I agree with you guys. The discussions were too mean and nasty. We can learn how to discuss without getting personal or reverting to insults. It is a learned skill.

When I was the Lead Auditor for a quality management system, I had to teach people how to audit coworkers who never spoke to each other. It was a union thing and union fights are ugly fights. But, my auditor and audits were fair and calm. It is a learned skill. It is not natural. But it is possible to do if you think about what you are discussing and how you phrase your answer.

First, be polite. Second, don't accuse. Third, if you wouldn't like to hear the remark said to you, don't say it to someone else. Fourth, admit that the other person can be right and you can be wrong (even if you say that only to yourself, you will begin to rephrase discussions. It is very much the Golden Rule - do unto others as you would have done to you. Fifth: when you get hot (and we are all human, we all get hot and steamy) back off and don't write or speak in passion.

That's the start of it.

The last several times I've checked in here I looked at New Posts and scanned through the column listing the forum for each post and saw Political Discussions about two thirds of the time if not more.

I'm an administrator on another discussion forum and I decided that if any member ever requests a political discussions forum there the answer will be NO! without even consulting the other administrators. I stopped discussing politics in real life years ago and I have no intention of getting back into it over the internet.

ramses (imported) wrote: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:55 pm Thanks. I'm sick of politics too. We all need to focus on what we have in common here and not our differences. It's a great community!

In a nutshell, that's the exact reasoning.

I'm willing to take all the heat on this one. Between the Canadian elections (which seem to happen with greater regularity than Moore's Law), the US elections (they've been campaigning what, two years), upcoming civic elections (in two weeks), provincial elections in the spring, I'm sick of politics.

That's not even getting into the increasing levels of divisiveness, hostility and fighting that have been occuring in the Political section over the last few months. There have been more friendships severed and users lost due to the political section alone in the last six months than due to the rest of the message boards put together.

This is not about censorship. How many of you, if any, came to the Eunuch Archive for our lively and engaging political discussion? There are hundreds, thousands of websites dedicated to political views of all types. There is only one EA. We were brought together for our interests relating to castration, penectomy and the like. We are here, not for politics, but because we all share an interest in these topics.

Politics divide people, and that isn't what we're about. This site, this forum is here to bring people together despite our differing views. It may be an impossible goal but we are here as part of a commuity, perhaps even a group of friends, maybe even a family. And it is because of that idea we need a time out, a breather, a chance to remember those things we have in common. A chance to remind everyone exactly why they came here. A chance to take a few steps back and a few deep breaths. A chance to renew friendships that may have been lost because of differing political viewpoints.

The political section will return, you have my word on that. Until then, may I suggest you step back, take a few breaths, and look around the rest of the site. Try to remember why you came here in the first place. Try to remember that we're all here together, and that perhaps those things which brought each of us here are important enough to put our differences aside, just for a little while.

Which part do I go to to hunt for horny girls who will put up with an old guy with a BAD kyboard ?

MacTheWolf (imported) wrote: Thu Nov 06, 2008 3:03 am Which part do I go to to hunt for horny girls who will put up with an old guy with a BAD kyboard ?

Where do I find the lusty women who will settle for me?

...

Paolo wrote: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:48 pm Actually, I threw the switch, just so you know....

My hope is that Paolo is so overtaken by something that he looses his way back to "the switch", and that it remains off permanently. I quit reading that and a few other categories a long time ago. Too ugly and/or dark for my taste.

There has to be a way to discuss the political situations that are of concern to the EA and its members. These would include gay marraige and adoption. I think also health care is another political matter of concern and possibly even Supreme Court decisions.

But, political discussions can't be the freewheeling discussions (for lack of a better word) that went on in the old forum. There has to be some discipline on the part of participants.

i) I think that the discussion has to be limited in scope.

ii) I think that the participants have to understand that no administrator wants to police or review their messages. That's an unfair burden to place on an administrator.

Can somebody PLEASE ship a MAC keyboard over to Wolfie?

Dave (imported) wrote: Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:44 am There has to be a way to discuss the political situations that are of concern to the EA and its members. These would include gay marraige and adoption. I think also health care is another political matter of concern and possibly even Supreme Court decisions.

But, political discussions can't be the freewheeling discussions (for lack of a better word) that went on in the old forum. There has to be some discipline on the part of participants.

i) I think that the discussion has to be limited in scope.

ii) I think that the participants have to understand that no administrator wants to police or review their messages. That's an unfair burden to place on an administrator.

I don't think the scope of discussion is a problem. The problem is lack of respect for other members with opposing views. You can attack someones arguments and "facts" in ways that are not personal or nasty. It all boils down to respect and civility.

ramses (imported) wrote: Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:12 am I don't think the scope of discussion is a problem. The problem is lack of respect for other members with opposing views. You can attack someones arguments and "facts" in ways that are not personal or nasty. It all boils down to respect and civility.

But that's just the thing... I stopped posting right before the election in an effort of self-restraint, before I said something in anger rather than in a goading jestful way... and regretted it...

When you have to go to SNOPES because somebody's so-called FACTS are nothing more than a set of deliberate falsehoods that ride the fine line between politics and SLANDER a political mission becomes one of winning at any cost, even your own honor, and doing the most psychlogical damage possible to the other side. As Bobov so correctly pointed out, it IS NOT CIVIL and IS NOT ACCEPTABLE...

I could make a political statement here but it is not really necessary because we know how this works because we have been seeing it for quite a while and the E.A. political message board is just a part of what is going on everywhere.

FURTHERMORE, when confronted with a undeniable point of significance, the pettyness and mental attitude of plugging up one's ears and posting ... LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA ... etc., is somewhat like a Kamakazee attitude... let us crash in flames and take as many as we can with us...

...well, there is really NO alternative but to shut the damned thing down for a while until people cool off and become civil again. Maybe they never will, but I HOPE it WILL get better than it was when the plug was pulled...

Therefore, I commend the MANAGEMENT here and NOW for UNCOMMON COURAGE in taking control of not EXACTLY a bunch of warring factions, but more like a bunch of children who have forgotten how to PLAY NICE..., you know, children can be so cruel because they say exactly what they think... read "Lord of the Flies"...