Politics is pretty important right now

While I respect that Jamie and the others who run this board have a right to run it anyway they want, I’d like to make a formal plea to stop burying politics right now. With the democratic race and what is currently happening on the impeachment front, I think, even if the threads dominate the board, it’s too important right now to subvert.


I don't mind the extra click to get to Politics. But the sub forum is 90% identity-driven political bickering.


Second for mrincredible.  I go to the Politics subforum pretty much every time i come to MOL, but i also like to be able to see the other threads first.


Political postings bury all the other threads. Its best to keep them it separate in a sub-forum. 


If it came to a vote, I would definitely vote to keep politics separate.  


BG9 said:

Political postings bury all the other threads. Its best to keep them it separate in a sub-forum. 

That’s because it’s the most important topic right now. I can maybe see cutting it off in other times but this is the most important thing happening right now. Subverting it feels a bit like censoring 


Honestly it's not like there are that many active threads in politics. Just a few.  Its not like years ago when new political threads got started every hour or two.


mrincredible said:

I don't mind the extra click to get to Politics. But the sub forum is 90% identity-driven political bickering.

 But its a treasure trove of one liners. Worth the work.


conandrob240 said:

That’s because it’s the most important topic right now. I can maybe see cutting it off in other times but this is the most important thing happening right now. Subverting it feels a bit like censoring 

 Not really. I’m cool with one extra click. If one extra click amounts to censoring...


You’re entitled to your opinion. I was merely expressing mine. It makes it seem like the threads we see are the most popular- to me that’s misleading and a form of censorship. The extra click is one thing but you don’t even see if there’s been activity on those threads when you go to the message board. You have to click to see if there’s anything new.


On my phone, I have always had ‘shortcuts’ to My Discussions, Participated Discussions, Last 24 and All Discussions.  I have separate browser tabs for them on my computer. Can’t you do the same with Politics or any other sub forum and go straight to it that way?


There is a quick link at the top of the list to the politics sub forum.

Overall the separated politics has been working out well.  We just need to figure out a better way to link to subforums on mobile - that's been the trickiest challenge.

One big issue with politics in the main area is that we get new people joining every day.  Having them come to the forum and seeing all of the top threads being politics related - is a bit confusing for a site dedicated to Maplewood.  Also, a bit overwhelming when you first log in and see one thread has over 8,000 unread comments and another has over 19,000 unread comments.

In the next few months - our goal is to try and figure out how to highlight and encourage the local sections better.  If anyone is interested in helping us out - pm me!  


This argument MIGHT make sense if the other most popular threads were maplewood-related but most are not.


sac said:

On my phone, I have always had ‘shortcuts’ to My Discussions, Participated Discussions, Last 24 and All Discussions.  I have separate browser tabs for them on my computer. Can’t you do the same with Politics or any other sub forum and go straight to it that way?

I never thought to do this but I could. Thanks for the tip. 

(The broader feedback stands). 


meh

leave it separated

makes me feel special


Been posting here for going on two decades and I have to agree with moving politics to a subthread. No need to subject newbies to hundreds of pages of what's passing for debate lately. I'm involved in the discussions and I'm skipping dozens and dozens of comments from a couple of prolific contributors. I can only imagine how a new member might react to having to sift through that much chaff. 


Its hard to see the harm.  I just go to the politics page when I want politics and the main page when I want MAPSO stuff. Just bookmark the politics subthread and you are in like Flynn.


Leave it the way it is now. Why should we subject the rest of humanity to Nan ??? 


Jaytee said:

Leave it the way it is now. Why should we subject the rest of humanity to Nan ??? 

 What's with the meanspirited personal attacks?  I have not commented on this thread, although I do comment in politics.  What exactly are you referring to here?  I do not exist outside of humanity.


nan said:

Jaytee said:

Leave it the way it is now. Why should we subject the rest of humanity to Nan ??? 

 What's with the meanspirited personal attacks?  I have not commented on this thread, although I do comment in politics.  What exactly are you referring to here?  I do not exist outside of humanity.

 let's just say you are an acquired taste.  cheese


I’d keep it separate. Still trying to get my head around how that even remotely approaches censorship. 


I wonder, as an alternative, if we can have one political thread on the main page if there's a particularly hot issue, like , oh, I don't know, the impeachment of the President. It would have to be in the soapbox category , I guess.


jamie said:

One big issue with politics in the main area is that we get new people joining every day.  Having them come to the forum and seeing all of the top threads being politics related - is a bit confusing for a site dedicated to Maplewood.  Also, a bit overwhelming when you first log in and see one thread has over 8,000 unread comments and another has over 19,000 unread comments. 

 Seems to me, MOL is more than Maplewood — South Orange? The existence of threads with 8K, 19k or 40+K “unread” comments should not be “overwhelming”. If I were a newcomer, I might go to the last page, take a look at what is under discussion, and then make a decision to read more, or to follow.

No problem here with the click, but maybe a click to return back could be considered? I still find getting out of the politics page annoying, but doable.


drummerboy said:

I wonder, as an alternative, if we can have one political thread on the main page if there's a particularly hot issue, like , oh, I don't know, the impeachment of the President. It would have to be in the soapbox category , I guess.

 This is sort of exactly my point. We are in the process of impeaching a President. That sort of transcends just “politics” and it is way too important to be buried.


Sixty posts on the 2020 thread since last night at 9:00 pm and all of them about Tulsi Gabbard, a woman who will never be President and, after the December 31, 2020, won't even be a Congresswoman.  

If this is the "important politics" folks aren't missing much.


So ban the ridiculous person monopolizing all the threads. The rest of us could then have a normal discussion.


My vote is to keep it in a sub-forum. I don't think I've clicked on it in weeks. 


I just don't see why it is a big deal to do one extra click to get there if you want to see politics.  Censorship is keeping us from seeing it, not one extra click.  I vote to keep it as is.


I don’t think anyone was taking a vote. I was merely expressing my own opinion on the current set up. I find it annoying and a bit misleading. But it’s not my board, not my rules. 


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