Why a separate 'religion & politics' forum? - Politics & Religion

GARY

RFNAPLES wrote:

albummaster wrote:

Political threads were dominating the lounge and were creating an unpleasant atmosphere for quite a few members.

Politics and religion tend to polarise people which leads to conflict, and most people come to this site expecting to discuss music, not politics.

People are welcome to discuss these topics here, but in the interests of everybody getting along, please keep them away from the rest of the forum.

Politics and religion threads had less than 5% of the lounge topics and less than 20% of the lounge posts, certainly not dominating. The topics may have created an unpleasant atmosphere for a few members who voluntarily chose to visit and participate in same. But it was their free choice. Often politics and religion polarize and can lead to conflicts, but people that come to BEA expecting to discuss music are well served by the Music Forum. There is no need for the faint to venture into the off-topic Lounge Forum.

I think most semi-intelligent people can presume that a topic named Barack Obama might be political, or one named Science and Religion might be related to religion. Do we need to cater to the least common denominator? Do we really need another danger zone for the benefit of the ignorant?

albummaster wrote:

We are not censoring anybody. It's not unheard of for a forum to have a separate area for politics (or anything else for that matter). There is now a dedicated area for those people who want to have serious political debate away from those people who want to chat about music, or have more light-hearted banter.

The lounge area was far from nice for a lot of people over the past month. I think what we have done here is just a small change and it shouldn't negatively affect you, or anybody else.

I find the isolation of topics just as distasteful as warning labels on CDs. Call it censorship or heavy-handed editorial privilege; it’s still the same. The fact is these topics were already away from Music Forum and the weak at heart were already forewarned by the Lounge description.

BEA already had a dedicated area for politics (or anything else off-topic); it was the Lounge Forum. "Lounge: Talk about life, politics, or anything else in the lounge." Music should have been chatted about in the Music Forum not in the Lounge Forum.

Most of those who found certain lounge topics not "nice," went to those topics voluntarily, viewed the posts voluntarily, and often voluntarily replied. If one doesn't like a topic it may be better not review or post to it. Moving topics to another location does not "protect" those who don't know how to protect themselves from things that cause them consternation.

I don't think there is anything positive about the change and it is certainly negatively received by some. BTW, who are the "We" you refer to?

Very well said Naples and I totally agree with you. There already was the lounge for dicussing Life, politics, or anything. By restraining the information by sticking it in the corner like the bad kid in class is censorship. Let's be real here O.K. What happened was the left winger radical types did not like what they were hearing. So like the old ugly chair they want it stuck in the back room where theycan close the door, and just pretend that it doesn't exist. They don't want the truth, they want to believe in their fantasy world where everybody can have everything and such and somebody else will always be there to pay all the bills. They don't want to know that in reality their great leader and Messia Obama is actually inept and way out of his league as president. Then when they were faced with cold hard facts and the actual data about what is really going on in this country. They started the personal attacks as the liberals always do. For example Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Rush Limbaugh etc. The liberals know they can't win on the issues. So when you manage to dodge all of their distractions, changes of subject and their lies they use the only weapon they have left in their arsenal. Personal attacks. And THAT is when things can get a bit nasty.

And I also would like to know who "WE" are ?
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thomas697

Gender: Male

Location: Melbourne

Woah guys, take it easy. Surely it's not worth the effort is it? There's more important things to talk about Especially when radiohead just released a pretty average album
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GARY

thomas697 wrote:

Woah guys, take it easy. Surely it's not worth the effort is it? There's more important things to talk about Especially when radiohead just released a pretty average album

Ya I was on the King Of Limbs thread before and said I didn't like it and why. I caught Hell for it. So I came over to this area that is becoming barren and forgotten. But hey, at least my haters on here will have a harder time finding me Anxious

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I owe $100,000 and wasted 4 years of my life.

And all I got was this silly hat

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thomas697

Gender: Male

Location: Melbourne

You weren't being a bully again were you Gary?
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Having a family is the kind of thing that could be held against a person

GARY

thomas697 wrote:

You weren't being a bully again were you Gary?

Yes I was. Embarassed

I was doing so good for a while. O well, gotta get back on the horse and try er again. Angel

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I owe $100,000 and wasted 4 years of my life.

And all I got was this silly hat

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Wombi

albummaster wrote:

Political threads were dominating the lounge and were creating an unpleasant atmosphere for quite a few members.

Politics and religion tend to polarise people which leads to conflict, and most people come to this site expecting to discuss music, not politics.

People are welcome to discuss these topics here, but in the interests of everybody getting along, please keep them away from the rest of the forum.

albummaster

Best improvement on the site since i've been here. Thanks for turning this back into a music site albumaster.

Last edited by Wombi on 02/19/2011 14:54; edited 1 time in total

albummaster

Janitor

Gender: Male

Location: Spain

Site Admin

thank you, and that is the whole point of this site. Let's put this in perspective, all we've done is create a new forum area.

For the many members that do not post on this forum, why might that be? (just look at the user stats page to see how many members there are with zero forum posts, but who have added a chart and ratings etc)

The lounge was intended as a place to hang out and the atmosphere was intended to be relaxed, chilled out, fun and friendly. But, it ended up the opposite.

We are wanting to create an environment where everybody can feel at home, and if people want to discuss their political opinions, they still can.

Unfortunately, I spend too much of my own time answering emails and PMs, apologizing for other people's behaviour (and it's never about MUSIC) instead of developing important improvements to the site.

That's my final word on this now, and I hope people can understand.

RFNAPLES

Level 8

Gender: Male

Age: 76

Location: Durham, NC, USA

albummaster wrote:

thank you, and that is the whole point of this site. Let's put this in perspective, all we've done is create a new forum area.

For the many members that do not post on this forum, why might that be? (just look at the user stats page to see how many members there are with zero forum posts, but who have added a chart and ratings etc)

The lounge was intended as a place to hang out and the atmosphere was intended to be relaxed, chilled out, fun and friendly. But, it ended up the opposite.

We are wanting to create an environment where everybody can feel at home, and if people want to discuss their political opinions, they still can.

Unfortunately, I spend too much of my own time answering emails and PMs, apologizing for other people's behaviour (and it's never about MUSIC) instead of developing important improvements to the site.

That's my final word on this now, and I hope people can understand.

Albummaster, the reason many people only have charts/ratings and some only posts is because that is what they want to do.

There are many topics in the other Forums that can make people uncomfortable. Will you heavy-handedly create new areas for them too? Ostracizing is not a comfortable or friendly act.

Send the whiners to bed and put the chairs back in order. You are a webmaster, not a parent or editorial board. If folks have problems with messages or messengers they should PM the perpetrators before contacting the supreme webmaster. When I was a kid we were told to “work it out.” Be a Big Boi.
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GARY

That's what I'm talkin about. Truth. I was just thinking the same thing. Back in the day we worked things out for ourselves. It's like when I went to school and ran into trouble with a kid that was bigger than me. I stood my ground because in my family you worked it out or don't come in the house until you do. I didn't go running to the pricipal or call the police for Chrizzakes.

This behavior on this site is a microcosm of what society has become as a whole. People no longer want the truth, they prefer a palatable lie. And they want a babysitter for life and the government fills that need for them. They don't work things out with each other they call the cops or drag you into court over every little thing. When they can't get their way they just call on big brother and force things on other people that they don't want. And if you don't like what someone is doing, go to the authorities and inform on them behind their back.

Naples is correct for saying that people should PM someone if they have a problem with them. I've never received any such PM from anyone. When I was first posting in the forums I got called a troll and such and I said, more than once, to people that this is why out of 9,000 registered users only a fraction of them actually post on a regular basis. And I was told that if I didn't like this type of banter that I should just GTFO then. Well, that made sense to me.

Let's tell it like it is. It's mainly about people don't like their bubble being burst. They get angry or offended when they are informed that their comfortable little world they live in is not even real. They don't want to find out what's behind the curtain in the land of OZ. What I find the most strange about some of the people on here is this. I will use an example to illustrate.

There is the Obama thread that is mainly funny pictures of President Obama. Someone posted a comment that the Obama thread is ruining this site. And then someone posted that they agreed with that statement. Talk about juvenal behavior. So I posted a comment stating that, no it's not ruining it that it's one of my favorite things on here because it makes me laugh. But my point is this. How would one know about a thread unless they kept going on it and looking at it? I would think that people would have enough sense to avoid a topic or thread that they disliked. I've had people complain about threads that I have started which still makes no sense to me at all. So I say go start your own thread if you don't like mine. But instead they just insist on coming on my thread and bashing it and or making fun of it.

Like I said, it's just a reflection of a generation that has been raised in a nanny state world. And if you have a problem you go to a higher authority and nark and bitch until you get your way. Instead of just confronting the problem themselves. Yes Albummaster is omnipotent and will do as he pleases. That's cool with me. But let's please just call what has been done here and the real reason for the discarding of religion and politics from the lounge. Censorship.
_________________
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I owe $100,000 and wasted 4 years of my life.

And all I got was this silly hat

.

RFNAPLES

Level 8

Gender: Male

Age: 76

Location: Durham, NC, USA

Three Monkeys, 三匹の猿, sanbiki no saru: Mizaru, Kikazaru, Iwazaru

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