Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

IMHO The discussion on CD should be free from politics and religion. I appreciate the focus here. CD has the final word on this forum. Period. EOS.
If users want different discussions, please open up your own site and host those discussions.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

I like the political discussion and watching the political threads before the election, i was very pleased on how everyone acted. We had quite a few debates about John Kerry and George Bush but for the most part everyone respected each other and had a logical debate and for the people that tried to be idiots, the moderators were on top of it and did a very good job. The reason why i think we can hold political threads in CD, is because we are all peers or colleagues and have a mutual respect for everyone here, even if we have never met each other we have all grown together reading each others post and threads.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

Moderators need a keep a close eye on the political threads. Before the election, the amount of political posts was getting out of control. I remember posting in one thread(http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...109#post283109) listing the multitude of them.

A while back, someone posted a link to a site that political debates were commonplace. That link should be posted in the political threads when the debate turns too sour for CD's taste or when there are multiple requests to close it.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

I dont think threads involving political issues should be banned, but they should be taken care of. Throwing them in the Chit-Chat section IS NOT taking care of them. The Chit-Chat forum covers such a broad area of topics.. which is pretty much everything, beside FIRST robotics. I enjoy reading and posting on certain topics in the chit chat section, but I do not enjoy seeing political chat on this website. But, does my opinion speak for everyone else on these mesage boards.. No. I am simply a user of the system, and therefore my opinion is exactly that.. an opinion.

I believe that people should have the right to express their opinions, whether they be over politics, religion, etc... but I also believe there should be an option for the common users to be able to choose whether they see these posts of opinion or not. Whether this may be a new sub section of the chit chat area or an option to classify your post as "off topic and possibly offending", I (and possibly others) hope that in the future this issue will be addressed.

Also, this brings up an issue with CD that many people notice but few talk about. While this is a serious discussion forum, it is still a DISCUSSION forum. We just happen to talk about robots here. Robots are machines that work with little need of human input. They dont show emotions, have a sense of humor, or argue. They do what they are told by creator.... People do in fact have all of those things. Now, there are many people on these forums who I would say act more like robots than a humans. People are going to argue, its in their blood. People are going to say stupid things, its in their blood. Bad Talking/neg repping/closing off/banning these people and their posts is not going to do any good. I believe the CD community as a whole needs to just.. cheer up and exersize that sense of humor that I know everyone has. Theres a time for serious business.. but 95% (guess) of the people who post and look at these boards are teenagers, and most teenagers arent very serious. I'll stop now before it turns into a rant.

Tom

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

Everything is politics. If you have a group of people, interacting, and if even one of them has an opinion, it's politics. I personally don't see why the ACLU thread was closed, but I do think it would have been better if the origional poster had written a careful explanation of why he thought people should support the ACLU on this plan of action.

Full Disclosure: I'm a card-carrying ACLU member, so I guess I'm biased.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

Oh, and isn't this kind of metaironic...

This is a political thread!

How about a politics forum? Keep it seperate from everything else? It could be a chit-chat subforum. Read it if you want, forget it even exists if you don't. Everyone is happy.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

If the ACLU thread were under that forum, the same problem could've occurred. Relabeling its category does nothing to change the fact that rude posts could be made. Some people will certainly not look at that forum, but I think many more will. Perhaps since the chit-chat forum is an island apart from the rest of the forums, different moderators could be employed to monitor it than the rest.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

Whats rude to you may be acceptable to someone else.

What if... a sub category was created that could only be viewed by MEMBERS of the forum who chose to be a part of it. So, new members would never even see this forum, or knew it existed until they read a certain sticky thread and signed up to be able to read it.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

We are guests of ChiefDelphi, and so we should act like it. Thanks for inviting us over ChiefDelphi.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

There have been many thoughtful and insightful responses in this thread.

In the very near future, I plan to sit down with the coaches of our team and come up with an official response (either in this thread, a new thread, or in the rules) which will expand the rules, moderation policies, and hopefully clear up much of what was talked about in this thread. We've talked about many of the things you've brought up (allow no political/religious/chit-chat/non-robotics, allow all discussion, allow with heavy moderation) and never come down to a definite solution.

The biggest problem, I think, is there are thousands of you (the general user) and less than 30 of us (the moderators/administrators) and it's really hard to keep track of everything and continue on with our normal everyday life. It will probably come down to just adding more moderators, and making a better set of 'what to do when...' rules.

So ... stay tuned.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

This is a good point. What is spam and what is not spam? I think that if someone is bringing attention of something that FIRST teams may want to buy, then it is productive advertising. There is a fine line there, and I have seriously wondered where "crossing it" is.

As for the political stuff, I enjoy the discussions, as long as points of view are accepted and respected. We really do have a wide variety of backgrounds, spiritual views, and political influences here on the CD boards. Most of us, I assume, hang out with people who are "like us" in our daily lives. We either mingle with friends who are "like us", or we work with people who are "like us". I find that this FIRST community has opened my eyes to smart people who think differently than I do about issues. Even if they are wrong - :) - we can still get along here, build robots, and inspire each other along the way.

Andy B.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

<TwoCents>
Personally, I don't give a hoot what anyone thinks politically. I believe what I believe, I know what I know, and I make my decisions based on what I believe and what I know. I don't like it when I express my opinion on (for example) politics and somebody responds "You're wrong, idiot." That really gets me. First, no one here knows anything about me, or the experiences I've had that have led me to my current beliefs. For someone to blatantly attack my personal beliefs with no foundation for how I came to arrive at those beliefs is wrong.

OK, I'm reading this and I think I'm rambling. So I'll get to my point.

I don't think CD should allow political threads. This is a robotics site. Not a political opinion site. HOWEVER, I do realize that people are guaranteed by the First Amendment to say whatever they want to say. Therefore, I think a separate "politics" subforum should be created, with an option in the User preferences to hide/show it. That way the people who want to see and participate in political threads can do so, and the people who don't particularly care for them (like myself), can easily ignore them (because they wouldn't be visible).

However, this would probably take a lot of work on Brandon's part to implement.

</TwoCents>

Dave

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

The First Amendment does not say that websites have to let you say whatever you want to say on their websites (as in, their property). But hey, that's bordering on a political argument...

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

Ok guys, let's wait to hear from the Chief Delphi leaders for the final answer. Team 47 is nice enough to provide a service for the FIRST community, it is their website and their forum, and they are the ones who decide the policy around here. Our opinions, as always, are only opinions and suggestions.

You guys have provided lots of great opinion about this matter, like Brandon said, your voices are heard and will be considered as always. I trust the fine folks of 47 to make the final decision.

Thank you Chief Delphi for your hard work for the FIRST community.

Re: Poll: Role of Political Advertisement on ChiefDelphi
 

I definitely think the name calling and "baby jesus" rant in the linked thread should not be allowed, but to ban politics completely, that is also not a good idea.
To ban politics would mean that politics has no place in FIRST, which is completely wrong. FIRST has become a huge program, and government funding of FIRST teams could help continue growth of the program and allow the less-affluent teams to go to competitions. This all has to do with politics. I think discussing politics on ChiefDelphi is great, as long as it is FIRST related. Bush policies on FIRST and science and engineering should be discussed, as it would create more intelligent discussions on ChiefDelphi. In addition, discussing the relation of the political world to the scientific world could come in handy in the future, whether you are applying for a job at NASA, applying for a research grant, or working for the defense, telecommunication, or energy industry.
I do, however, think that religious fundamentalism (the baby jesus quote was fundamentalism) has no place on the forums. The quote showed contempt and utter disdain for the other cultures that make up this wonderful country.
If you must digress to express your political views, here are some forums to express your views:
Liberal Forums:
Move On PAC
George Bush, the Officious Website
Conservative Forums: (I don't know too many of these, though)
The Free Republic

To sum it up, I think political discussion should take place, as long as it is FIRST-Related (or science and engineering related).