11 months without politics (1 Viewer)

[quick-hands]

FBGs took a huge swing a year ago. I find the place, mort. I shouldn't care but I spent 20+ years getting the best discussions. I might look once a week a year ago 3x a day.

thoughts?

 

[mr. furley]

lock it up

 

[Jayrod]

I'm on record as missing the PF even though I wasn't a frequent contributor. It was the one place in the world where I could get honest discussion with people outside of my bubble. I have yet to find an adequate replacement.

That said, FBG forums are decidedly better without it. I just think the struggle was worth the value but the powers that be believed otherwise.

 

[Sullie]

It has to stop. This country was much better when we got ticked off once every 2 or 4 years, getting it off our chest and then moving on with our lives. Now I'm a heartless piece of crap if I'm not on your team. The 10-20% of the fringe are dividing the 80% of us in the middle. I'm tired of politics, I'm glad it's gone.

 

[belljr]

Mort?

 

[fruity pebbles]

Mort?

Dead

 

[Scoresman]

I’d say the politics forum is definitely dead. No one’s posted in it for 11 months.

The FFA? It’s thriving.

 

[fruity pebbles]

When pertinent topics come up I do miss the initial dialogue. Sadly, most threads ended up in the exact same place.

 

[dkp993]

Still don’t understand how a specific forum made the whole place worse or how it is better now for any users who didn’t like it. If you didn’t like it just don’t go in there, it’s easy to avoid . Just doesn't make sense to me.

Now from Joe’s or a moderator perspective, well that’s completely different as they had to deal with any of the downsides that came with it.

It’s gone and never coming back, but like some others here I do miss it. While the slap flighting was constant and annoying, There was also a lot of really good information and thought provoking posts.

 

[Caveman33]

I said No for myself, but maybe Yes is correct for FBG. I viewed the PF as a separate forum. Occasionally I read articles and I think, oh I wonder what the PF is saying about this. Now, that is gone. Oh, well. Maybe there is less spillover political emotion in the FFA? It's fine for FBG.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I’d say the politics forum is definitely dead. No one’s posted in it for 11 months.

I find that odd. Has anyone mentioned it yet?

 

[eoMMan]

Now we just need people to post in the DFS forum.

 

[Keerock]

Never went in there… but I’d argue that any place is better without politics being discussed these days.

 

[3C's]

If only the "real world" could go 11 months without politics.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Still don’t understand how a specific forum made the whole place worse or how it is better now for any users who didn’t like it. If you didn’t like it just don’t go in there, it’s easy to avoid . Just doesn't make sense to me.

Now from Joe’s or a moderator perspective, well that’s completely different as they had to deal with any of the downsides that came with it.

It’s gone and never coming back, but like some others here I do miss it. While the slap flighting was constant and annoying, There was also a lot of really good information and thought provoking posts.

This is kind of where I'm at. The PSF is definitely not coming back. Killing it was one of the best things we've done.

BUT, I enjoyed it from time to time and it positively had upsides. As others noted, there was some bright spots of good discussion.

On balance though, the negatives of snark and fighting and uncoolness to each other (much of which would be deleted regularly by moderators) far outweighed the good.

I fully get some people think that makes the forums less or "boring" or whatever.

This is just another example of how we try to operate: I've no idea if this is for sure the right way. But it's how we're going to try and do it.

On the plus side, the FFA seems better than ever. Thank y'all.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I've no idea if this is for sure the right way

Oh, it was the right way. The snarkiness from the PSF bled over into the other forums, with folks who had "discussions" with each other in the PSF carrying it over to the FFA in veiled (& not-so-veiled) comments.

Good riddance. You & the mods gave us a bazillion chances to act better and we didn't.

 

[zamboni]

Too bad the PSF couldn’t follow the lead of the music threads here. IMO the music crowd here has always been the high water mark of interaction. A bunch of good natured folks that respectfully discuss their passion.

 

[Osaurus]

Test Forum stats have never been better

 

[pecorino]

I don't think the solution is running away from the problem. I admire Joe and respect his decision. Must have been a bear to moderate. But I think discourse is critical to even have a chance to find common ground. Maybe tighter reins, maybe more moderators, I don't know what the answer could have been. And, again, I trust that Joe and his team talked about this ad infinitum. Nonetheless, I miss the Political Forum and come to these forums much, much less often.

 

[ChiefD]

I'd love to be able to discuss politics and other topics about subjects that have a little meat on the bone. But people here have ruined good discussions over and over and over again with petty name calling and trolling and just general disrespect for each other.

And the sad part is most of us are older now and should at least have a level of decorum for each other and respect. We should know better.

 

[Jayrod]

Still don’t understand how a specific forum made the whole place worse or how it is better now for any users who didn’t like it. If you didn’t like it just don’t go in there, it’s easy to avoid . Just doesn't make sense to me.

Now from Joe’s or a moderator perspective, well that’s completely different as they had to deal with any of the downsides that came with it.

It’s gone and never coming back, but like some others here I do miss it. While the slap flighting was constant and annoying, There was also a lot of really good information and thought provoking posts.

This is kind of where I'm at. The PSF is definitely not coming back. Killing it was one of the best things we've done.

BUT, I enjoyed it from time to time and it positively had upsides. As others noted, there was some bright spots of good discussion.

On balance though, the negatives of snark and fighting and uncoolness to each other (much of which would be deleted regularly by moderators) far outweighed the good.

I fully get some people think that makes the forums less or "boring" or whatever.

This is just another example of how we try to operate: I've no idea if this is for sure the right way. But it's how we're going to try and do it.

On the plus side, the FFA seems better than ever. Thank y'all.

I just want to publicly say I think you do a fantastic job with this place and appreciate you, Joe.

I miss the PF, but totally understand your reasons and respect them.

 

[Keerock]

I'd love to be able to discuss politics and other topics about subjects that have a little meat on the bone. But people here have ruined good discussions over and over and over again with petty name calling and trolling and just general disrespect for each other.

And the sad part is most of us are older now and should at least have a level of decorum for each other and respect. We should know better.

Again, GB, it's not just here. Our society has turned overly political/defensive/argumentative/entitled. But I digress...

 

[Anarchy99]

I miss the PF, but I realize this isn’t a daycare center and the staff got tired of putting people in timeouts.

 

[Don Quixote]

Overall it is better, so voted yes. Do miss pockets every now again though. E.g., I enjoyed the foreign elections thread that I started there (and it avoided the stuff that infected the domestic politics threads) — I have not really found a substitute place to nerd out over something like the upcoming election in Liberia.

 

[pollardsvision]

Not sure if it's the lack of PF, or maybe just that it's not a national election year, but I've barely thought about politics this year.

And it's absolutely awesome.

 

[Zow]

I championed the politics forum throughout its existence so, naturally, I voted FBG is not better without it. I really appreciated that it was separate and, I know to some this sounds crazy, but it's where I got my "news." I also thought amongst the inevitable dreck and blinding partisanship by some on both sides, there was some genuinely positive discourse in there to be found provided one could ignore said dreck. So, as I think on it now, I'm way less interested in politics but, frankly, I'm not terribly bummed about that. So, for me personally, the shut down probably had a slightly negative effect on my life but honestly it's been not a big deal at all and I still frequent the board plenty as I have now for 18 years.

To be completely clear, while I liked the politics forum I wholly recognize moderating that thing had to have been a nightmare and, since this is a private board run by a private business, I take zero issues with FBG's decision to shut it down and support their choice to do so even if I personally don't like the decision for selfish reasons.

 

[Bossman]

Mort?

Dead

that is both cringe and sus.

 

[Gatorman]

Still don’t understand how a specific forum made the whole place worse or how it is better now for any users who didn’t like it. If you didn’t like it just don’t go in there, it’s easy to avoid . Just doesn't make sense to me.

Now from Joe’s or a moderator perspective, well that’s completely different as they had to deal with any of the downsides that came with it.

It’s gone and never coming back, but like some others here I do miss it. While the slap flighting was constant and annoying, There was also a lot of really good information and thought provoking posts.

This is kind of where I'm at. The PSF is definitely not coming back. Killing it was one of the best things we've done.

BUT, I enjoyed it from time to time and it positively had upsides. As others noted, there was some bright spots of good discussion.

On balance though, the negatives of snark and fighting and uncoolness to each other (much of which would be deleted regularly by moderators) far outweighed the good.

I fully get some people think that makes the forums less or "boring" or whatever.

This is just another example of how we try to operate: I've no idea if this is for sure the right way. But it's how we're going to try and do it.

On the plus side, the FFA seems better than ever. Thank y'all.

Well, as someone who has been here from the start, I think that shutting it down was likely a good idea. I miss it, but I understand.

This message board doesn't have certain things: Cursing, disrespect, and bickering. It does have drama, trolls, and lively discussions about a bunch of topics. As politics became more polarizing, the amount of "negativity" vs "discussion" changed and there became too many "bomb throwers" and not enough "honest debate" (kind of like congress to be honest)

Finally, we reached a point that none of the discussion was going to change anyones mind about anything, and at that point why bother anymore.

 

[Gatorman]

I miss the PF, but I realize this isn’t a daycare center and the staff got tired of putting people in timeouts.

I disagree with this. The message boards have been a "daycare center" since their inception. :e: and a lot of the other places that arose as suppliments to this place were the kids sneaking out to smoke cigarettes

 

[Zow]

I'd love to be able to discuss politics and other topics about subjects that have a little meat on the bone. But people here have ruined good discussions over and over and over again with petty name calling and trolling and just general disrespect for each other.

And the sad part is most of us are older now and should at least have a level of decorum for each other and respect. We should know better.

Again, GB, it's not just here. Our society has turned overly political/defensive/argumentative/entitled. But I digress...

Keerock, respectfully, you stated just a few posts above this one that you never went into the politics forum. So, your sweeping generalization in bold is baseless and you simply lack the knowledge to make such a statement as you never visited. In essence, you're doing what you claim to dislike about political discussions.

The reality is that the politics forum had a significant amount of dreck but I found it to do a nice job of highlighting significant current events and there was genuinely good discourse to be found.

 

[Keerock]

I'd love to be able to discuss politics and other topics about subjects that have a little meat on the bone. But people here have ruined good discussions over and over and over again with petty name calling and trolling and just general disrespect for each other.

And the sad part is most of us are older now and should at least have a level of decorum for each other and respect. We should know better.

Again, GB, it's not just here. Our society has turned overly political/defensive/argumentative/entitled. But I digress...

Keerock, respectfully, you stated just a few posts above this one that you never went into the politics forum. So, your sweeping generalization in bold is baseless and you simply lack the knowledge to make such a statement as you never visited. In essence, you're doing what you claim to dislike about political discussions.

The reality is that the politics forum had a significant amount of dreck but I found it to do a nice job of highlighting significant current events and there was genuinely good discourse to be found.

Point taken. But to clarify... I stopped going there because of the dreck. And you're right, my apologies, it was a sweeping generalization... I'm sure there was some insightful discussion, just not worth it (to me) to sift through the rest of it.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Point taken. But to clarify... I stopped going there because of the dreck. And you're right, my apologies, it was a sweeping generalization... I'm sure there was some insightful discussion, just not worth it (to me) to sift through the rest of it.

Agreed. I don't think anyone ever denied there was some good there.

It just got to be like any situation, the good has to weigh against the bad. And the bad far outweighed the good. And that meant it had to go.

 

[Anarchy99]

I miss the PF, but I realize this isn’t a daycare center and the staff got tired of putting people in timeouts.

I disagree with this. The message boards have been a "daycare center" since their inception. :e: and a lot of the other places that arose as suppliments to this place were the kids sneaking out to smoke cigarettes

As someone that had to police the message boards here for years, the amount of attention that went into political posts was exponentially higher than the rest of the forums. And in an election year, the issues never stopped. Sure, skirmishes broke out in other threads, but nowhere near the same as political stuff. It only got worse after i stopped being a staff board monitor.

 

[timschochet]

I’m a political junkie so of course I miss it. But I can’t fault Joe and the powers that be for removing it.

I wasn’t posting here at the time the forum was removed, so I’d like to apologize if my posts there ever offended anyone. I was rude at times and didn’t intend to be. Lots of regret now for certain things I wrote. But I wish everyone whom I interacted with there well. Enjoy your lives and may good things happen to you always.

 

[Gatorman]

I miss the PF, but I realize this isn’t a daycare center and the staff got tired of putting people in timeouts.

I disagree with this. The message boards have been a "daycare center" since their inception. :e: and a lot of the other places that arose as suppliments to this place were the kids sneaking out to smoke cigarettes

As someone that had to police the message boards here for years, the amount of attention that went into political posts was exponentially higher than the rest of the forums. And in an election year, the issues never stopped. Sure, skirmishes broke out in other threads, but nowhere near the same as political stuff. It only got worse after i stopped being a staff board monitor.

Not aruging that point, good buddy. Just making light of the "daycare center" mention. It is still a daycare center, it just has less diapers that needed to be changed now...

 

[The Commish]

To be completely clear, while I liked the politics forum I wholly recognize moderating that thing had to have been a nightmare and, since this is a private board run by a private business, I take zero issues with FBG's decision to shut it down and support their choice to do so even if I personally don't like the decision for selfish reasons.

This is me...it is what it is and if we're being honest, given the direction things have gone since then it was only going to get worse. The "dunking" and "I told you so" posts alone would likely have consumed all remaining disk space on the servers.

 

[Zow]

I’m a political junkie so of course I miss it. But I can’t fault Joe and the powers that be for removing it.

I wasn’t posting here at the time the forum was removed, so I’d like to apologize if my posts there ever offended anyone. I was rude at times and didn’t intend to be. Lots of regret now for certain things I wrote. But I wish everyone whom I interacted with there well. Enjoy your lives and may good things happen to you always.

You're also a chess junkie. When is the next FBG tournament??

 

[Courtjester]

I don't miss the PF, but what I miss is coming on here to learn about breaking news events or natural disasters. It seems like when the PF went, we stopped talking about current events because (even in the FFA) people couldn't help themselves from going off on tangents.

I don't mean to sound like an old man (I am 54), but I remember 9/11 on here. I remember the OJ Verdict and hitting refresh, refresh to see what people thought. Neither one of those threads would fly on here today because you know if would spiral out of control. But I think it represents, as an earlier poster mentioned, the polarized nature and tribalism that continues to dominate our current society.

It is what it is. I don't really post anywhere else, so I still come here.

 

[timschochet]

I’m a political junkie so of course I miss it. But I can’t fault Joe and the powers that be for removing it.

I wasn’t posting here at the time the forum was removed, so I’d like to apologize if my posts there ever offended anyone. I was rude at times and didn’t intend to be. Lots of regret now for certain things I wrote. But I wish everyone whom I interacted with there well. Enjoy your lives and may good things happen to you always.

You're also a chess junkie. When is the next FBG tournament??

Very soon. Sorry just been really busy with other stuff

 

[Scoresman]

I dont know why you guys didnt just open a subreddit for your politics. It's so easy.

 

[massraider]

I know to some this sounds crazy, but it's where I got my "news."

I am sure this was true for some people. That's not good, IMO.

 

[Bogart]

I dont know why you guys didnt just open a subreddit for your politics. It's so easy.

There is a Discord that was started, but I gotta admit, Discord is the first "tech" that makes me feel like an old guy. A subreddit would be nice, but then I already spend too much time on Reddit.

 

[Zow]

I know to some this sounds crazy, but it's where I got my "news."

I am sure this was true for some people. That's not good, IMO.

Why?

There were links to multiple news sources contained in the forum as opposed to just going to a singular source. I see that as better than reading just some news source.

 

[dkp993]

I dont know why you guys didnt just open a subreddit for your politics. It's so easy.

We did, it’s on Discord. Its nothing like how it was here, but truth is is it’s actually an echo chamber over there vs what the PSF was constantly called. There are one or 2 dissenting voices over there but it’s not combative.

 

[Schmeabs]

Too bad the PSF couldn’t follow the lead of the music threads here. IMO the music crowd here has always been the high water mark of interaction. A bunch of good natured folks that respectfully discuss their passion.

I wish that would create a seperate forum for all the music threads. Way too many in the FFA.

 

[Scoresman]

I dont know why you guys didnt just open a subreddit for your politics. It's so easy.

We did, it’s on Discord. Its nothing like how it was here, but truth is is it’s actually an echo chamber over there vs what the PSF was constantly called. There are one or 2 dissenting voices over there but it’s not combative.

That's partially because discord is a chatroom, not a message board. Reddit would've been a much more comparable experience,

 

[Gr00vus]

After the 2020 Presidential election, I was completely burned out on politics. I made a conscious choice to remove politics from my life for the most part - just too much negative energy, stress, acrimony, etc. It wasn't a good use of my time and energy. I don't think the political subforum here was any worse in that regard than other politically oriented venues - but it wasn't any better either. Obviously my vote is that FBGs is better off without it. I too miss the non-partisan (or what should have been non-partisan) topics that would appear from time to time, you got some great info, opinion, ideas, exchanges in those. But those were definitely a small minority of the posts in that forum, and ultimately not worth all the garbage that came along with them.

 

[The Commish]

I dont know why you guys didnt just open a subreddit for your politics. It's so easy.

We did, it’s on Discord. Its nothing like how it was here, but truth is is it’s actually an echo chamber over there vs what the PSF was constantly called. There are one or 2 dissenting voices over there but it’s not combative.

Right....all were invited from all the different cliques. It became pretty clear who, from here, was really here to discuss and who was here to start trouble and So it's become pretty one-sided. Though, we'd have said the exact same thing here if things were handled the same as they are on discord.

Of course there, you keep it on topic and not the poster.

 

[Snotbubbles]

I'm on record as missing the PF even though I wasn't a frequent contributor. It was the one place in the world where I could get honest discussion with people outside of my bubble. I have yet to find an adequate replacement.

That said, FBG forums are decidedly better without it. I just think the struggle was worth the value but the powers that be believed otherwise.

I would have really liked to discuss some of the more important Supreme Court decisions that were handed down this last session.

I don't find FGB forums better or worse. They are the same as they've always been, just without the PSF.

I miss political posts from people like @IvanKaramazov who had a way about his posts that made me internally reflect. Heck, I even miss posts from @timschochet. We didn't always agree, but we were civil and respectful with each other.

 

[dkp993]

I dont know why you guys didnt just open a subreddit for your politics. It's so easy.

We did, it’s on Discord. Its nothing like how it was here, but truth is is it’s actually an echo chamber over there vs what the PSF was constantly called. There are one or 2 dissenting voices over there but it’s not combative.

That's partially because discord is a chatroom, not a message board. Reddit would've been a much more comparable experience,

Not sure I understand how that makes the interactions different?