Private Political Discussion Forum?

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Stephen

That was the original intent of the misc forum. However political threads make up more than have of the misc now... and the other half seem to turn politcal at one point or another.

Correct. And remember, this proposed solution results in a forum that will only be visible to those that "subscribe" to it. Also, it keeps our poly threads out of the search engines so we don't attract folks who just want to flame or troll and aren't even interested in Northeast skiing or hiking.

Originally Posted by Stephen

I think what Greg is trying to offer may be an alternative to nixing politcal discussions, as they can be overbearing and hijack an otherwise legitimate discussion (as was pointed out above).

Again, correct. Darren over at VFTT runs a very tight ship and doesn't allow any discusson of politics nor virtually any else not related to the subject of Northeast hiking. I don't like this approach as I feel getting viewpoints on other matters from like-minded local skiers and hikers realy adds to the camaraderie found here.

Originally Posted by Stephen

To use the Mtn Bike example, I'm sure if over half the threads in the misc forum were about mountain biking, we'd be pretty quick to channel that into it's own forum.

Again, correct. There are only a couple of biking/mtn biking threads and none of them received any replies...

[Joshua B]

Has anyone PMd you to say they took offense to the current political discussions?

I usually avoid them but I think they're fine staying the the General board.

[ctenidae]

I think the biggest advantage to a dedicated politics thread is keeping it off the search engine index- that helps maintain the hiking/skiing aspect, so that guests adn new members come to AZ for that (avoiding the flame-only members).
I look at this board kind of like a neighborhood bar- a bunch of people who know each other pretty well, sitting around talking about stuff. Mostly we talk about skiing and hiking, because that's what we all ahve in common, but we wander a bit, just like any bar. A politics-only thread is kind of like a dark booth in the back, where you know what the conversationis, and if you don't want to get involved, no problem.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Joshua B

Has anyone PMd you to say they took offense to the current political discussions?

I usually avoid them but I think they're fine staying the the General board.

No. No complaints made to me. It was simply proposed privately among the moderators.

[BeanoNYC]

I voted "not sure"

I like Greg's reasons for the private political forum but I can't help but think that this will end up being an opportunity for some heavy flames. At least if it is out in the public, there is some sort of self monitoring going on. In a private forum, it may well end up like an OK-Corral and undermining relationships between members (I'd hate to see someone miss a meetup because of hard feelings) and the overall spirit of the forum (the vibe here is cool and I'm afraid a shooting gallery would mess with it.)

Rich

[Bob R]

Originally Posted by ctenidae

I think the biggest advantage to a dedicated politics thread is keeping it off the search engine index- that helps maintain the hiking/skiing aspect, so that guests adn new members come to AZ for that (avoiding the flame-only members).
I look at this board kind of like a neighborhood bar- a bunch of people who know each other pretty well, sitting around talking about stuff. Mostly we talk about skiing and hiking, because that's what we all ahve in common, but we wander a bit, just like any bar. A politics-only thread is kind of like a dark booth in the back, where you know what the conversationis, and if you don't want to get involved, no problem.

I could have not said this better. I voted yes and I will not enter the potential new forum. I like the core topics. New members should come here for skiing and hiking. I favor a mountain bike froum, but we would need more people involved.

[smitty77]

My vote was also for "not sure". I think leaving the political discussion in Misc are fine. That's part of what that forum is for - anything not pertaining to hiking or skiing.

But, having the ability to "mask" these posts from the outside world would be nice, it keeps the riff-raff out.

Smitty

[bvibert]

What if you just made the Misc section only viewable for registered members? That would eliminate the search engine, riff-raff thing...

[ctenidae]

That's a good idea, bvibert- is it possible to make a thread un-indexed?

[bvibert]

I don't know much about search engine indexing, but if having a separate forum for politics that is only viewable by certain members will stop those posts from being indexed then the same should work for the misc discussion if it was only viewable for members. If you don't want people finding this site because of the political discussions then you probably don't want them to find this place based on the misc-discussions in general