Lilith,

While I will, no doubt, be criticized for the length of this post, I believe your request to be sincere, and so will provide you with my view.

There will be a lot of overhead in creating a Political Section. Will guidelines be established, published and adhered to? Whose opinions will be used to decide what a political statement is; the owners’, yours, or some cross section of opinions from members who have posted in political threads before? Should a joke with political overtones go into the Political section or into the Jokes thread?

How political must a post be before it is moved to the Political section? Will the thread be moved with the post into the Political section, or will only the post be moved? If the thread is to remain in the original section, will the post simply be deleted? Will the deletion be noted? It might upset the originator of a thread, and possibly even the other participants to discover that the nth post was deleted by the Political Mod while the preceding posts were considered to be politically correct. gekkogecko’s post in re the visionaries from Missouri seems to raise similar questions.

Assuming that the thread will be moved to the Political Section; doesn’t that place the power of where the thread ends up into the hands of the poster rather than the originator or mod? I’m sure we all remember threads disappearing because of coarse profanities and vicious statements being posted. I’d guess that if a Political Section was created, whenever a thread disappeared from the section it had occupied, the first thing a member would do would be to look in the Political Section to see if it was moved there due to a violation of the political orientation policy.

Will posts be reviewed for political content after the member has pressed Alt+S but before being displayed for other members to read? If so, will the political review be 24*7 or will posts be queued for review? If posts are to be queued, which sections will be reviewed first (or last); the sections with the largest backlog of posts, or the sections with the longest posts? If posts are not to be reviewed before display, don’t you agree that removing posts after the fact– particularly those with passionately expressed opinions – change the nature of the thread? How long must a post be in place before it is “politically safe”? Is either path where you wish to take Pixies?

Will someone who is too far from the Pixie Mainstream be prohibited from posting? If not, will that member’s posts pop to the top of the Political Mod’s “to do” list?

As Catch22 points out, “bad feelings” can and do occur in sections which are not apparently political. As Teddy Bear points out we should all be able to control ourselves.

As to the notion that politics has no place here, I share Grumble’s doubts that it would be right to stop people airing their views and thoughts.

Loulabels’s comment about functionally creating an American only sub section have merit. Should there be another section for the political discussions of non-Americans?

I doubt that adopting some apartheid policy of segregation will be of any more value to Pixies than it has been anywhere else. Creating a Political Section is not in our best interests.

Permit me to close by quoting from old posts here:

“Pixies will never be a waste of time so long as we keep having new members join and participate. I for one think that when we start making threads judging the quality of posts and pointing the finger we discourage everyone from posting freely and that is a huge mistake.”

“I wander through, and stay in touch with, particular threads. I ignore the others in self preservation unless something catches my eye.
That's just how I deal with it.”

“They are all Pixies because the people who post here decide what Pixies is.”

The problem is when people who wish to avoid political threads are unable to do so because of innocuous thread titles.

I personally just go down the list of threads and pop in to see what it's about. If I don't like it or am not interested I pop right back out. I do like to read the political threads. I haven't posted on any because others on here are much smarter then me but I still like to read the views.

I don't see a problem with them staying in General Chat. We only have to get through till November and then I assume most of the political stuff will die down.

I am concerned that it could cause hard feelings among members at times when a good debate gets going. However I have been on many boards and so far I will say that Pixies is the most respectful and tolerant board I have seen so far. As for any controversial subject we all must remember to attack the topic and not the poster.

I'm agreeing with Teddy here.....I came for the stories, and stayed for the people. That Pixies is a wonderful open sexual playground is great, but if it was nothing but naked folks I'd have moved on a long time since. I think the people that fall in love with this place are open, caring and interesting in many more ways than the obvious. I want to know the people, it's part of what's such a turn on to many I think. As such, I don't think any single subject should be outlawed.

As far as making a seperate section for the purpose.....I dunno. Political or quasi-political tiffs break out over all sorts of things. I think those who have pointed out that it's a tough line to draw have a point. Also, I don't understand why politics should be singled out for quarantining....while it may be an obvious offender, there are other topics that even I've noted tend to bring the heat fairly regularly despite being political free zones. Anyone want to go another three rounds on how to end a marriage? It's not sex, and it's not sexy, and I see no reason it shouldn't be left right where it was. How about the ins and outs of open relationships? That's a topic that totally belongs here, and I'm not entirely sure what it turned to when it ran off topic (if it did) could be called strictly political. And that's just off the top of my head...I'm in no way totally caught up with the boards since my flu last week. Moreover, there are counter examples: political talks that haven't turned into fire fights. I think there IS a section that keeps the politics away from the "just get naked" folks already (General Chat), and that more subdivision is solving a non-problem. After all, I'm a walking example that it's easy to avoid the political threads as is. I chose quite some time ago to keep my political discussion on my other online home, I have no problem avoiding the topics here and I don't make all that much of an effort. Hell, I had to make more of an effort to go find what might have started this ball rolling down the hill.

If the intent is to keep people from fighting...or to keep those fights from spreading, I have to ask...are they really? I haven't seen bad blood spill over onto other threads ever (if you don't count Steph and PF....and I think it's probably best not to ;) ). We're a pretty bright group, we're going to have opinions, and those opinions are going to clash on occassion. It's our job to be grownups when that happens, and walk away if we can't manage to be nice. There are interesting things to be learned in the conflict about politics, just as when people have different opinions about whether a blow job should start at the tip or the base. It's also our job to keep the tone high, and react to negative posts on non-sex topics the same way we would to nasty posts about someone's pics. We don't do the latter, we can manage not to do the former. And if we don't manage to behave, well, then we should be reminded gently that we're out of line.

Or am I just totally missing the point? (By the way....I've decided the "post quick reply" button is just a joke in my world, no such animal....sorry I got babbling again)

I fear that if we go down the road of a forum for politics, a forum for sport,

a forum for ... and a forum for ... we're going to fragment Pixies to the point

that it'll lose it's identity.

In the limited time I have to spend in the forum, posting, cruising and cruising back to check

on replies to posts is taking up so much time, I rarely even stick my head in Chat.

Gotta see if I can get the Government to legislate the extra hour in the day for Pixies.

Hey, sex and politics DO mix.

I know what you mean, I don't count him in for anything. :fish:

Lilith,

There is some merit to your critique. I browsed the General Chat forum. Some threads are titled in a way that makes it difficult to infer the contents from the title.

That being said, the hover text - which is displayed when the mouse pointer hovers over the thread title for about 1 second and which lasts for about 5 seconds - provides a “sneak preview” of the first post, thus reducing the need to follow the link to learn of its contents.

If the members who create threads do so with this in mind, would that make you feel more comfortable?

It's not about my comfort level...I am interested in everyone's views.

I'm more interested in Mr. Lil's view. :D


I originally voted to put them in another area so it's easier to ignore them, but Jseal brings up an excellent point that I'm still not used to enough to even have considered. Hover text...I love it! It'd be just as easy to decide if I want to weigh in on a topic (sexual or not) using hover text, so creating a world views forum wouldn't necessarily be that much more helpful.

After reading through this thread it seems to me their is only more clear choice...

We all just need to get naked. ;)

Then after that, if someone just has to post a political thread, it should go into General Chat and we will each have to make the decision as to whether or not we want to read or reply to such a thread. I have seen these discussions get really heated. I think that's okay as long as it remains a discussion. When it comes down to "You Democrats just want to get a bj from an intern" or "You Republicans just want to invade other countries"... well, that doesn't doesn't serve to express a point of view at all and at that point I think the members involved should excuse themselves from the thread for awhile. My opinion is that if I do want to discuss or discover other political opinions I would rather do it here at Pixies with people I know. But please, fellow Pixies, let's not start a barrage of political threads... ok?

Now who's up for getting naked!!!!!!!

Yeah Sharni...segregation is not the goal at all here I agree. You know I have been less in favor of sub-dividing because I also think it clutters things up and to be honest if I have to try to figure out where to put something I might just say fuck it and not post anything. I like the simplicity of it's sex or something else, I need advice or a date....

I'm with Aqua (mmmm wishful thinking) everyone get naked and keep giving feedback on your personal feelings about this.

Oh and jseal's point about the hover text is superb...it's a new feature that even I did not consider as a solution.

Having witnessed this topic repeatedly become one of the few dividing and truly hostile points in our village, the quick-fix of a separate category seemed appealing. The mention of “International Views” being included, brought excited vision of a quarantine area with a cage for Steph. I’m only happy I felt strongly enough about the effect these topics have on something very important to me, to sleep on it before voting and posting.

After reading the considered thoughts of many wise members, I have to reassess my desire for utopia among people I regard as more than some names I’ve met on the web. This has become a special family for me and will have all the feature of reality in that manner. That will include good days and bad days, brilliance and mistakes, endearment and frustration and differences of opinions from each of us.

I want to continue to share private moments with special people, and be able to be open like can not be done in our culture. We should be able to share our thoughts and keep the difference of opinions from becoming brawls. We should amuse and lust and irritate and comfort and enjoy all the other experiences a close community has from time to time. We can not do that with a segregated structure. I know you won’t make Sharni take the Smut Games with her and Stephs’ monkeys will just fly into other categories and haunt me anyway. :(

Keep us real and we’ll work our way though. :)

Some interesting points have been brought up in this thread. At first reading the poll my gut told me (maybe it was the taco I had for dinner) that we should leave it like it is. I still think that after reading some of the very thorough responses above. One thing, which means more work for the over worked mods already, would be to be a bit more forceful relocation of posts when need be (i.e. into the jokes thread).

Which brings up another possible forum... do we need one for humor? This way it would not just be a thread that you post in. It would also allow for readers to be able to discern from the post title if they wanted to read the post or not. Just a thought.

In the end, at least for me, it comes down to what I read and don't read. I also try to think about others when I post and what they will think (this applies to this board and others that I frequent). I think that I have a handle on the community that I am posting in, so I try to avoid things that are sure to be a hornet's nest.... unless that is the intent of the reply/post. Members here should be able to control themselves and post in a fashion that makes it usable for other people.

I am surprised how many posts, not so much here at Pixies, I start reading because some bonehead decided to get cute with a title that does not relate to the post at all... those are the ones that tick me off... not the political ones. I just ignore those for the most part. So... if we can ask that folks use appropriate titles in their posts that might also go a long way.

Humor, politics, and religion are some very touchy subjects. Usually when you voice an opinion in one of those areas you are going to find someone that does not agree!

And in my final 2 cents I'll add that even though it stinks when someone is upset by a post, we are all grown ups here and one of the things to realize is that in an area like this one there are going to be LOTS of opinions and feelings (what is that they say about opinions?... just like some part of human anatomy everyone has one) and it is up to us to try and remain calm and collected as we all learn a little more about what makes each of us tick (or tick off).

Sorry for the rambling... I hope that makes some sort of sense.
-Toast