Should LJs Allow Politically Exclusive/One-Party Forum Topics?

no

-- Improvise.... Adapt...... Overcome!

Doesn’t sound too American, Mike;)

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

I’m not too sure of the question, Mike, but I VOTE (if we have one) to keep all political and religious stuff off this board. Freedom of speech does not allow one to say anything they like any where… I’d prefer non-shop forum topics to be about family, friends, interesting tidbits on LJ members and their lives. But, I am in the minority… at least the vocal minority.

-- Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Freedom of speech does not allow one to say anything they like any where
Actually, it mostly does, with a few exceptions. The law is relatively clear.
However, this doesn’t apply to the internet; the site administrators could say “only Catholics, Hippies, Single Moms, Heterosexuals, etc. are allowed on this site” and it would be perfectly within their rights.
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The political forums have become really boring to me. I’ve got some good friends in there that I like to say “hi” to, but they’ve degraded into “I know you are but what am I” type garbage. I wouldn’t be sad either to see them go, but unfortunately?/thankfully?, it’s not up to any of us.
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And for the record, Mike, all the candidates on both sides are terrible, lol;)

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

I’m in the Ellen camp on this one. I’d prefer political topics to be not on the site at all. They usually quickly become adversarial and non-productive. And as Bertha said, they get boring.

I’d prefer the off-topic forum to keep to the tidbits of family, friends and my “kid just got an A in biology and I’m proud of him” or “I just jumped out of a perfectly good airplane and survived!”

But since this post itself is on the topic of politics you will find you will get many, many variations of opinions. But that’s my two cents and I plan to stick to it.

-- Like a bad penny, I keep coming back!

Mike,
I do not read Non-Shop Forum, LJ is about woodworking not politics.
(those who do not agree with me are obviously wrong and I choose to leave them in their error.LoL)
To answer your question:NO

-- Bert

AL SAID: And for the record, Mike, all the candidates on both sides are terrible, lol;)

Let us remember that the World, and in particular the LJs World, is a much larger place than just the U.S. so are you referring to the European Union?

-- HorizontalMike -- "Woodpeckers understand..."

Correction for Horizontal: All the U.S. candidates on both sides are terrible, lol;)

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

We should all keep in mind that this site has members from across the globe; therefore not exclusive to the U.S.
There are folks from far different religious and political viewpoints as well as cultural. It is one of the things I love about the site and one of the things that makes for a great community.

Having said that I personally believe we should just keep the focus about woodworking.

-- "Everything that is great and inspiring is created by the individual who labors in freedom" -- Albert Einstein

^like I said above, it’s really not up to us. I’d probably prefer to see them gone, too, but I’m not the site owner. On my website, political discussions are banned. Of course, I don’t have a forum on my site, so it’s quite easy to enforce, lol;)

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

I’m a West Virginia Hillbilly originally and there are two things I learned at a young age… Never bring up religion or politics if you aren’t ready for a “passionate” response. ;)

-- "Everything that is great and inspiring is created by the individual who labors in freedom" -- Albert Einstein

I also think it would be better for the site if these topics were banned. There are some hobbies, like shooting, where you tend to have a pretty tight range of political beliefs among participants, but woodworking does not seem to be the same. I would fully support a no politics or religion rule.

While many, myself included, may have different points of view then the right leaning folks who dominate and revel in these threads, and sometimes it is hard not to speak up, the best thing to do is just resist the urge to even view the threads. Let them have their echo chamber.

-- John

^I hear you, Chris. I say stuff on the internet that I wouldn’t say outloud in WV. When I do slip up, I listen for that telltale sound of the shotgun racking, lol;) You should come visit some time; it’s good for that hillbilly soul;)

John, I hear you too. I happen to be of the rightward wing, but I’m not represented in the melee going on in those threads. I will tell you, though, and it pains me somewhat to do it, lol; but there a few REALLY smart Democrats in those threads, too (Horizontal is one of them). There are some idiots, too, of course;) I’ve had to revisit the source on a few things that I thought I had a rock solid grasp on.
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I should be searching out these things on an appropriate political forum, but the stuff happened to be here (temporarily perhaps), so I benefitted from it. We’ll see what admin does; they’ve been surprisingly accommodating up to now. Time will tell.

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

Religion and politics.

Religion: there are hundreds of them. Which one is the right one. Why yours is of course and everyone else is going to hell or where ever. You won’t accept someone trying to convince you otherwise would you? Others feel exactly the same way.

Politics: exactly the same thing.

If you want to talk about them there are thousands of forums for you to do so. Pick one. This is a woodworking site.

Just agree to disagree and leave it at that.

-- Gary - Never pass up the opportunity to make a mistake look like you planned it that way - Tyler, TX

The political posts have digressed to the point that they are serving no worthwhile purpose whatsoever. If the participants had taken a true debate mentality then there might have been something worthwhile to glean from the opposing points of view. There has been next to no original thought (everything said comes with a source / footnote). For the most part it has been looking back (not forward) in some weird blame game of WhoDunnit. There have been so few proposals of substantive ideas or paths for the present and future.

Al is much too kind. I think the kind of behavior in those threads tends to cause the questioning of the intelligence of some of the participants. As would be expected, that too is distributed equally on both sides of the political divide.

I am all for free speech. No subject is too taboo or can get too heated for me. I just get the impression that Lumberjocks is NOT the place for these useless displays of whatever the hell it is.

I recommend strictly banning both religious and political content in the non-shop area.

-- If you're going to stir the pot, think BIG spoon or SMALL boat paddle. David Grimes, Georgia