Right.
Suppose I'll weigh in then.
As a former moderator of another forum( Sukerkin knows whereof I speak as he and i first "met" there), I know firsthand the amount of work that goes into moderating a forum of the size and scope of MT. That's partly why I try never to give anyone cause to warn me over something because I've been there once myself, done the moderating job before and , frankly, would NEVER do it again.
So it isn't always obvious whether the mod staff are having a tough time or not, but it's always busier than it looks, trust me.
At this other forum, the topic of banning political discussion came up one year.
I was strongly enough opposed to it that I was prepared to resign if it were enacted.
It turns out that it didn't.
Over the next year that followed even I was enough disgusted at the behavior of enough members that a year later I was one of those who most strongly *supported* such a ban.
That year it turns out it went through.
And yes, it got quieter. *Temporarily*.
But we had no less headaches by the end of that year because the nature of the beast is that politics brushes against almost all other topics.
But that also, in hindsight, marked the decline of that forum. We lost something, a lot of sense of "community", the place just wasn't the same or as friendly.
See that's what people miss in this age where conflict is considered "bad"--it's part of socializing. I had to learn this the hard way myself, relatively later in my life, but really, look at two people who settle an issue in court, versus two who slap some gloves on and have at in the gym or backyard.
I bet most of us can guess which pair of people is more likely to take some relieved breaths, say "Okay, we had it out, it's over now" then go for drinks.
The only people who walk away "happy" or the "winners" in the courtroom are the attorneys.
Hell, even back when duelling was legal, they were not always, or later even *mostly*, to the death--in many cases the "first drawn blood" was enough, "honor" was "satisfied", and sometimes you even became friends.
Even back in my childhood--we were the last generation to escape PC meddling--once you beat, or even just fought, someone, you became friends, or at least the antagonism stopped.
Add to this that different parts of the country( this is a largely US community but even in Europe or the UK there are, I'm sure, similar regional differences as we have here because that's human nature), there will be those who've grown up with completely different attitudes to conflict. There's a concept in the Southern states of a "friendly fight" that doesn't exist in my native New England, for example. Where I was from, fighting somebody was to put them down in self defense and for no other purpose. In other places it's part of welcoming one into another group.
Imagine the mixed signals on an internet forum from just that difference in attitude alone. It'd be rather like the verbal/text equivalent of (Poster #1) "What's the matter, boy, you yella?(poster#2)*SNAPCRACKLEPOPMANGLEHARM*( crowd) "Dude, WTF?!?!?!?!!"
Which, now that we come to it, isn't that sort of miscommunication and differing views of conflict the very reason we're having this discussion to start with?
It was like when I went to the 2007 Meet and Greet and I met Terry the first time( Hi Terry
). I was struck by his outspokenness because , where I grew up, speaking in a loud tone of voice that everyone could always hear would in many cases be considered bad manners, however, in Texas, where Terry is from, that's just the normal way of talking--why say something if you haven't the conviction to *SAY* it, was the "vibe" I've gotten from one or two Texans since I met Terry and down there, that's normal. And Terry's an awesome guy.
If worse comes to worst, you have the ability that we, on the other forum never did of simply restricting certain posters' access to certain boards. In this way, no innocent posters are affected.
Hope you found something of use in my little ramble here. After considering it, my vote, were it to exist, would be to keep it open and prune offending branches when necessary.
