Is political discussion allowed or not?

[fourthstooge]

I understand that there's a rule against political discussion in this forum. Yet, threads with overtly political topics are frequently started and allowed to continue until a moderator subjectively decides that certain comments are not allowed.

Either politcal topics are allowed or they're not. If they're not allowed, that's fine. But if they are, members should be allowed to have a free a robust discussion, just like any other topic, regardless of how controversial a moderator may find certain comments.

Anything short of that is censorship.

[AnthonyP]

not allowed, but moderators can't read everything as soon as people post

[fourthstooge]

Originally posted by AnthonyP
not allowed, but moderators can't read everything as soon as people post
I'm talking about threads that are started about distinctly political topics and allowed to go on and on, page after page, in which a moderator is obviously monitoring the discussion because he's participating in it. Then the moderator arbitrarily deletes any post that he subjectively feels is too controversial.

What I'm saying is that politics is, by its very nature, a controversial topic, and if the mods are going to allow a political thread to get started and proliferate, they should allow any and all comments even tangentially related to the topic. This is done with all other topics, so they should either be consistent or ban all political discussions, period.

[AnthonyP]

well I am not a moderator, just a user of the site. never saw any threads like the one you discuss here. I have seen some threads turn political but never one that was political from the start.

[fourthstooge]

Originally posted by AnthonyP
well I am not a moderator, just a user of the site. never saw any threads like the one you discuss here. I have seen some threads turn political but never one that was political from the start.
I just happen to have one right here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=515271

[Woodrow]

Anthony..don't even bother with this guy. All he does is give the mods in the HDTV forum a hard time, along with everyone else...

Nothing at all wrong with that thread he's linking to.

BTW, fourthstooge...there is no such thing as censorship on a private message board. You don't like how they do things? You can do something about it...go somewhere else.

Originally posted by fourthstooge
How about AVS Forum censorship?

[AnthonyP]

I'm talking about threads that are started about distinctly political topics

there is a political undertone, but the thread is about programming and it is in the programming forum. Obviously if it is about censoring and a party fighting about it it might get political, but the thread itself and the topic is not.


at least that is my opinion. I can also understand (without knowing what got deleted and having read the whole thread) that the moderator would try and keep the most political comments to a minimum

[fourthstooge]

Originally posted by AnthonyP
there is a political undertone, but the thread is about programming and it is in the programming forum. Obviously if it is about censoring and a party fighting about it it might get political, but the thread itself and the topic is not.
How can you say it has only a political undertone? It's about the political agenda of a freakin' U.S. SENATOR, for Chri'sake! What's more political than that?

QUOTE]Originally posted by AnthonyP
at least that is my opinion. I can also understand (without knowing what got deleted and having read the whole thread) that the moderator would try and keep the most political comments to a minimum [/QUOTE]
So now we're talking about degrees of political comment. I ask again, is political discussion allowed or not? Why should there be a double standard?

[fourthstooge]

Originally posted by Woodrow
Anthony..don't even bother with this guy. All he does is give the mods in the HDTV forum a hard time, along with everyone else...
How "RED" of you to consider someone with an opinion different from yours to be "giving a hard time". I guess it's much easier to silence dissent than to have free and open discussion of the issues in the New Fascist America.

[AnthonyP]

I see it as being about censoring. There are two questions that make me say it is not a political thread (that to me means a political agenda from the OP)

1) was it bestarted because of the politicien or because of what is on the Agenda of the politicien. I see it about being about the agenda, I am sure whatever senator or partie affiliation it would have been the post would have been made.

2) Is it relevent? the answer here is yes, It is in the contemnt forum and the discussion is about content

obviously this discussion cannot happen without some politics being discussed, but it is not a "distinctly political topic". It is like in the Merchent of Venice, the judge rules that SHYLOCK should get his pound of flesh as long as there is no blood dropped. You want the same thing. Yes the topic has a political slant, it cannot be discussed without infringing on politics, the same way a pound of meet cannot be cut without dropping blood. But the question is "what is the discussion about?" and like I see it , it is not politics but about some possible legistlation that affects people in the topic of the forum.


So yes political (for the sake of political) discussion is not alowed, but if everything that might have "degrees of political comment" is not allowed the whole forum should be stopped because any talk on HD programming might lead to political discussion by your definition

[Karyk]

I think the distinction is often when you're talking about a specific Senator's position on an HD topic, that's allowed. When you start venturing off to talk about Republican and Democrat positions in general, or refer to Ted Kennedy and Byrd without any reference to HD at all, you'll get threads closed.

[fourthstooge]

C'mon guys, we're playing semantics here and splitting hairs.

A topic is political whether it's about a politician or his agenda. If anything, an argument can be made that the subject thread doesn't even belong in the HDTV forum because it has nothing to do with HDTV.

"But the question is "what is the discussion about?" and like I see it , it is not politics but about some possible legistlation that affects people in the topic of the forum."

What is a discussion about possible legislation made by a political body about if not politics? General, incidental comments are made in threads about other topics all the time without being deleted (unless they're obscene). Therefore they should be allowed in threads about politics or with a political theme, if you like. If a full and diverse exchange of ideas and opinions about a topic can't be expressed, then that topic should not be allowed in the forum. We're all grownups here. We should be able to express our opinions, even if some consider them controversial, without it causing a riot. If it does cause a riot, that's when the moderator should step in. That's the way it's handled in every other thread, and there's no shortage of threads with controversial and off-color remarks. Treating political (theme) threads any differently suggests that the moderators may have a political agenda of their own.

[Karyk]

Originally posted by fourthstooge
C'mon guys, we're playing semantics here and splitting hairs.

Go to the thread that started this (or which I think did). The one on censorship of sat. programming.

It got closed because of the discussion turning to Democrat vs. Republican and mentions of Ted Kennedy and Byrd that were pretty OT.

I don't care for Ted Kennedy one bit, and in another forum would be all over him. And I quit posting in Tivo Community after they restricted political talk there. But quite frankly, I appreciate the attempts to keep the political talk on topic here.

[AnthonyP]

Like I said, I have not read what was there or what was deleted, so I cannot say if the moderator has an agenda or not. You said it is a "political thread" and should not be allowed. I just indicated that it is a thread about programming and so to me it made sense that it will be allowed. If someone decided to make all TV illegal because it makes kids lazy and dumb, it should be discussed here. If someone is pushing to make any copying of movie material a capital offence with death penalty it also deserves to be discussed here. My point was not that you were or were not well treated or if the mod had reason or not to delete or change your posts. Just that you said this was a purely political thread and it should not be allowed and I said it deserves to exist because it affects entertainment and what you see on TV and that is what this place is about.

[Karyk]

This is the thread that started it:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=515271&perpage=60&highlight=Senator&pagenumber=1

You can't tell what started it actually, because a post was deleted. But the post that tells you that did indicate that the Senator at issue was fair game.

[fourthstooge]

What the subject thread proves is that politics is inextricably linked to many TV programming and entertainment issues despite the efforts of some to keep them separate. That's why it's ludicrous and disingenuous to arbitrarily stifle a politically related discussion by not allowing certain opinions to be expressed. If political content is going to be allowed, then all related opinions should be allowed. Post deletions should not be made merely because the moderator fears that it MIGHT cause a political firestorm. There's plenty of time to put an end to any possible political riot if and when one develops.

For the record, my post that was deleted was not a hysterical or ideological partisan rant. I simply pointed out that legislation such as what this senator is proposing is being fueled by the empowerment of the religious right since the re-election of our "pious" president. I believe this is not only factually correct, but it is also relevant to the topic.

[David Bott]

WE DO NOT allow for political chat on the site for it leads to members attacking other members and people just bashing other parties.

And yes, your thread/post would have been pulled for such comments as "our "pious" president" for you are pushing your view point and that would lead to someone attacking you back that happens to like the president.

Thus we have the RULES about it. We do like some chat happen where it is of interest to areas such as HDTV or what have you, but as soon as you go off into another direction, as it usually does, it will end the thread and or have your account suspended.

I will now close this thread.