Political Forum Closed (1 Viewer)

[jon_mx]

The current division between the two sides are too great. We no longer share the same ideals on the foundation of this country. The dichotomy between those who value equal treatment/equal opportunity and those who value equal outcomes is irreconcilable. Our society has deteriorated to the point where:

- it is impossible for a conservative to get hired in the vast majority of departments at major universities and many major news organizations.
- Conservatives can not speak, assemble and protest without an effort to be labeled extremist, face counterprotestors or even be threatened with criminal investigation/prosecution.
- Online censorship is politically coordinated to suppress conservative ideas by the tech giants and government entities.
- Conservatives are not even allowed to defend their person or property from mob attacks, rioters, robbers, looters.

Of course to suggest this makes me a loony conspiracy nut, a whiner, or whetever the flavor of bigot of the day happens to be.

The self-proclaimed moderates refuse to acknowledge or are in denial of these facts which all conservatives experience routinely. The spin, the censorship, and the indoctrination has taken its toll over the years. The masses are convinced they are believers in truth and science, but the reality is they are believers in authority. Science is dead. There is no longer any room for dissent which is and always has been the fuel which advances science and understanding. Now dissent is labeled misinformation and exterminated.

The solution is to regain these common values of equal treatment and real freedom of speech where all ideas are freely discussed. This forum is just a small representatatuin of what is going on in this country.

 

[massraider]

I am a member of another forum that made this same decision and it ruined the off topic forum.

They have active moderation, but the political trolls were relentless.

If this happens here I hope you will open back up the political forum.


Adding the site where you can see there rules, however if you read the threads the political people ruin many topics.

https://www.thehulltruth.com/dockside-chat/918944-reminder-about-political-posts-corona-threads-moderation-issues-deleted-posts.html

It's not a lot of people in the PSF at this point.

FBG can bounce the one wo only wanna talk politcs, they aren't in the FFA anyway.

 

[Zegras11]

FAA hardly ever gets a political post.

There used to be lots of political posts in the FFA before they created the PSF.

It will be fun, however, to see the extra work

it will be 1/10,000th the work they were doing. FAA hardly ever gets a political post.

Well, it did prior to the political forum. Hence why FBG started the political forum in the first place (which I thought was a great idea - kind of just stuck us in our own corner).

I obviously was not talking about that time. I doubt if hardly gets a few now as people rarely post political there and Joe just posted a pinned warning.

 

[pecorino]

Thanks for doing this. I felt that the PSF has been a net negative for a few years now. A touch of sadness since I welcome critical discourse, but kudos for keeping it together this long.

 

[knowledge dropper]

Smart business decision. A handful of people use the PSF to bully people that don’t think like them, have run off customers and tainted the overall brand.

 

[Zow]

I obviously was not talking about that time. I doubt if hardly gets a few now as people rarely post political there and Joe just posted a pinned warning.

Respectfully, it wasn't obvious to me that you weren't.

 

[The Commish]

Smart decision, Joe.

I know politics are interesting and a hobby for many, but given the division in our society right now, it's not the best use of our time and energy.

In my view it’s more important than ever for people to be talking about politics.

I agree...problem is, the PSF was 90% talking about other people. For some, it was ALL they talked about. Then there were those who absolutely INSISTED the options were either "a" or "b" and pigeonholed people into one or the other....it was doomed from the beginning. There are WAY more than two "sides" in politics.

 

[beer 30]

Just thinking about the work that @themeistersinger put into the Russia Invading Ukraine thread. Hard loss there, I went to that thread everyday.

Hat tip to you sir

 

[quick-hands]

It is Joe's business. I agree, he can do as he wishes. Just staying an opinion as to where it feels like a person who is on , say, Twitter, and basically gets told to stop talking about something. That's not happened to me so perhaps I misread the room. And, it IS Joe's so, yes, he may do as he wishes if he doesn't want to see it. It is all fine.

But it is also Joe's business in the sense of there might be losses of viewership because of this. I am sure he is aware and weighed it out but I think there may be a number of frequent posters here who are drawn and stay on the site for good periods of time because of this very forum. Just a thought.

Thanks. I'm sure there will be some negative impact on the business in not having the Political Forum. I don't know how many, but I know some people buy a premium subscription just as a way to "donate" to the forums. So I'm guessing there is something there. On the other hand, often people who get suspended say they'll never purchase a subscription again so in some ways having a forum can cost business.

All in all, it was something we factored but not in a huge way.

I'm one of those guys. but hey we will see how it goes. I better win my leagues tho

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

. I doubt if hardly gets a few now as people rarely post political there and Joe just posted a pinned warning.

I guess we’ll see but I’m skeptical. There’s a national election in less than two weeks. It’ll be the lead story in every newspaper, website and news program of the country. People are going to want to talk about it.

 

[Zow]

. I doubt if hardly gets a few now as people rarely post political there and Joe just posted a pinned warning.

I guess we’ll see but I’m skeptical. There’s a national election in less than two weeks. It’ll be the lead story in every newspaper, website and news program of the country. People are going to want to talk about it.

Right. And there's a big conflict right now going on between Ukraine and Russia. Obviously should that expand to where other countries get formally involved that's huge news.

And, frankly, we have a recently former president under investigation for seemingly committing some pretty serious offenses. Should he get charged with a crime or crimes that's massive news. I don't know how the FFA remains completely without some mention of such possibly historic event.

 

[Zegras11]

. I doubt if hardly gets a few now as people rarely post political there and Joe just posted a pinned warning.

I guess we’ll see but I’m skeptical. There’s a national election in less than two weeks. It’ll be the lead story in every newspaper, website and news program of the country. People are going to want to talk about it.

I guess there will be a few that can't help themselves. Can't see it being an issue with the posted warnings.

 

[Capella]

Just thinking about the work that @themeistersinger put into the Russia Invading Ukraine thread. Hard loss there, I went to that thread everyday.

Hat tip to you sir

There is a Ukraine/Russia thread in the FFA. Hopefully he keeps posting all that great info there. It’s been a good thread so far, as was the one in the PSF.

 

[ZADO]

Excellent.

You guys did more than you should have in keeping it operational. There are many sites where it's no politics, ever. At the end of it all, you are businessmen running a fantasy site for profit, who needs the headache?

Keep it closed, the trolls will find somewhere else to be miserable.

Don`t ever change , keep on keeping on MR

 

[Zow]

Smart decision, Joe.

I know politics are interesting and a hobby for many, but given the division in our society right now, it's not the best use of our time and energy.

In my view it’s more important than ever for people to be talking about politics.

I agree...problem is, the PSF was 90% talking about other people. For some, it was ALL they talked about. Then there were those who absolutely INSISTED the options were either "a" or "b" and pigeonholed people into one or the other....it was doomed from the beginning. There are WAY more than two "sides" in politics.

I agree. I also very much wish they didn't do that as it appears to have now ruined it for all of us.

But, I get the decision from the FBG brass. I'm assuming it was just way too much work (and therefore sunk cost) to try to micromanage these posters and spend time debating whether to sanction them or whatever.

 

[Zow]

Just thinking about the work that @themeistersinger put into the Russia Invading Ukraine thread. Hard loss there, I went to that thread everyday.

Hat tip to you sir

There is a Ukraine/Russia thread in the FFA. Hopefully he keeps posting all they great info there. It’s been a good thread so far, as was the one in the PSF.

Well, if I am interpreting Joe's answer to my question asked early on in this thread, that thread seems to be in significant danger of getting axed (as the USA's involvement is likely going to be discussed and therefore Biden likely and naturally gets mentioned).

 

[Captain Cranks]

Eh, I disagree. I found it beneficial to discuss politics in a medium such as this (where people can be more open) so I could experience a clear understanding of why people view issues differently than I do. I find in real life, people mostly will just smile and nod and not openly disagree with something out of sheer politeness. While that leads to more pleasant interactions, it does not enhance discourse in a time where our country is seemingly more socially and politically divided than past decades.

As Joe laid out in the OP, the bad outweighs the good. Things have become too tribal, likely because we're being fed two different worldviews by our media. While we're desperate to have the other side understand our point of view, they're not listening because they're too busy trying to do the same. It would be one thing if we saw some improvement in communication and understanding over the last few years. Unfortunately, things are only getting worse which is why Joe is pulling the plug.

On the off-chance that this forum ever comes back, we should all ask ourselves 'what could I do better next time?' Spitting one-sided vitriol at each other isn't the answer.

 

[Capella]

Just thinking about the work that @themeistersinger put into the Russia Invading Ukraine thread. Hard loss there, I went to that thread everyday.

Hat tip to you sir

There is a Ukraine/Russia thread in the FFA. Hopefully he keeps posting all they great info there. It’s been a good thread so far, as was the one in the PSF.

Well, if I am interpreting Joe's answer to my question asked early on in this thread, that thread seems to be in significant danger of getting axed (as the USA's involvement is likely going to be discussed and therefore Biden likely and naturally gets mentioned).

Hmm. Well, maybe. Had not considered that. Seems more like a world news event than a political topic but jmo.

 

[Zow]

Just thinking about the work that @themeistersinger put into the Russia Invading Ukraine thread. Hard loss there, I went to that thread everyday.

Hat tip to you sir

There is a Ukraine/Russia thread in the FFA. Hopefully he keeps posting all they great info there. It’s been a good thread so far, as was the one in the PSF.

Well, if I am interpreting Joe's answer to my question asked early on in this thread, that thread seems to be in significant danger of getting axed (as the USA's involvement is likely going to be discussed and therefore Biden likely and naturally gets mentioned).

Hmm. Well, maybe. Had not considered that. Seems more like a world news event than a political topic but jmo.

I agree. But I can see the issues getting blurred - or, more so, a neutral current event naturally turning into a political discussion (e.g. whether the USA should get involved, whether the current admin is handling it correctly, etc.). Hence my early query.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Well, if I am interpreting Joe's answer to my question asked early on in this thread, that thread seems to be in significant danger of getting axed (as the USA's involvement is likely going to be discussed and therefore Biden likely and naturally gets mentioned).

We'll see. We definitely do not want election stuff discussed there as that's totally political. Of course it's big news but we've proven we're unable to handle it. So we don't want that in the FFA.

For something like the Ukraine thread, that's close. We'll see how it goes. If it starts to lean more toward the PSF style, it will be cut.

 

[beer 30]

Hmm. Well, maybe. Had not considered that. Seems more like a world news event than a political topic but jmo.

Yea a rational person would say that. I think we all can agree that "rational" was sometimes sorely lacking in the PSF. That thread did a good job of just representing what was going on in the war but there was the occasional political post that would garner some attention before it got back on track.

 

[General Malaise]

Looks like the bad guys won (just stating my opinion, folks). There are people who didn't want a politics forum created or politics discussed anywhere on any of these forums (don't know how they cope in real life, but I digress).

This "solution" is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Instead of suspending or permabanning those who trolled multiple threads on a daily basis, the response is to shut down the forum and punish everyone, instead of the troublemakers.

And course this won't actually eliminate all discussion of politics, which can bleed into the discussion of almost any subject. It will be fun, however, to see the extra work for the mods as they play Whac-A-Mole trying to keep politics out of threads.

RE: "Looks like the bad guys won".

We survived just fine before the Political Forum, we'll survive just fine without it. Well, I will. Not sure how some will function without it. But the bad guys won? That's a little extreme. I have been vocal on more than one occasion that I think it needed to go, so I'm glad it's gone. It just made us meaner to each other.

As far as how people cope in real life, I try not to talk politics with people I don't know very well in real life. Or religion. What somebody chooses to believe is personal and why anybody would care what I believe or think is beyond me. I'm not running for office, so why should I blather on about what my political views are to other people? It's a turn off.

I don't think anybody is being punished. Again, I find that characterization to be extreme. There is absolutely nothing from stopping you from opening your own message board with your own money and talk politics there. You get to participate on this website free of charge. If the owner wants to halt the discussion of politics that's perfectly fine by me. To be frank, I think the forum should have been shut down years ago when it was VERY CLEAR that nobody was changing the mind of anybody on the other side, it just became an exercise in tribalism and antagonizing the other side.

And it pains me that we have to say "OTHER SIDE" now. Thanks Political Forum. I am old enough to remember a time here where there wasn't OTHER SIDE tribalism; we were just dorks on a fantasy football message board who tended to get along just fine. Sure, there were occasional flareups and flame wars (guilt as charged) but I don't think it was anywhere close to the steady drip of acrimony and caustic insults that were a daily feature of the Political Forum. I don't see the same angst in the Shark Pool, do you?

Do you really think it'll "fun" to see the extra work for the mods? I don't. And I don't think Joe & Co had ANY fun trying to moderate the political forum. I think it was a frustrating, agonizing, tiresome, seemingly endless exercise in futility. I think it'll be far easier and less stressful to moderate the boards with the edict that no politics be discussed. Why? Because now they aren't coming across as 'TAKING SIDES' in their moderation. And that, I'm positive, was a huge reason in shutting it down.

My 2 cents

 

[Witz]

Rumor has it Elon is thinking about buying Footballguys.com next - say it ain’t so!

Understand and respect why this decision was made. Now about the reason this thread was put into the ‘Looking for Leagues’ sub-forum…aren’t those people suffering enough?

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Thanks for doing this

 

[Zow]

Looks like the bad guys won (just stating my opinion, folks). There are people who didn't want a politics forum created or politics discussed anywhere on any of these forums (don't know how they cope in real life, but I digress).

This "solution" is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Instead of suspending or permabanning those who trolled multiple threads on a daily basis, the response is to shut down the forum and punish everyone, instead of the troublemakers.

And course this won't actually eliminate all discussion of politics, which can bleed into the discussion of almost any subject. It will be fun, however, to see the extra work for the mods as they play Whac-A-Mole trying to keep politics out of threads.

RE: "Looks like the bad guys won".

We survived just fine before the Political Forum, we'll survive just fine without it. Well, I will. Not sure how some will function without it. But the bad guys won? That's a little extreme. I have been vocal on more than one occasion that I think it needed to go, so I'm glad it's gone. It just made us meaner to each other.

As far as how people cope in real life, I try not to talk politics with people I don't know very well in real life. Or religion. What somebody chooses to believe is personal and why anybody would care what I believe or think is beyond me. I'm not running for office, so why should I blather on about what my political views are to other people? It's a turn off.

I don't think anybody is being punished. Again, I find that characterization to be extreme. There is absolutely nothing from stopping you from opening your own message board with your own money and talk politics there. You get to participate on this website free of charge. If the owner wants to halt the discussion of politics that's perfectly fine by me. To be frank, I think the forum should have been shut down years ago when it was VERY CLEAR that nobody was changing the mind of anybody on the other side, it just became an exercise in tribalism and antagonizing the other side.

And it pains me that we have to say "OTHER SIDE" now. Thanks Political Forum. I am old enough to remember a time here where there wasn't OTHER SIDE tribalism; we were just dorks on a fantasy football message board who tended to get along just fine. Sure, there were occasional flareups and flame wars (guilt as charged) but I don't think it was anywhere close to the steady drip of acrimony and caustic insults that were a daily feature of the Political Forum. I don't see the same angst in the Shark Pool, do you?

Do you really think it'll "fun" to see the extra work for the mods? I don't. And I don't think Joe & Co had ANY fun trying to moderate the political forum. I think it was a frustrating, agonizing, tiresome, seemingly endless exercise in futility. I think it'll be far easier and less stressful to moderate the boards with the edict that no politics be discussed. Why? Because now they aren't coming across as 'TAKING SIDES' in their moderation. And that, I'm positive, was a huge reason in shutting it down.

My 2 cents

Probably not since the days of Tatum Bell.

 

[bigbottom]

We had countless opportunities to be civil. We had countless opportunities to be excellent. We had countless opportunities to be better. As a collective, we squandered those opportunities. Joe is a nice guy who wants his legacy to be a positive one in the world. I’m sure the vitriol, acrimony and ugliness of the PSF weighed on him. Let’s now all do our best to protect the FFA and what it means to the folks who post here.

 

[Capella]

Hmm. Well, maybe. Had not considered that. Seems more like a world news event than a political topic but jmo.

Yea a rational person would say that. I think we all can agree that "rational" was sometimes sorely lacking in the PSF. That thread did a good job of just representing what was going on in the war but there was the occasional political post that would garner some attention before it got back on track.

Yea imo it was easily the best thread in the history of that forum. Always really good info there.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Rumor has it Elon is thinking about buying Footballguys.com next - say it ain’t so!

If you see Joe driving around in a new Tesla you will have your answer.

 

[Scoresman]

Cant you guys go find some random empty forum, all create accounts there and go to town?

Does it matter what the url is?

Hell, create a subreddit. self mod yourselves however you see fit.

 

[bigbottom]

Just thinking about the work that @themeistersinger put into the Russia Invading Ukraine thread. Hard loss there, I went to that thread everyday.

Hat tip to you sir

There is a Ukraine/Russia thread in the FFA. Hopefully he keeps posting all they great info there. It’s been a good thread so far, as was the one in the PSF.

Well, if I am interpreting Joe's answer to my question asked early on in this thread, that thread seems to be in significant danger of getting axed (as the USA's involvement is likely going to be discussed and therefore Biden likely and naturally gets mentioned).

Hmm. Well, maybe. Had not considered that. Seems more like a world news event than a political topic but jmo.

I agree. But I can see the issues getting blurred - or, more so, a neutral current event naturally turning into a political discussion (e.g. whether the USA should get involved, whether the current admin is handling it correctly, etc.). Hence my early query.

I don’t see why it’s so hard. If a topic is something someone would have started in the PSF, don’t start it in the FFA. If the post is one that someone would have reserved to the PSF, don’t post it. The FFA has been working just fine - just keep using the same approach to the FFA that you have been.

 

[Captain Cranks]

Cant you guys go find some random empty forum, all create accounts there and go to town?

Does it matter what the url is?

Hell, create a subreddit. self mod yourselves however you see fit.

Hmmm. The FBG Politics and Yoga Pants subforum. I like it.

 

[MTskibum]

Well, if I am interpreting Joe's answer to my question asked early on in this thread, that thread seems to be in significant danger of getting axed (as the USA's involvement is likely going to be discussed and therefore Biden likely and naturally gets mentioned).

We'll see. We definitely do not want election stuff discussed there as that's totally political. Of course it's big news but we've proven we're unable to handle it. So we don't want that in the FFA.

For something like the Ukraine thread, that's close. We'll see how it goes. If it starts to lean more toward the PSF style, it will be cut.

There are lots of topics that are grey areas that will seep across into the FFA.

This forum has multiple active mods and has an active no politics policy, however over the years the grey area became larger and larger and now 1/4 of the threads there are grey area topics like inflation, ukraine, corona however the posters in those threads are all political hacks.

So even though those topics can be discussed apolotically, that is not what goes on.

Just an FYI.

https://www.thehulltruth.com/dockside-chat/918944-reminder-about-political-posts-corona-threads-moderation-issues-deleted-posts.html

 

[Hoh]

So instead of my morning routine of coffee and outrage, I’m going to have to settle for just coffee?? Gee whiz…

But sincerely if this lowers your blood pressure and reduces your overall stress, I support it. Life is short, sir.

 

[jamny]

Really bummed about this. I got a lot from the variety of opinions here. Many times, a different view had me doing more research to confirm or change my own thoughts on an issue. I admit that my opinions come from a slanted right wing media so I considered the PSF as a counter to that. And on many other occasions, I learned about things that I had no idea about.
Both sides had their abusers and it's unfortunate that they have prevailed in bringing an end to the forum.
But thanks to Joe and all involved for providing us with this resource for so many years. Your house, your rules.

 

[GordonGekko]

Just wanted to say I see your reasons but I also think it is a slap in the face of free speech and seems a bit like censorship-like silencing.

As the person who has posted the most prolifically ( people can decide if that's good or bad for themselves in private) in terms of practical political content in the PSF for the past two years, I believe it's a good thing that it's gone and I have always maintained, over all this time and for countless years, that the PSF is a net negative for Footballguys as a business and brand. Talking about politics is just bad business. Even if the PSF was entirely civil, and it wasn't, it still creates risk for people here just trying to earn a living and put food on the table for their children.

I fully believe that @Joe Bryant 's unspoken hopes for the PSF was a "Grantland" style hub for practical high level complex political discussion.

If it was up to me, and it's not, if I were in Joe's shoes, I would delete every last post and every last thread in the PSF's entire history and wipe it from the map completely. I say this as someone who has started more thread topics there and generated the most content volume compared to anyone else in the past year.

I said something in 2006 and it's always been true - If people don't like what you are giving them, then give them nothing instead, see how they like that better.

People were given an opportunity to help create that "Grantland" style type of environment and level of discourse. Many wasted it, abused it and took it for granted. Now that wasn't everyone, but you don't need more than a few people pissing and taking a dump in the community swimming pool to turn it into a toilet. This is where the trope, "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things Here" come from....

The right thing to do is to thank Joe Bryant for creating the opportunity that was presented. If it's gone now, it's gone. Nothing lasts forever. He has to do what's right for his entire business, not just the PSF. I sincerely hope the PSF never comes back. I do hope that @David Dodds , @Henry Ford, @SaintsInDome2006 and @IvanKaramazov , all good contributors and an established part of this community, sees this as a good opportunity to return to the FFA and feel welcomed there.

For a majority of the PSF's total run, I just wasn't here on the forums. For the time I've been back, I thank @Joe Bryant for the platform, access, community and opportunity to discuss practical current politics while it was open. The PSF was obviously, as he's noted in public, creating stress for him and hardship, so for his sake and for the good of the ENTIRE community, my viewpoint will remain that the best response is to say Thanks and then just move on and never talk politics here ever again.

Again, I hope the PSF never returns and I hope all it's threads, topics, content ( and Yes, even all mine too) and the entire section gets deleted and nuked from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

We had countless opportunities to be civil. We had countless opportunities to be excellent. We had countless opportunities to be better. As a collective, we squandered those opportunities. Joe is a nice guy who wants his legacy to be a positive one in the world. I’m sure the vitriol, acrimony and ugliness of the PSF weighed on him. Let’s now all do our best to protect the FFA and what it means to the folks who post here.

The unfortunately thing is there was a minority of posters (on both sides) that really did a great job of following the bolded. When they dominated a thread, it was a breath of fresh air to read reasoned, polite discourse. Unfortunately, it was decidedly a minority. Thus a lot of threads, even if they started out with this admirable group of posters, would eventually devolve into the poo flinging that one can find everywhere else on the internet. I understand why the decision was made by our esteemed hosts, but it still makes me a bit sad.

 

[Scoresman]

Cant you guys go find some random empty forum, all create accounts there and go to town?

Does it matter what the url is?

Hell, create a subreddit. self mod yourselves however you see fit.

Hmmm. The FBG Politics and Yoga Pants subforum. I like it.

Call it the anti-FBG forums. Political threads, whose hottest, ability to post pics/videos, laughing emojis

It could be named :e:

 

[Uruk-Hai]

We had countless opportunities to be civil. We had countless opportunities to be excellent. We had countless opportunities to be better. As a collective, we squandered those opportunities. Joe is a nice guy who wants his legacy to be a positive one in the world. I’m sure the vitriol, acrimony and ugliness of the PSF weighed on him. Let’s now all do our best to protect the FFA and what it means to the folks who post here.

Yep.

Hell, Joe would start actual threads every few months asking us to be better to each other. Anyone who couldn't see the writing on the wall didn't want to see it.

For me, the best thing FBGs ever did on these forums was start the PSF.

For them as moderators, the best thing they ever did was today.

I think newsworthy posts that aren't overtly political (say, a natural disaster or the Ukraine/Russia topic) can work fine in the FFA.

It's a shame because, while I stayed away from the PSF for the most part (for exactly the reasons it's been nuked), the 2020 main election thread was fantastic for following a very close POTUS race in real time as votes were tallied. At least, it helped me a lot in understanding what was going on. But that was one thread amongst 100s that sucked because of us.

We did this to ourselves.

 

[MTskibum]

We had countless opportunities to be civil. We had countless opportunities to be excellent. We had countless opportunities to be better. As a collective, we squandered those opportunities. Joe is a nice guy who wants his legacy to be a positive one in the world. I’m sure the vitriol, acrimony and ugliness of the PSF weighed on him. Let’s now all do our best to protect the FFA and what it means to the folks who post here.

The unfortunately thing is there was a minority of posters (on both sides) that really did a great job of following the bolded. When they dominated a thread, it was a breath of fresh air to read reasoned, polite discourse. Unfortunately, it was decidedly a minority. Thus a lot of threads, even if they started out with this admirable group of posters, would eventually devolve into the poo flinging that one can find everywhere else on the internet. I understand why the decision was made by our esteemed hosts, but it still makes me a bit sad.

It is not a minority of people though. The majority of people are reasonable, it is just the most unreasonable people are those that also post the most and are the loudest.

Great comic:

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - 2013-04-07

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - 2013-04-07

www.smbc-comics.com

 

[Joe Bryant]

Again, I hope the PSF never returns and I hope all it's threads, topics, content ( and Yes, even all mine too) and the entire section gets deleted and nuked from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Thank you for the kind words. You are correct in my hope had been a Grantland style positive type thing. In hindsight, it was a bigger task than I could handle.

But to be fair, I'm glad we tried.

I feel like we made a sincere effort. Not everything is successful. Most things are probably not successful. This one played out a little more publicly than most ventures. But still I'm glad we tried and I definitely learned some things.

For now, we're not going to nuke it completely. Mostly because there are some good posts and threads. And to be honest, I don't have the time to sift through the whole thing making decisions on what to keep. So for now, it'll just stay locked but still there. That might change in the future. Thanks again, to you and everyone else as well for the kind words.

 

[Capella]

I’ve always said the worst thing about the PSF was that people who originally came to this forum to discuss topics like who is the better value, Chubb or Hunt are now arguing with each other about Biden, Trump etc etc and won’t even frequent the core forum of this board. And if they did, they may not engage with certain people on football topics because their viewpoint of that individual is skewed by something that shouldn’t have existed here to begin with.

I used to say it was an effective grease trap. I was wrong. Good riddance.

 

[Sand]

There are some parts of that forum I will truly miss - particularly threads like the SCOTUS thread (I learn a ton in there).

 

[GoBirds]

Probably the right move with an election about to go strongly against the majority here, the toxicity would only get worse again. When you open a forum solely to bash Trump and allow that outrageous behavior by one side a productive “political forum” was never going to evolve from it. It was an interesting decision for sure.

 

[BladeRunner]

I'm totally on "board" with this. I spent too much time in there anyways.

And for those of you calling out "the bad guys" and "trolls", I don't think you realize that you're part of the problem. Most of us were, including myself.

And @squistion - you called for banning or suspending posters instead of getting rid of the PSF, but I don't think you realize that you most likely would be on the outside looking in yourself. Just like me. But that's the cognitive dissonance that I'm referring too. Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it.

Anyways, the PSF will not be missed by this poster and I completely understand the decision to shut it down.

 

[Rubiobot]

And for those of you calling out "the bad guys" and "trolls", I don't think you realize that you're part of the problem. Most of us were, including myself.

Me as well. It was a collective problem not a bunch of isolated ones. Frankly when I look back at how I acted sometimes I feel pretty stupid.

 

[cockroach]

More time to stop out the humor and fun in the rest of the threads

 

[Joe Bryant]

Ask yourself this, did you come out of the political forum in a better mood than when ventured in?

I didn’t.

That's an interesting point.

 

[NorvilleBarnes]

I'm glad it's gone. Especially that Ukraine War thread - god was it horrible. It will probably be easy to keep the political threads out of the FFA. Might not be so easy to keep the political posts out of non-political threads though (spoiler: that's never stopped). For example, threads like RIP so-and-so died, if they weren't a politician but merely a celebrity who also engaged in political efforts. I foresee a lot of bickering/disagreement on what even constitutes political discussion.

 

[Joe Bryant]

More time to stop out the humor and fun in the rest of the threads

A poster was suspended yesterday in the FFA for talking about having sex with a woman as "riding her like a scooter". If that's the "humor" and "fun" you're looking for, we're not the forum for you.

 

[Joe Bryant]

And for those of you calling out "the bad guys" and "trolls", I don't think you realize that you're part of the problem. Most of us were, including myself.

Me as well. It was a collective problem not a bunch of isolated ones. Frankly when I look back at how I acted sometimes I feel pretty stupid.

Don't feel stupid. We all had a role in it. Me too. Even though it's closed, it can be something we all learn from.

I do agree it's not "the others" that caused this. It's us.

But I also don't want to be too dramatic. We lost a message board sub forum. There are a zillion things more important.