Can we have Political discussion forums moved to Off-Topic please?

I think it is really strange if people are not able to simply ignore threads with topics that they are not interested in. And who are anyone here to demand that their special and personal preferanses should dictate how ATS works for the rest of the membership - and what is "off topic"? Wow.

For instance, personally I think that discussing dreams and prophecies is kinda pointless, so I just don't click on those kind of threads and leave them to people who like them. I also find anything - anything at all - that has to do with sport to be such a bottomless pit of boredom that I would probably end up in a coma if I was forced to read about it. I just do not care - so I stay away from the topic and let others enjoy discussing some baseball team or whatever if they want to, good for them.

Interesting topic and discussion = clicking and reading. Not interesting topic = not clicking, scrolling past.

Seriously, this is not rocket science, is it?

What are we up to know? 5-6 threads about the same topic a week?

it used to be years ago this is how the site was set up there was ATS, BTS then another part of the site called something like Above politics.

There was still some of the political stuff that would bleed through onto the main boards obviously but it was almost always something that was to do with conspiracy rather than the usual political trolling and baiting we see today.

I don't know why we cannot go back to that system.

a reply to: auroraaus

I agree with pretty much everything you say there but .... religious topics are less bi-partisan than political ones?




In 'Recent', didn't there used to be a little x near each forum button that you could use to remove all forums you were not interested in?

Perhaps if we just had that back, people could customise at will? So members fed up with seeing forum 95 (US Political Madness) or forum 134 (Mud-Pit) clogging up the recent page, can just remove those forums from the page.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

What are we up to know? 5-6 threads about the same topic a week?

If only those 5-6 people a week used that time to make threads about the topics they so dearly miss.....

i didn't really realize i could customize the myATS page, thanks for the tip

a reply to: auroraaus

This site is being completely ruined by all the American political posts most of which are nothing to do with what the site is or was.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

What are we up to know? 5-6 threads about the same topic a week?

It's obviously a concern for many.

To others saying "make threads you want..." Some don't want to be subjected to the BS that seeps out of the Mudpit. You could make a thread about rainbows and you'll still have some tools dumping on you.

I made a suggestion recently similar to this that had nothing to do with getting rid of any topics. I just wanted a filter/s option so that the non-political stuff didn't get pushed off "recent" and "new". We have "conspiracies" which isn't because everything shows up there, "off topic", "flags", "replies", and "recent" right now.

In my post Here I showed how we could just divvy up the topics into the appropriate tab/button so we lose less topics in all subjects, instead of just lumping all topics into conspiracy even if they are not. I never got any answers from mods or admins etc. /shrug

originally posted by: FauxMulder
If only those 5-6 people a week used that time to make threads about the topics they so dearly miss.....

Maybe it's a conspiracy and fluoride is making them create the same thread that was just done twice yesterday.

originally posted by: intrepid
You could make a thread about rainbows and you'll still have some tools dumping on you.

That is what the Mod Squad is for as you personally know so well. Right?

The reason I like this place is because it is so well moderated and not the wild friggin west like 4Chan or other crap holes.

originally posted by: auroraaus
Howdy!

Just wondering if there's a growing consensus to move all the Political discussion forums to the Off-Topic area?

It's getting harder to wade through the recent ATS topic for the meaty stuff that is...ATS... with the constant Right-Vs-Left posts clogging up the feed, and most of those topics are by repeat users who feel the need to start a thread over every single happening in the political field. Almost always US political field mind you.

I would love to see the top stories or recent ATS conspiracy stories more like UFOs, Space, Technology, Cryptozoology, Religions Philosophy Metaphysics, the environment, stuff that is less partisan!

I surely cannot be the only one, or one of a few.

I agree with you entirely. I don't mind arguing politics on occasion, but it's not what drew me to ATS and it's not what makes me want to stay. I have however seen it drive off many posters who I actually liked.

a reply to: Lilroanie

This is similar to what I was going to suggest. On the Recent page, a filter where you could check or uncheck which forums you want to see would pretty much solve OP's concerns, without any drastic restructuring of the forums themselves.

Edit: Side note: Thanks to Terminal Velocity. I use the myATS page often but didn't know what all the buttons did.

a reply to: face23785


Sort of like the 'My ATS' feature that we already have?

originally posted by: auroraaus
Howdy!

Just wondering if there's a growing consensus to move all the Political discussion forums to the Off-Topic area?

It's getting harder to wade through the recent ATS topic for the meaty stuff that is...ATS... with the constant Right-Vs-Left posts clogging up the feed, and most of those topics are by repeat users who feel the need to start a thread over every single happening in the political field. Almost always US political field mind you.

I would love to see the top stories or recent ATS conspiracy stories more like UFOs, Space, Technology, Cryptozoology, Religions Philosophy Metaphysics, the environment, stuff that is less partisan!

I surely cannot be the only one, or one of a few.

Here here.

Tired of it.

Same 12 posters saying exactly the same thing as well, how odd is that?

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

What are we up to know? 5-6 threads about the same topic a week?

Maybe that's indicative of a problem with website design. Sure, you can say that people can just choose not to participate in the threads, but that doesn't actually solve the problem. As political traffic has gone up, non political traffic has gone down. Ignoring politics is totally doable, but it means you have less and less content by the day to actually look at... and that ultimately means leaving the website.

The fact that this is brought up so much, is proof that there should probably be a solution in place other than telling people to only look at what interests them.

Interestingly, it feels like these days that the political forum is actually cannibalizing itself, as the mud pit is stealing a large chunk of the political posters. But that's not a good thing either, since it simply means a loss of civility and decorum, and polarizes/radicalizes members.

originally posted by: Aazadan
The fact that this is brought up so much, is proof that there should probably be a solution in place other than telling people to only look at what interests them.

That is obviously not the only solution. The real solution is make a thread about a topic you enjoy.

It isn't that difficult.

originally posted by: FauxMulder

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

What are we up to know? 5-6 threads about the same topic a week?

If only those 5-6 people a week used that time to make threads about the topics they so dearly miss.....

I make threads all the time, maybe 1 or 2 a week. No one wants to discuss the content at all unless it has to do with R vs D.

Grimy politics pays the bills. There is a lack of spiritual or alternative interests in the world now.

Its the civilization not the forum, that's lacking interests in high-brow or alternative topics

a reply to: Aazadan

I would have to agree with that last part. Seems like most thread authors default to posting in the Mudpit, when 90% of the time the topic could (and probably should) have been posted in one of the other political forums. When I author a political thread, I try not to put it in Mud Pit, if I can avoid it.