[Politics] Move all political threads to the bear pit?

[Westdene Seagull]

I know for a fact that this site has lost good long-term members because they were fed up with the political bickering, and one of the best moderators we have ever had left for the same reason.

What made these people click on political threads if they upset them so much ?

 

[Arthur]

As long as the title of the thread reflects the content (which they do) then I don’t see the issue with them remaining. Those interested can view them and those not can ignore.

Can this new board hide threads started by certain posters or with certain words in the title or in certain categories?

 

[Weststander]

The sub forum is a great idea (perhaps then dispense with the Bear Pit?) Then strictly enforced please .... the furtive will post their political rants on totally unrelated threads.

A few dozen folk (including me from time to time) set up and post relentlessly about party politics, dominating thread numbers at times when entering NSC The Main Stuff. Giving the false impression of a political website, not a football/miscellaneous site.

I know quite a few Albion fans, some are NSC members, who made the decision to generally steer clear of this website. The turning point was the pandemic, when the two cabals turned it into a 24-7 party political slanging match. Age groups ... 20's, also middle aged, people who have a positive outlook, not the party-political chattering classes.

The bottom line imho @Bozza, is that the vast majority of the public are not interested in UK politics on a day-to-day basis, they find it boring and negative. People look for good stories, help and football chat.

 

[amexer]

A politics board would be fine, as long as it isn't merged with the bear pit, which contains threads intended to be provocative or even offensive, and would degrade threads that are not full of trolling and campaigning. But my preference is leave it as it is, and when a thread crosses a line (your line) you can pit it.

As others have said, we don't have a sub board for old postcards, when you plan to put on your heating, etc.

Safe to say I dont think people will receive abuse for giving an opinion on a postcard or heating habits.

 

[birthofanorange]

Safe to say I dont think people will receive abuse for giving an opinion on a postcard or heating habits.

It's also safe to say that neither of those two things have a massive impact on all our lives, unlike the shambles that we currently live under.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Politics is life. Avoid it at your peril. As for NSC being a football forum, well it sort of is, but mainly isn't. It's mainly Mumsnet for gentlemen of a certain age, myself included. Long may it remain so!

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

yes, they are usually started by the same group of convert seekers and the rest of us are tempted in. It would be absolutely no loss to rid the Big Board of them.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Please do so. Same few people arguing about the same few things.

You don't have to read them. The diversity of NSC is what makes it so popular among many people, even fans of other clubs.

To stop political threads hogging the front page of The Big Board you'd just need to be liberal with the merging of similar threads. Realistically you'd only need about 3 concurrent threads to cover the whole of British politics (Brexit/Truss/Election).

It also poses more problems such as; 1) would threads unrelated to politics that get turned into a politics debate then get moved away from TBB 2) would world politics and world events be allowed in the TBB - such as the Ukraine war which has large political elements to it.

 

[papachris]

Firstly, I won't commit to going with the outcome of this poll, but I'd like to see what people think.

Should all overt political threads me moved to the bear pit, leaving the Big Board free of them?

(Some may ask who/what defines what a political thread is, which is fair. A pragmatic decision would have to be made on a case by case basis, but most political threads are very obvious)

Like some other posters here I think that the big board might be a bit dull without politics. Also because running the country affects everyone's lives.
Problems seem to arise when arguments take place. In some cases maybe just a couple of posters get in an overheated discussion which can take up a lot of room in the thread and is not necessarily for others to read. Maybe on these occasions the participants can take it offline and not in front of an audience.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Yes, it brings out the worst in folks, sadly because there is no correct answer just opinions. Seems to be a right on brigade, on most political threads, that don’t take into account the rest of the country and judge everything through the republic of Brightonia coloured specs.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Ignore Content

Allow your users to ignore any content in your boards. Current content supported: Forums Threads Tags Conversations Users Content created by ignored user will not show in various locations: Widgets Newsfeeds Find News Forum listing Alerts...

xenforo.com

Why not use a plugin that allows users to hide threads that they don't want to see? The Covid-19 thread was around for 20 months, I'm sure the ability to permanently hide it from your list of threads would have been widely used by the end. (Likewise for Naps, best song etc).

 

[Wrong-Direction]

No, it's basically brushing the problem under the carpet, people need to see / debate / argue our problems out, even if it annoys others.
Also now I'm not on Tapatalk this is the first poll I've ever voted in lol

 

[Fungus]

No, I think the balance on The Big Board is fine as it is. The football threads increase when there's something to discuss, as do the political threads, which reflects their importance.

 

[BBassic]

I don't mind either way.

If setting up sub-forums isn't a pain then it could be as simple as having a couple of sub-forums:

Politics
Music
Food
Other Sport

Perhaps the thread tags can be used to automatically put new threads in the appropriate sub-forum leaving the Big Board to become the Albion Board.

I dunno. How it is now works fine I think. Broadly speaking.

 

[Mr Bridger]

Yes, it brings out the worst in folks, sadly because there is no correct answer just opinions. Seems to be a right on brigade, on most political threads, that don’t take into account the rest of the country and judge everything through the republic of Brightonia coloured specs.

I’d do the back of the net emoji if I could find it.

 

[Guinness Boy]

No, absolutely not, IMO.

1) We (mods) would need to determine what constituted "politics". It's not just the party political variety these days, there's knee taking (ostensibly about football, yeah, right), identity politics, the effect of Brexit on transfers (there is one, even if minimal - De Zerbi's teams' work permits for example). And a very small percentage of NSC users use these sorts of "unobvious" political threads to force an agenda and then complain when they're reprimanded. As an example, a certain poster's obsession with Gary Linekar and Lewis Hamilton.
2) The Bear Pit isn't about politics. It's out and out trolling. I've stopped looking in there, so unless another one of us is, it's unmoderated (which is fine, because only about 12 people ever use it).

 

[Blue3]

Do away with the bear pit and go back to everything on the big board otherwise just rename it the not so big board

 

[birthofanorange]

yes, they are usually started by the same group of convert seekers and the rest of us are tempted in. It would be absolutely no loss to rid the Big Board of them.

The problem seems to be that you're 'tempted in' - why, if you're not interested in them?

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

The problem seems to be that you're 'tempted in' - why, if you're not interested in them?

I read stuff on the Big Board. Simple as that. I think it would be better without the political threads. I sometimes miss more interesting threads that disappear down the big board to be replaced by people trying to convert us all. Perhaps if we lose the political threads we might lose the more confrontational posters. Just a thought.

 

[Machiavelli]

Because politics is highly divisive, more so than ever, and some people like to be able to get away from that.

I've been regularly told how it puts people off joining and/or using the site.

Moving political discourse away from the main board would not stop those wishing to spend all their time debating it from doing so, whilst allowing others to not have it shoved down their throats.

I find B&HA threads to be divisive too, at times.
That said, I get that it's your board, that politics threads have caused some decent posters to turn away, and that politics threads can proliferate and dominate.
Initially I wasn't over-keen about the Bear Pit's introduction but, as @Guinness Boy indicates, it's not a politics thread, it's a trolling thread, and an illustration of the limits of free speech.
My favoured option is to keep things as they are, but I can see that there might be the place for: 1, a BHA/football board; 2, a 'Big Board' (devoid of BHA/football); and, 3, Bear Pit.
I know you and probably a large majority of others get wound up by politics bleeding into non-politics threads, and think that this is where energies should be directed.