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

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

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.

I do this. No one else wants to talk about those subjects. Maybe I just pick bad or boring subjects. Politics is what drives most of ATS's traffic these days though, so that's all people want to discuss. In recent weeks I've made threads on AI techniques, education reform, Net Neutrality (and I'm about to make another on the recent broadband reclassification plan), the Kentucky education system, societies valuing of the right to vote, and a few others. In the 7 threads combined, there were less than 10 responses.

The only responses to basically all of those threads though, was an attempt to steer them to R vs D, and that's the only thing people wanted to discuss. For a website that wants to deny ignorance, it seems to be filled lately with a lot of people who only want to propagate it.

a reply to: Aazadan

Truth be told, most of those are political topics these days.

originally posted by: face23785
a reply to: Aazadan

Truth be told, most of those are political topics these days.

I can see how they can be, but that's why I try to write them in an apolitical way and discuss parts that don't have to do with politics. If you go deep enough down the rabbit hole anything will end up being political. That doesn't mean the politics of a situation have to be discussed though.

For example, I really couldn't care less who is in power in Kentucky right now or what each party wants with education. However, I would actually like to talk about subjects like the cost of college and how it relates to the degrees being offered. ATS is a good forum for that, because there's a very large contingent of people here, who regardless of their political beliefs are 100% against college as a financial choice.

It prompts questions about what we should do as a society: Should we continue to couple job training to education? Should we try and lower the bar and get more people in the fields that we're short jobs in? Should we tell adults they're on their own and to make their own choices? Sure, there's room for political philosophy to creep in there, but that's not really what's being discussed. Rather it's a question of the place of post secondary education in our society. What should it's role, scope, and cost be?

a reply to: Aazadan


I read your threads. I may not participate in all of them but I am certainly a passive reader. Thank you for creating content, we need more people like that.

SERENITY NOW!
SERENITY NOW!

a reply to: Aazadan

I see your point, and that could potentially be a good discussion, but it's not like you have to go very far off-course before it becomes political. Any time you try to make any changes like some of the things you are questioning, it immediately gets politicized by one side or the other, trying to twist it around and try to make it sound like you're trying to take away education opportunities, or even better, take them away from minorities or women so you're a racist or a sexist. That'll really get people riled to get some votes and campaign money.

Edit: Would it be naive of me to suggest if you specifically framed your topic as a non-political discussion and people come in slinging partisan banter that you just flag it for the mods as off-topic?

originally posted by: Aazadan

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.

Keep making them! Who cares if a few don't get a bunch of discussion. As long as you're making content you want to discuss others will join in. Sometimes a lot of people and sometimes just a few.

I see comments like "ATS isn't what it used to be" and people beg the mods to do something. The site is completely user generated. It's up to us to make it how we think it should be.

If there is a vast majority who hate the political crap then we just need a few of them to step up to the plate and contribute to the content.

Here are the top topics for the past 30 days.



All the best threads around here are not political.

Yea some political threads might get a top spot but politics is the biggest conspiracy there is so I don't see it ever disappearing. As annoying as politics can get it IS an important thing for citizens to be involved in.

Thank you to all those who have provided a "fix" for me, using the My ATS thing - a bit tedious going through all the forums I like but if it helps me keep sane, so be it! Much appreciated and glad to hear it's helped a few other users.

I apologise wholeheartedly for any offence or freedoms impinged on for my question. Can we say this is resolved (ish)?

What I have noticed is when the topic is LGBT or masonry or gay rights or some religious topics such threads are interminable

Variations of this theme have been suggested multiple times. There's no way ownership is going to do this, however, since politics drives traffic, and therefore revenue.

It's all about the bottom line.

It would be exceedingly easy to grab up all the forums that commonly host political content and move them to their own "recents" tab.