Moderated Politics Sub-Forum

[Adam Richards]

Starting this thread, I know I'm probably going to get a ton of IMs/PMs/e-mails in the next 24 hours saying "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?"

Recently, political discussion rose once again, in the form of op-ed articles being posted in the Chit-Chat section. I know we had several instances of such things in the past (banning of political advertisements, etc.), yet there hasn't been a definite decision on what to do with threads that bring up ideological and political discussions.

Since I haven't seen this idea be brought forward yet, why not have a Politics Sub-Forum, moderated by default so people don't incite flame wars in a few minutes before moderators can respond to the issue.

Politics are a real thing in any community, especially one as large as ChiefDelphi, and shoving them aside and pretending the notion of political discussion doesn't exist isn't an option.

I'd like to recommend that a group of neutral moderators be placed in control of the forum to monitor and approve posts. Furthermore, I'd also like to recommend that the group of moderators be rotated in a cycle every few weeks or months so there isn't any allegations that the moderators lean towards one side of an argument or another.

[Cory]

Too much work for the moderators, on something that's entirely unrelated to the mission of the site.

[Adam Richards]

Then why bother keeping our Chit-Chat subforum, or the subforum of that, Games/Trivia? They're unrelated to the mission as well, yet they're still maintained and moderated.

I didn't say that current moderators were the only option for moderating the subforum. There are several community members who voice their offer to willingly help out in moderating duties.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Adam Richards

Then why bother keeping our Chit-Chat subforum, or the subforum of that, Games/Trivia? They're unrelated to the mission as well, yet they're still maintained and moderated.

I didn't say that current moderators were the only option for moderating the subforum. There are several community members who voice their offer to willingly help out in moderating duties.

While all forums require moderators to maintain them, chit chat does not require every post to be read and approved by a moderator.

Brandon has tons of other far more worthwhile things to work on that would actually improve what this site is meant for, than putting together a new system of moderation that either taxes the current moderators, or creates a need for an entirely new group of moderators.

[Brandon Martus]

I'll have to agree with all the 'no' responses in here. There are plenty of other places to do this, and as Cory said, the administrators and coaches of team 47 have many more things to worry about than figuring out all of the right & wrong ways to handle each & every post.

This site is about robotics. Let's talk about robotics.

Yes, there are Chit-Chat and Game forums, but a thread about iPods or your favorite pizza are going to cause a tiny fraction of the problems that a thread about the US in Iraq or religious beliefs potentially could.

[Mike Martus]

I am in the NO camp on this one. We cannot encourage our energy to be spread thin. The modrators have enough to keep track of.

[Steve W]

I also vote no. As a non US citizen I would find it difficult to moderate even as someone impartial. I would think that a US citizen would find it even harder as they would all have their own political stances.

As I have said before, my mom once told me that a wise person does not discuss politics or religion. Why look for trouble when we have such a great venue to talk robotics, which we all have in common?

[Rich Kressly]

No for me.

[slickguy2007]

Originally Posted by Rich Kressly

No for me.

Ditto

[Alexa Stott]

I also have to say no to this, too. There is such diversity on this forum. People come from many, many mixed backgrounds, which will inevitably cause problems. We have members from America, Israel, Canada, Brazil, the UK, etc. on here, and they have all formed their own opinions on different political topics. ChiefDelphi was made to discuss robotics mainly. Sure, there are topics about iPods and games about movie quotes, but, like it was mentioned earlier, disagreements on who sings the best version of "She Bangs" is going to cause a lot less trouble than a disagreement on something political.

Anyone remember this spotlight:

Originally Posted by Bharat Nain

Moreover, lets discuss robots, its more fun

[JaneYoung]

ChiefDelphi is called a community oftentimes. I view it as a community for people involved in FIRST, robotics, science and technology. Discussions often develop and evolve in each topic thread, even the ones in Chit Chat. It is open.

The more we call on moderators for forums/discussions/threads, the less open the community will become. Members of the high school teams that post here often start as new members of FIRST. Many are new to the concepts of Gracious Professionalism and cultural changes. The open community of ChiefDelphi is what helps these concepts grow in understanding, not calling for more moderators for off topics. To me, it doesn't jive.

Jane

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Brandon Martus

I'll have to agree with all the 'no' responses in here. There are plenty of other places to do this, and as Cory said, the administrators and coaches of team 47 have many more things to worry about than figuring out all of the right & wrong ways to handle each & every post.

Here's one forum I occasionally go to when I need to laugh about how involved people get in political discussions: http://forums.anandtech.com/categori...=52&entercat=y

[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.

[sanddrag]

I've gotta give a no to this one. I see it eliminating heated political debates and fueling heated debated about moderation personnel and techniques.