Quoting Forget_the_Rest:

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Quoting Unicus69:

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I honestly don't understand why anybody would be against an opt-in forum.  If you don't want to discuss those topics, don't opt-in, but why prevent those who do from doing so? 

I personally agree with that but can see that some are worried that arguments and fallings out may spill over into other areas. However, if there are mods to watch the "normal" area then it shouldn't really be an issue.

Perhaps give that system a trial as well. See how it pans out.

I think the fear of "spill over" is overblown and agree with the part of your response that I've bolded above.

My thoughts is that I would prefer if political topics were allowed, but not in an unmoderated forum as described by Ken. I'd prefer any political discussion to be moderated as much as the rest of the site, in order for personal attacks to be kept at a minimum.

KM

My personal opinion is to just keep a permanent ban on such topics.  But I know that some people want to discuss those topics for whatever reason.  I also agree that if we have proper moderation on the rest of the forum, that it should take care of things spilling out of that area.  So I voted to create a new forum and let's see how it works out.  I've seen it work at other sites.

Quoting hal9g:

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Quoting Dr. Killpatient:

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Human nature dictates that it is imposable to have a political or religious thread without somebody getting their undies in a tiff.

No, people choose to behave in a certain way.  It has nothing to do with human nature.

Ah, but human nature has nothing to do with choice since it's a broad indication of overall behavior.

So the rule of thumb is that if you have discussions about topics that people feel passionate about, things can (and probably will) get out of hand.  One persons passion is an unstoppable object but another persons passion is an unmovable object.

Granted - people should be held accountable for their actions, no argument there.

But my point is that no matter what you (you=generic) do, there will always be someone who gets offended and goes off on a rampage if you discuss religion or politics - even if all parties agreed to be amicable beforehand.  The offense could well be unintended or meant as a joke, but language barriers and difference of opinion on what constitutes a joke will ensure that somebody will get upset.  It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when*.

* based on my years of personal experience running forums dating all the way back to the BBS era.

I've seen this before on other subject-specific websites, and the free-for-all zone absolutely did spill over into the other areas.  All the same to me as I suspect I would choose not to opt in.

I don't post much, but I don't think to tie up resources for a strictly open forum is the way to go.

I don't mind the occasional political/religious discussion on topics that are current.  I do not think that DVD Profiler is the place to have an ongoing discussion about the pros and cons of either side of a religious or political debate.

I participate on a couple of political forums, and you can tell when people that don't want to discuss, and just inject name calling and accusations into the discussion.  We typically ignore them and they soon go away.

The couple of times I have seen political discussions here, they have been relatively tame.  People have there opinions and express them, but they were both relatively civil. (passionate but civil).

I think that with proper moderation, an occasional debate about current events could be beneficial, and maybe break up, the sometimes intense, act of preparing and discussing DVD Profiles.

Point number 1 can be said about any topic in the general forum, depending on your point of view, so that should not be a deciding factor.

While point number 2 may be true, many of those discussions are started by non U.S. members.  In addition, just because someone argues that they have not right to comment, that doesn't make it so.

As to your final comment, how invelos chooses to spread their resources is up to them.  It isn't our place to decide what they should spend them on.