Why is the politics forum dead?

You don't even have to go back to 2001, even up till a few months ago it was vibrant

 

A bit of selective memory here.

In the main the right wing crazies as you put them were dealt with by Skip, the big turning point being the 100 post rule, which lessened trouble and traffic considerably.

And although you seem to feel I’m omnipotent, I’m not, in fact I have very few posts for the number of years I’ve been here, I don’t get involved in every thread, answer every post, join in every argument in the politics forums.

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You seem to put a lot of store in ‘winning’ an argument but to me debate is about learning, seeing which of my views stand up to argument or not, if they don’t, to me that more satisfying than if they do because it makes me think and adapt. The problem is that some people have dogma not views and when those don’t stand up to scrutiny (don’t win in their view) they don’t find that fun or interesting and they don’t rethink their views, they get angry and become huffy or go away.

Sorry Hipstatic but many of your ideas don’t stand up very well, that’s not my fault, maybe you should just rethink your views.

What you seem to be saying is that I (and others) shouldn’t point out that you ideas have flaws or even criticise them. That peoples ideas here shouldn’t go unchallenged?

I relish having my views criticised and you’ve done it many times, but as you know I will defend them because I think they’re defendable. Others however seem unwilling or unable to defend their views and rather than have them challenged run away to places were the criticisms are weaker or non existent.

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odon

And on…and on…

Sorry, I’m not one of the twitter generation, I prefer reference books to wiki articles and a two hour meal with friends to a McDonalds drive through.

I’ve often done a lot of research before answering posts here, online and off.

And that is often reflected in the replies I give (and there length).
All I can do is apologise.

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People like Hipstatic who keep bringing up what you term nicely ‘the politics of moderation’ are those that don’t seem to want actual debate, they have hit upon the ruse of claiming that the ability of people to ask them questions they are unwilling or unable to answer is somehow connected to the moderation of the site.

This seems to be more of a conspiracy theory than a rational argument.

They would prefer it, it seems, if they could post their views without being challenged.

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Mad

As I’ve been trying to point out there has been an incremental decline in traffic.

Almost overwhelming in 2001

Hundred post rule cut it down considerably.

Bushies numbers declined then basically disappeared

The conspiracy theorists were asked to post conspiracy theory in the Conspiracy Forum.

The financial crises took the wind out of the sails of the free marketeers

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The question is what now?

If the right are unwilling and seemingly unable to debate their ideas and the left don’t feel the need to do so, then what happens?

 

The question is do you want to keep moderating this forum to death, or do you want open debate to return here.


Because right now its dead..

 

Could I ask what this "hundred post rule" is? by the way this site is sorta,uh vacant.Sorry if these rules are posted someplace, I haven't ran across them yet.

 

You use to need 100 posts to be able to post in the politics section, and a few others i think

 

I was only joking.
I can appreciate the trouble you take and the research you may indulge in.
I honestly wish more people did the same thing (including myself.)
I was only poking a bit of fun out of you (...and did go on to say it was a joke.)
In comparison to most, some of my posts are long too - overly long sometimes.
I think given what Hip' said I picked up on the least controversial elements of you posting style/presentation etc.

I don't really have anything further to add to this issue, tbh, so I won't engage any further in this particular debate (That's why I just made a little joke.)

 

Drew

In what way is it being ‘moderated to death’?

My last moderator decision was to reopen this thread, your thread, because I thought it an important contribution to community discussion.

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I believe the 100 post rule dosen't exist anymore or at least not for politics


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Odon

I accepted it as a joke but a joke with an edge of truth, I am sometimes passionate and long winded because of that, its something I try not to do but its my nature and sometimes I have difficulty curbing my nature.

Please don’t give up on the discussion because I think this is important.

 

Thanks for acknowledging that, I appreciate it.
It did have an element of truth, which was the point, tbh.
I think we all have difficulty curbing our....mmm..I think I'd opt for personality over our nature.

Ok. I'll keep a foot in the door.

 

There's been so many pointless threads, where we end up getting nowhere.


Mostly just random accusations and people not being heard.

 

WARNING

on accessing hippyland my computer was attacked by a trojan (unsuccessfully)

it happened as i started downloading hippyland

it would seem that these people have now moved on to a new way of tryign to attack these forums

they are somehow trying to insert trojans between the hippy server and my computer.

if you are going to post on the political forums now be careful, it looks as if the usual suspects are trying to attack the site

you will need to step up your computers security - this is the first time i have seen this whilst tryign to get on this site and i suspect it will set a precedent.

i warned you balbus about letting these people to shout down free thought and you ignored me, the apologists for the war are like a cancer here

get rid of them.

 

I agree^^^



Balbus seems to think "we, the right wing neo nazis" ran off because we were unable to defend our views.But we're all here an accounted for. So much for that theory, huh.

After years of losing the majority of the discussions/debates here most of the resident Lefties moved on.Who could blame them.

Moderators made this forum what it is,

Mods let the lefties do as they wished an kept anyone with an opposing view on a short leash, made for boring one sided discussions , like what you have now.

no one else is to blame.

 

^^^^^
Perfect example of what we "crazy right wingers" have had to put up with for years.

 

Guy, ever thought it was just an anomaly?
Let us all know if it happens over and over again, though.
Nobody else seems to be having those issues...and sorry to say: "Your not that bloody special, bro."

This kinda crap is another reason the forum might have slowed down.
People who only like one opinion... There own.

 

Thanks for the warnning.

 

I am getting the same message in Firefox. Chrome doesn't seem bothered.

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edit: Scratch that - Chrome told be the same thing when I entered this comment!

 

People who put a lot of store in 'winning' tend to go around proclaiming themselves the winners of things. And who does that? Nobody here, except you. Here's an example:

For someone interested in 'learning' and not 'winning' why would you make such a silly, open ended "the left is correct about everything, and everyone knows it" type comment.

And aside from that rather glaring contradiction, who is this 'left' that knows it? Who else on the left has been behind this string of victories? Gardener? Are you sharing your podium with anyone?

"I'm sorry I'm always right". Are you 10 years old Balbus? Do you think nobody else writes that sort of silliness because they don't think they are ever right? Or could it be because they don't feel the need to? Because they think its for other people to decide the merits of their arguments, rather than unilaterally declaring themselves the victor?

But I didn't say that. This is classic straw man tactics. If you think your views can stand up to scrutiny why resort to cheap debating tactics like that?

How about I take over as moderator, and then declare that as a socialist, everything thread you start has to go under socialism, and if you start talking about "socialism" then you are off topic and will have your posts deleted. Would you "run away"?

Again, you supposedly relish criticism. But you respond with "I apologise that the length of my posts reflects the full extent of my deep thoughts and the fruits of my extensive research". Its really the same thing as before - "I'm sorry I'm always right/so much smarter than everyone else". Why pretend you relish criticism when even mild comments about your writing style lead to the full peacock display of vanity? Even the greatest writers in history had editors, yet you are offended when someone complains about your unwillingness to use simple formatting tools when writing the longest winded posts around.

Remember Balbus, you are the one who a while back was petty enough to open a locked thread, declare yourself the winner in multiple long rambling posts, and then re lock the thread. Yet you see a level playing field here.

If you repeat a straw man, does it become true? No.

And finally, the fact that you continue to pander to people like guy as he tries to drive the jews and mossad agents out of the forum is a complete and utter disgrace.