Should politics/religion be moved to the shed?

I thought a few of the purposes of a forum were to encourage debate, foster awareness, argue your points and (perhaps) have the "other" side be a little more open to considering alternatives.

Hard to see that accomplished without an open forum that encourages such.

A woodshed format that degenerates into mostly personal attacks would seem more likely to stifle debate and replace it with individual assaults.

Not having visited the shed, these are just my initial thoughts.

 
Comish said:
I thought a few of the purposes of a forum were to encourage debate, foster awareness, argue your points and (perhaps) have the "other" side be a little more open to considering alternatives.

Hard to see that accomplished without an open forum that encourages such.

A woodshed format that degenerates into mostly personal attacks would seem more likely to stifle debate and replace it with individual assaults.

Not having visited the shed, these are just my initial thoughts.
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I agree. Moving it to the shed would likely dismantle many productive discussions into a wide array of personal attacks.

 
It's something that I, at least, have considered until at least after the November election cycle has ended. I'd rather not do it - as everyone pointed out, moving it would stilfe discussion. However, the only alternative at this point, assuming that folks can't conform their behavior to the rules, is to start issuing suspensions and bans. We may very well come to that, but I would hope that, as in past election cycles since the creation of those sub-forums, members will tone down the personal attacks and the snarky asides and jabs. If they can't, then we'll have to institute one of the two alternatives. As Comish noted, when threads degenerate into flame wars it kills the thread; to the non-participants of the flame war it soon becomes boring. So, if things don't settle down, the net effect would be the same as if we moved it to the Woodshed. Let's hope everyone settles down a bit so that doesn't happen.

Having said that, perhaps it's time to post a reminder in those forums.

 
I believe it's generally understood that the type of discussion in that section will inherently become heated. However, there's no need for things to become personal.

 
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Politics and religion are very personal topics so it makes sense that things get heated. However, there are ways to tell someone they're wrong, they don't make sense, etc., without giving in to personal attacks. Some posters, however, have a lack of communication skills; so, when they believe something is wrong or doesn't make sense to them, a basic tactic is to be personal. Furthermore, personal attacks are generally the last phase of any argument. If each side has said what they want to say and neither side has conceded, insults flow.

I don't think the politics and religion forum should go to the woodshed. Most people realize they can't be insulting right now. If it goes to the Shed, we can be insulting all we want, and debate will clog like a dam.

If someone is attacking you and not your post, the most logical thing to do is hit the report button. Sometimes I wonder if people realize they can do this. You can report any post and give a brief description of why you reported it. If you feel someone is personally attacking you or another poster, report the post. Admins and Mods can review the situation and decide whether the poster needs a warning, temporary ban, perma-ban, etc.

 
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