A Matter of Sensitive Topics

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

Sure there are a lot of stuff going on the world today, and I certainly believe that we all should talk about it at certain times. The hardest part is when people disagree with each other and that's where things may happen. I really think there should be a place in the DS where if you want to talk about, there should be a checkbox you gotta tick like 

"This area of the forums may contain sensitive topics. Any form of _______ and ______ will not be tolerated and will result in warnings, suspensions or bans. Check the box if you agree to these terms then click "Proceed to forums"

[Splashee 28,564]

On 8/27/2020 at 11:31 PM, You said:

It seems the topic is surging again, and from my POV, mainly in SUs.

What is SU?

 

Also, I kinda keep track of the activity from your notifications, knowing you have a slight problem with the political ones (you stated in Life Advice), and seeing you reply in one of those topics makes it apparent things are going on. I don't try to single you out, I just notice it because I follow you (I follow many people here, and see their actions daily)

[ExplosionMare 18,063]

I think if a set of rules beforehand are established then sensitive topics would be more okay unless they were things people should never talk about

[Splashee 28,564]

On 9/2/2020 at 7:22 PM, You said:

Status Updates.

 

It is less that I have problems with them (or the very most of them), but others do. For the LA topic, the focus wasn't the politics, but how I fare or should fare with them.

I see.

 

Spoiler

Also, I thought SU meant "Shut Up"

 

[Jeric 46,851]

16 hours ago, Scar said:

To be entirely honest, why do we even need a political section on this forum at all?

It has been suggested that the forum may be more palatable without one. It exists only to keep hot-button political debate separated from general discussion. Way back when (before I joined the community) it was an attempt to isolate political discourse from general topics. 

16 hours ago, Scar said:

It's not meant to be a debate forum. 

It is, though it finds itself in between a raging dumpster fire that comes with allowing any and all responses, and classical debate. The first doesn't fit this forum's general purpose. The second doesn't have adequate participation as most users here lack the ability to follow one of the accepted formal debate and rhetorical structures. No questioning period, no rule that assertions contain qualified proof, limits on new arguments introducing in rebuttal, etc. 

[Splashee 28,564]

22 minutes ago, Jeric said:

It has been suggested that the forum may be more palatable without one. It exists only to keep hot-button political debate separated from general discussion. Way back when (before I joined the community) it was an attempt to isolate political discourse from general topics.

I think that was a working idea. There is a very clear distinction between General Discussion and Debate forum, and it is nice to force one selves into an argument.

 

Politics seems to be unavoidable in this DNAge. But I still wonder if there isn't a better suited place to debate politics than in a MLP themed forum (it is rarely I see a topic that includes both politics and MLP)

[Splashee 28,564]

34 minutes ago, Scar said:

The best thing to do would be a complete removal of the section from the forums all together. We know how much problems it has caused over the years.

Which reminds me of what they did on a big Sonic forum in 2011, locking a FIM topic in an "Off Topic sub forum" saying it was too difficult to moderate after hundreds of posts, with the message to find a forum that deals with MLP stuff. The moderators there were tired to endlessly read about Rainbow Dash just to make sure no one would break the rules.

Thankfully, I don't have to moderate the Debate section, at least not at this point (I have any problems with it or politics in general )

[Misty Shadow 7,900]

My honest opinion on all this, being someone who has long lost interest in the Debate Symposium is...

"Who cares?" 

I'm only commenting on this because a friend of mine wanted me to share my thoughts after I made some jokes, but sharing how I really feel despite jesting about petty grievances, I honestly do not care. I fully agree that this is a pony forum where people should not be taking politics too seriously, but getting rid of political discussion altogether, I honestly feel that to be against free speech. People who are only on here for pony now, like myself, can simply choose not to read the topics in Debate. We are not being forced to participate in something we do not like. Any "harm" a sensitive topic that is not constructive does to someone on here who is trying to escape the political world is done to themselves. Total suppression of any serious discussion whatsoever is only going to give those who are unhealthily overzealous about their beliefs even more incentive to explode on someone and cause them actual harm. 

This is only my opinion that I was asked to share. 

[Will Guide 21,360]

On 6/29/2020 at 7:40 AM, ~C. Discord~ said:

Please refrain from talking about politics, religion and other highly sensitive topics in blogs, status updates or topics that are not located inside the Debate Symposium.

I messed up and broke this rule. I hope there are no hard feelings to all involved

[Jeric 46,851]

The Status Update rule is still in effect. Thank you all for keeping the index clean