's a real pain when you choke on your pride and apologize or admit you were wrong about something only to have someone shove it down your throat on their next post.
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stonent · Veteran Joined: 07 Aug 2003 Posts: 1139 Location: Texas

abzs2k · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 12:26 pm Post subject:

The DPL/DPR poll was quite funny.
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cokey · Advocate Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 3355

you can never get enough politics in forums, that is the nature of politics, it has to be debated by the proleteriat for it to work
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