[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I most definitly think that these discussion should remain, however, I selected "Moderators should keep a very close watch on these threads" for a reason. Referring a recent thread, moderator David Kelly quickly closed it after noticing the pattern it took. See thread in chitchat. It was necessary and it was taken care of. I've also noticed that there are a few users out there who make it a point to step in and try to help sort things out when there is a conflict.

No matter how much conflict we allow, there is a line between personal attack and discussion, and it's battled like mad every time there is a controversial thread. If one can't control their behavior in a post, they're generally informed about it in a reply or a private message. I don't think there is any need to ban political threads if this self - moderation continues, but it's still unreasonable to expect a large number of educated people in this situation to pull off a flawlessly sportsmanlike discussion.