A Reminder: On political discussions outside of the Political Proselytization Warmongering forum

[Paul]

All,

It's understandable that many have found themselves holding and wanting to express strong political opinions about various topics, various political parties and ideologies, and various polarizing issues. We created a forum for these conversations to take place, and we consider this the only place on our community where political discussions should be transpiring: the Political Proselytization & Warmongering forum.

We have been seeing marked increases in the number of politically based conversations in the on-topic areas of our community. These posts are increasingly a distraction from our primary directive as a platform for discussing interpersonal relationships. We will begin increasing our efforts at removing any and all content that our moderators encounter in on-topic areas of the site that include things such as labeling groups by political affiliation, discussions about the political motives behind the decisions of a particular elected official, discussions surrounding stances on political spectra, political activism, electioneering, and other political commentary, to name a few. While we will strive to move and preserve what we can to the Politics forum, our time is limited and ultimately the responsibility for remaining on-topic lies in the hands of each participant. In the absence of time, our priority will be to preserve a welcoming environment for on-topic discussions.

To help us identify and address these discussions, we've added some options to the "Report post" list to alert us to postings that are political in a non-political forum or thread, and that are off-topic from either the original post in the thread or within the forum posted. Your assistance in helping report these to us is most appreciated! We regret that we're not yet able to automatically offer responses when posts are reported, yet please know that we review and regularly discuss each report internally and are looking for ways to develop technical changes that would let us offer quick responses.

I know that it's easy to comment on different viewpoints as we interact with familiar faces and people we've come to know over time, yet it's important that we each make a considered personal effort to avoid the urge to derail otherwise on-topic conversation. I also know that in our Hot Topic forums, it can be very tempting to include political debate in those discussions about governmental responses to the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, or to discuss the particular policies of various political administrations in discussions surrounding societal injustices and protests, yet it is our opinion that doing so in these on-topic forums is simply not conducive to productive, meaningful conversations that educate and promote individual growth. Conversations about the particular policies and decisions of any politician or political group belong instead in the Political Proselytization & Warmongering forum.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments on how we can better help define the line between what's acceptable for on-topic vs. off-topic posts, please reach out to us here or privately.

Best,
Paul

[d0nnivain]

Paul 

Would you please consider making an except for the Novel Corona-virus thread?  I think the disease spread is intertwined with politics at this point.  I get its a thorny issue but there is overlap.  

If not, would you please consider moving that thread to the Political topic?  Or do we need to start a new thread there called something like Covid & Politics?  

[preraph]

I think it's best kept separate unless you do want a new topic Covid and Politics.  I want to talk about the virus without getting in the middle of the political pandemonium of unbending opinion.

[Paul]

Hi d0nnvain: 

7 minutes ago, d0nnivain said:

Paul 

Would you please consider making an except for the Novel Corona-virus thread?  I think the disease spread is intertwined with politics at this point.  I get its a thorny issue but there is overlap.  

If not, would you please consider moving that thread to the Political topic?  Or do we need to start a new thread there called something like Covid & Politics?  

Thanks for the thoughts! To add a bit of clarity, I recognize that things are very intermingled now, and that particular thread is very large and existed before the forum we created for Coronavirus posts. We're setting the expectation for moving forward, and will try and clean things up going forward.

We're asking that everyone be extra mindful when posting from here on out, so please feel free to continue conversations surrounding how particular politicians or parties, or political influences and machinations behind the pandemic come into play in the Politics forum. We're also giving advance notice so that when things are moved/removed, the motivation behind those moderation actions are clear. We aren't looking to censor discussion. Instead, we're looking to keep political things in the sandbox we created for them so that we're not drowning out otherwise on-topic conversations.

At the end of the day, we realize that this will likely generate lots of questions and I'm hopeful I and the other moderators can help answer them!

Best,
Paul

[SincereOnlineGuy]

6 hours ago, d0nnivain said:

Paul 

Would you please consider making an except for the Novel Corona-virus thread?  I think the disease spread is intertwined with politics at this point.  I get its a thorny issue but there is overlap.  

If not, would you please consider moving that thread to the Political topic?  Or do we need to start a new thread there called something like Covid & Politics?  

I don't think they can be wrong  in administering that either way...

 

but the problem is, there SO much of a variable  out there... that people senselessly tether Covid to politics when it is far more of a raw numbers function.

Edited June 24, 2020 by a LoveShack.org Moderator
Removed off-topic discussion on COVID-19.

[Paul]

28 minutes ago, SincereOnlineGuy said:

but the problem is, there SO much of a variable  out there... that people senselessly tether Covid to politics when it is far more of a raw numbers function.

I'd be hard pressed to come up with a topic that cannot be discussed from a political lens, and even more hard pressed to come up with a topic about dating, marriage, sex, mental and physical health, and family that hasn't been a key bullet point in someone's political manifesto. Sometimes, people use the words morals or values as a way to talk about political ideologies that various groups of people subscribe to, yet regardless, on-topic discussion is absent of all of that.

We have a special place for the discussion of those ideologies, or values, or attitudes, or political stances that individuals may want to have surrounding the pandemic or any other topic of interest. I do understand that it will be an adjustment for some who feel passionate about a subject to make that separation, yet LoveShack.org exists principally for the purpose of discussing the non-political aspects of our shared human existence.

The opinions, ideas, and misgivings of a particular locality's leader or political party surrounding the pandemic is all good fodder for healthy political discourse in our forum for that purpose. However, they are distractions in on-topic discussions surrounding the impacts of social distancing on spending time with loved ones or friends, or on talking about universal precautions to help stay healthy and safe.

Consider a thread about a married couple that is struggling with the differences in their individual political or moral opinions surrounding abortion: the fact that there is disagreement is germane to the thread, and mentioning that spouse #1 has one belief, while spouse #2 has another is on-topic background information. However, a spirited tangent about which of the two individuals is clearly right and clearly wrong from your perspective is off-topic. When the discussion gets steered in that direction, we lose sight of the interpersonal dynamic between the couple, get sidetracked into what individuals personally believe, and fail to address the real reason we're here--how this couple can work to operate within the context of their relationship with differences in strongly held belief systems.

I wouldn't say it's senseless that people have politically informed opinions. It's perfectly human to have them! Instead, we're asking that you kindly discuss those opinions is in the Political Proselytization & Warmongering forum, and there only.

[major_merrick]

I believe that the new "Hot Topics" section that includes COVID and racism is inherently political.  Perhaps it would be better to have those in a subset of the political area?

[Angelle]

On 6/28/2020 at 11:26 PM, major_merrick said:

I believe that the new "Hot Topics" section that includes COVID and racism is inherently political.  Perhaps it would be better to have those in a subset of the political area?

It isn't, though. Maybe a separate thread could be used for what's become the political side of it all. 

[Paul]

On 6/24/2020 at 12:33 PM, d0nnivain said:

Or do we need to start a new thread there called something like Covid & Politics?  

Yes, I'd encourage those who would like to have these conversations to start individual discussion threads with specific political topics. I don't think there's any reason to consolidate it all into a single thread. We can always create a sub forum within the Politics forum for COVID related topics if the interest is large enough to help categorize things.

[Piddy]

54 minutes ago, Paul said:

Yes, I'd encourage those who would like to have these conversations to start individual discussion threads with specific political topics. I don't think there's any reason to consolidate it all into a single thread. We can always create a sub forum within the Politics forum for COVID related topics if the interest is large enough to help categorize things.

That might be a good idea.  I keep getting in trouble for posting a reference to the governments response which is deemed political.