Who thinks political threads should stay in the political section?

shelbell · Post by **shelbell** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:07 pm

I know I do.

qsducks · Post by **qsducks** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:08 pm

Me too!:wah:

shelbell · Post by **shelbell** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:10 pm

qsducks;1114354 wrote: Me too!:wah:

Make sure to vote ducky!! Quack! :yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:11 pm

shelbell;1114353 wrote: I know I do.

I agree 100%. Perhaps then, the members who claim they are bored with the politics or fed up with a Politicians name can avoid them. :-6:-6

flopstock · Post by **flopstock** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:12 pm

shouldn't this thread have been in the political section?:D

qsducks · Post by **qsducks** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:12 pm

shelbell;1114356 wrote: Make sure to vote ducky!! Quack! :yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

I did vote babes.:wah:

shelbell · Post by **shelbell** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:13 pm

flopstock;1114359 wrote: shouldn't this thread have been in the political section?:D

Smart a$$!! :yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

kazalala · Post by **kazalala** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:16 pm

well its obvious if there is a political section then that is where a political thread should be:-2:D

shelbell · Post by **shelbell** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:56 pm

oscar;1114358 wrote: I agree 100%. Perhaps then, the members who claim they are bored with the politics or fed up with a Politicians name can avoid them. :-6:-6

Thanks oscar. I think keeping the political yapping away from the other yapping is a good way to get everyone back to a calmer state of mind and will encourage members that have gotten so fed up that they hardly post anymore...and i'm talking about both sides. :-6:-6

Post by **spot** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:08 pm

flopstock;1114359 wrote: shouldn't this thread have been in the political section?:D

No, it should be under Polls, Polls, and more Polls - ForumGarden

Reporting any post and asking for the thread to be split in order to take the political content to a more appropriate forum area will invariably receive sympathetic notice.

There are quite a few areas where threads could reasonably be started which focus on politics.

Current Events - ForumGarden

History - ForumGarden

Conspiracy Theories - ForumGarden

Conservation & The Environment - ForumGarden

Polls, Polls, and more Polls - ForumGarden

Philosophy - ForumGarden

Societal Issues & News - ForumGarden

Crimes & Trials - ForumGarden

Current Events - ForumGarden

Immigration - ForumGarden

Drugs, Alcohol & Tobacco - ForumGarden

Health Care - ForumGarden

Abortion - ForumGarden

Gun Control - ForumGarden

Warfare & Military - ForumGarden

Social & Human Rights - ForumGarden

Presidential Elections & Campaigns - ForumGarden

International Politics - ForumGarden

Political Humor & Satire - ForumGarden

Earth Changes - ForumGarden

Westcliff Rules Debating Area - ForumGarden

People - ForumGarden

Wall Street to Main Street - ForumGarden

Work & Employment - ForumGarden

The question is more likely to be whether politics should intrude into existing threads in non-political areas like General Chat.

kazalala · Post by **kazalala** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:15 pm

spot;1114425 wrote: No, it should be under Polls, Polls, and more Polls - ForumGarden

Reporting any post and asking for the thread to be split in order to take the political content to a more appropriate forum area will invariably receive sympathetic notice.

There are quite a few areas where threads could reasonably be started which focus on politics.

Current Events - ForumGarden

History - ForumGarden

Conspiracy Theories - ForumGarden

Conservation & The Environment - ForumGarden

Polls, Polls, and more Polls - ForumGarden

Philosophy - ForumGarden

Societal Issues & News - ForumGarden

Crimes & Trials - ForumGarden

Current Events - ForumGarden

Immigration - ForumGarden

Drugs, Alcohol & Tobacco - ForumGarden

Health Care - ForumGarden

Abortion - ForumGarden

Gun Control - ForumGarden

Warfare & Military - ForumGarden

Social & Human Rights - ForumGarden

Presidential Elections & Campaigns - ForumGarden

International Politics - ForumGarden

Political Humor & Satire - ForumGarden

Earth Changes - ForumGarden

Westcliff Rules Debating Area - ForumGarden

People - ForumGarden

Wall Street to Main Street - ForumGarden

Work & Employment - ForumGarden

The question is more likely to be whether politics should intrude into existing threads in non-political areas like General Chat.

good question;)

Post by **spot** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:17 pm

kazalala;1114438 wrote: good question;)

That's why I offered the existing solution. Report the post and ask for the split.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:18 pm

By all means move them to International Politics or Presidential Elections or whatever, it will keep the Garden tidier.

For those that use New Posts a lot it makes little difference but it does allow those who dislike politics to clear them out at the (double) click of a button.

kazalala · Post by **kazalala** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:20 pm

spot;1114441 wrote: That's why I offered the existing solution. Report the post and ask for the split.

what does that mean exactly?

kazalala · Post by **kazalala** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:21 pm

Bryn Mawr;1114443 wrote: By all means move them to International Politics or Presidential Elections or whatever, it will keep the Garden tidier.

For those that use New Posts a lot it makes little difference but it does allow those who dislike politics to clear them out at the (double) click of a button.

how do you clear them out at the double click of a button?

Post by **spot** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:22 pm

Bryn Mawr;1114443 wrote: For those that use New Posts a lot it makes little difference but it does allow those who dislike politics to clear them out at the (double) click of a button.

Could you explain that bit? The double click of a button bit? Which button and what effect you get?

Post by **spot** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:24 pm

kazalala;1114445 wrote: what does that mean exactly?

What I wrote was "Reporting any post and asking for the thread to be split in order to take the political content to a more appropriate forum area will invariably receive sympathetic notice."

http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/moder ... post589754 discusses how and what you end up with.

eta: sorry, that's a Moderator post so you can't read it. It can only be done by moderators, that's why. What it says, for your information because you asked, is

Moving Posts

when to use:

if someone posts in the wrong thread (usually they just delete it)

if posts go terribly off topic

if an argument between two or more members is harming the topic integrity

how to do it:

Go into the thread in question and select the posts that need to be moved. Choose "move posts" at the bottom of the screen. This will bring another screen up when you hit the "go" button. You have two options. You can move the post to another thread that already exists by entering the url of the thread or you can start a new thread with those posts. If you choose this option you must give the thread a title. Be creative if you wish but make sure the title clearly states what the new thread is about. Make sure that you are creating the new thread in the proper forum area. It will automatically choose the forum you got the posts from. When you complete the task you will find yourself in the thread that the posts were moved to. Don't get disoriented. The moved posts will still have the title of the old thread.

what happens:

The post(s) will disappear from the old thread and will appear in the new one. The new thread will state that it was started by the username of the first post moved. If you put it in an existing thread, it will be mixed into the other thread according to the time stamps. You will then, most likely find the first poster going into their thread and asking how that just happened.

kazalala · Post by **kazalala** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:27 pm

spot;1114451 wrote: What I wrote was "Reporting any post and asking for the thread to be split in order to take the political content to a more appropriate forum area will invariably receive sympathetic notice."

http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/moder ... post589754 discusses how and what you end up with.

I read what you wrote spot,,, believe it or not i just did'nt know quite exactly what that meant. would it take just the political post away from that thread ,, or would it move the whole thread to a political area? FG wont let me access that link you put up

Post by **spot** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:29 pm

We cross posted. Does my edited addition clear up your question?

kazalala · Post by **kazalala** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:29 pm

spot;1114451 wrote: What I wrote was "Reporting any post and asking for the thread to be split in order to take the political content to a more appropriate forum area will invariably receive sympathetic notice."

http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/moder ... post589754 discusses how and what you end up with.

eta: sorry, that's a Moderator post so you can't read it. It can only be done by moderators, that's why. What it says, for your information because you asked, is

oh thank you,,, sorry i had posted before i saw this. that answers my question:D

Post by **spot** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:32 pm

kazalala;1114453 wrote: would it take just the political post away from that thread ,, or would it move the whole thread to a political area?That's about "split in order to take the political content to a more appropriate forum area"? it would take just the political post or, more likely, posts, away from that thread, that's the "split" bit. Doing it while leaving a readable pair of threads is more often than not a difficult process.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:33 pm

kazalala;1114446 wrote: how do you clear them out at the double click of a button?

Go to Forums, to the left of each Forum is a quote bubble. If there are unread posts then the bubble will contain a sheaf of papers - double click on them to mark that forum as read.

Where a Forum has sub-forums there is a square by each of them. If there are unread posts this changes colour - double click on the square to mark that sub-forum as read.

Easy

kazalala · Post by **kazalala** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:37 pm

Bryn Mawr;1114459 wrote: Go to Forums, to the left of each Forum is a quote bubble. If there are unread posts then the bubble will contain a sheaf of papers - double click on them to mark that forum as read.

Where a Forum has sub-forums there is a square by each of them. If there are unread posts this changes colour - double click on the square to mark that sub-forum as read.

Easy

oh right! well you learn something new everyday:D it actually tells you that when you hover your cursor over the bubble, thanks bryn:D

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:39 pm

kazalala;1114463 wrote: oh right! well you learn something new everyday:D it actually tells you that when you hover your cursor over the bubble, thanks bryn:D

Glad to be of service Maam

Post by **spot** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:42 pm

Bryn Mawr;1114459 wrote: Easy :-)Do you know, I might get a single-click bookmarks toolbar icon to clear down all the word games from that while ending up as a New Posts screen. I'll have a shot at it later.

kazalala · Post by **kazalala** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:45 pm

spot;1114469 wrote: Do you know, I might get a single-click bookmarks toolbar icon to clear down all the word games from that while ending up as a New Posts screen. I'll have a shot at it later.

Im not even going to ask:yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

Odie · Post by **Odie** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:02 pm

qsducks;1114354 wrote: Me too!:wah:

me three!

shelbell · Post by **shelbell** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:14 pm

spot;1114425 wrote: No, it should be under Polls, Polls, and more Polls - ForumGarden

Reporting any post and asking for the thread to be split in order to take the political content to a more appropriate forum area will invariably receive sympathetic notice.

There are quite a few areas where threads could reasonably be started which focus on politics.

Current Events - ForumGarden

History - ForumGarden

Conspiracy Theories - ForumGarden

Conservation & The Environment - ForumGarden

Polls, Polls, and more Polls - ForumGarden

Philosophy - ForumGarden

Societal Issues & News - ForumGarden

Crimes & Trials - ForumGarden

Current Events - ForumGarden

Immigration - ForumGarden

Drugs, Alcohol & Tobacco - ForumGarden

Health Care - ForumGarden

Abortion - ForumGarden

Gun Control - ForumGarden

Warfare & Military - ForumGarden

Social & Human Rights - ForumGarden

Presidential Elections & Campaigns - ForumGarden

International Politics - ForumGarden

Political Humor & Satire - ForumGarden

Earth Changes - ForumGarden

Westcliff Rules Debating Area - ForumGarden

People - ForumGarden

Wall Street to Main Street - ForumGarden

Work & Employment - ForumGarden

The question is more likely to be whether politics should intrude into existing threads in non-political areas like General Chat.

Spot, you know if I put this in the polls area, less people that are having a problem with all this political stuff would see it. I believed it appropriate since all this strife is generalized in the General Chit Chat area of the forum. Yes there are lots of areas that politics could be discussed in, but I was talking specifically about the area labeled "Politics"...but you already know this.

I never asked for a split of a thread, maybe we in the chit chat area just need to tell the people that get off topic that they are off topic or should go to the political section if they want to change the thread into a political one. This would save you mods from having to mess with all the splitting and moderating for splits.

I believe your last statement has the same basic intention as mine, it's just worded differently.

Post by **spot** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:38 pm

shelbell;1114497 wrote: I believe your last statement has the same basic intention as mine, it's just worded differently."The question is more likely to be whether politics should intrude into existing threads in non-political areas like General Chat"? That statement has no intention, it was intended to clarify the problem. If you want threads in General Chat or anywhere else not to go off topic then the only mechanism ForumGarden has is the Report Post button together with the "explain your problem in sufficient detail" text box. Starting an argument about topicality in the thread really seriously doesn't work, what it does is it distracts the thread into a downhill spiral of argument. If a thread goes off topic then ask for it to be split. The Moderators are, I guarantee you, not going to split it without being asked to by a member involved in the thread.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:44 pm

spot;1114469 wrote: Do you know, I might get a single-click bookmarks toolbar icon to clear down all the word games from that while ending up as a New Posts screen. I'll have a shot at it later.

Post me a copy when you're done - I'd use it every time.

shelbell · Post by **shelbell** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:39 pm

spot;1114510 wrote: "The question is more likely to be whether politics should intrude into existing threads in non-political areas like General Chat"? That statement has no intention, it was intended to clarify the problem. If you want threads in General Chat or anywhere else not to go off topic then the only mechanism ForumGarden has is the Report Post button together with the "explain your problem in sufficient detail" text box. Starting an argument about topicality in the thread really seriously doesn't work, what it does is it distracts the thread into a downhill spiral of argument. If a thread goes off topic then ask for it to be split. The Moderators are, I guarantee you, not going to split it without being asked to by a member involved in the thread.

I was just saying, since you said it wasn't an easy task to split a thread, was that we could ask the poster to not post politics in the chit chat threads or area. We could ask very nicely. You know me spot, I'd never start an argument.

:wah:

Post by **spot** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:06 am

People seem to think this is difficult to deal with or that it would take a lot of effort. It's nothing of the sort.

The Moderators don't enforce thread integrity. Keeping things on topic at ForumGarden is not in our brief. What we do is we react to Reported Posts. If someone's in a thread and thinks it's gone off topic they can ask for the non-topic material to be split out into a more appropriate forum area, with a more appropriate thread title, and that's quite likely what will happen if a Moderator looks and agrees the report is reasonable.

It won't take many such splits for the rest of the posters, especially the ones who've been going off topic, to get the message and tighten up their topicality. It's not a matter of having a 24 hour moderator schedule, it's more a matter of maybe half a dozen thread splits over the course of a week.

Arguing about it in the thread itself doesn't work. The argument becomes the only thread topic at that point.

Moderating from the top to enforce thread topicality doesn't work, it just gives everyone a highly moderated environment. ForumGarden has as little moderation as possible, the responsibility for being polite and interesting and accommodating lies entirely with the members. What does work is splitting threads on request from any member who would prefer a thread to stay on topic. Why is this hard to grasp?

"Who thinks political threads should stay in the political section" isn't the point either, everyone thinks political threads should stay in the political section, the point is how to get it to happen. Saying Don't Do It is a very short-term fix just as it is for off-topic posts, effectively it's the same problem. Deleting off-topic posts is extreme. Handing out infractions for off-topic posts is heavy moderation. Just once splitting a thread into two topic streams or moving an entire off-topic thread into a more appropriate forum area when requested, with a note saying it's been done and where it went, is enough to make the message clear to everyone, it needn't happen often.

The trigger for doing it is pressing the Report Post icon.

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:50 am

I'd rather see the political stuff in the political section. It's getting a bit tiring. Now that the election is over, we can get back to having fun hopefully.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:59 am

I cant commit one way or the other right now.

I need time to think.

Post by **spot** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:01 am

Nomad;1115053 wrote: I cant commit one way or the other right now.

I need time to think.

What with?

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:10 am

spot;1115055 wrote: What with?

his magic 8 ball.

shelbell · Post by **shelbell** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:10 am

spot;1114970 wrote: People seem to think this is difficult to deal with or that it would take a lot of effort. It's nothing of the sort.

The Moderators don't enforce thread integrity. Keeping things on topic at ForumGarden is not in our brief. What we do is we react to Reported Posts. If someone's in a thread and thinks it's gone off topic they can ask for the non-topic material to be split out into a more appropriate forum area, with a more appropriate thread title, and that's quite likely what will happen if a Moderator looks and agrees the report is reasonable.

It won't take many such splits for the rest of the posters, especially the ones who've been going off topic, to get the message and tighten up their topicality. It's not a matter of having a 24 hour moderator schedule, it's more a matter of maybe half a dozen thread splits over the course of a week.

Arguing about it in the thread itself doesn't work. The argument becomes the only thread topic at that point.

Moderating from the top to enforce thread topicality doesn't work, it just gives everyone a highly moderated environment. ForumGarden has as little moderation as possible, the responsibility for being polite and interesting and accommodating lies entirely with the members. What does work is splitting threads on request from any member who would prefer a thread to stay on topic. Why is this hard to grasp?

"Who thinks political threads should stay in the political section" isn't the point either, everyone thinks political threads should stay in the political section, the point is how to get it to happen. Saying Don't Do It is a very short-term fix just as it is for off-topic posts, effectively it's the same problem. Deleting off-topic posts is extreme. Handing out infractions for off-topic posts is heavy moderation. Just once splitting a thread into two topic streams or moving an entire off-topic thread into a more appropriate forum area when requested, with a note saying it's been done and where it went, is enough to make the message clear to everyone, it needn't happen often.

The trigger for doing it is pressing the Report Post icon.

Thanks spot for working on this with much understanding, and for your very complete explanations of the processes.

shelbell · Post by **shelbell** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:03 am

jimbo;1115049 wrote: this thread is political correctnes gone mad

:p:p:p