[Matt Krass]

Gotta say Adam, I don't agree with this one. This is a forum for Robotics, and FIRST, and while some banter is alright, stuff involving politics is bound to irritate someone, and even in a moderated world, someone could easily get offended. I don't think CD.Com should ever be a place for political discussion, that's just not the point. If I had to choose between allowing political discussion and eliminating all off-topic/chit-chat areas I would eliminate them all hands down. It's just not the place for it, if you want to discuss politics there are many places just for that. Personally I've never been the greatest fan of chit-chat and the games subforum, I admit I participate in an occasional caption contest, but I think they could just as easily be held via email or on another site, and it's not really the focus of CD.Com to host it. Also, the past abuse of CD-Media with such nonsensical things is another strike against it, and occasionally some of the photos that get approved make my scratch my head and say "On topic how?". I'm all for freedom of speech, but not if it means treading on a lot of people's feet. Especially not considering the long list of people who're ultimately responsible for what we post, even though they had nothing to do with it, it just doesn't seem fair to subject them to the potential hazards of a political or religious debate that they aren't even participating in, that have nothing to do with FIRST or Robotics anyway.

That's my two cents, I'm voting no.