New "political discussions" forum

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Chip, Sep 3, 2004.

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  1. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    Folks,

    For the most part, I abhor political discussions, since they usually degrade into the "Jane you ignorant slut" sort of things (those of you under 40 will probably not know what I'm talking about.. old Saturday Nite Live reference)

    And political discussions seem to have completely overrun the "off topic" forum, which was never intended to be a home for political discussions. But since it seems there are a lot of threads here, I decided to separate all the political threads onto their own forum.

    Please do me a favor and make sure that if your post is political in nature, it doesn't post here, but in the new forum.

    Thanks!

    Chip
     
  2. tcnixon

    tcnixon Active Member

    Thank you, Chip. I, for one, appreciate the new forum. I'll never read it. :)



    Tom Nixon
     
  3. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Yay. I'm with you, Tom.

    Now, Chip, how about a forum for religious schools and questions, so I can have something else not to read.

    John
     
  4. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I'm with Tom and John. I get drawn in every once in awhile when I read particularly partisan attacks (only to make my own) in both religious and political topics. New groups: ignored groups.

    Halfway there....
     
  5. Khan

    Khan New Member

    The political heat will end soon with the election. I can hardly wait till it's over.
     
  6. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Two comments:

    First, it might be a mistake to create too many forums that aren't related to distance learning. It will just blunt Degreeinfo's focus and turn the board into a general chat venue attracting people who have little or no interest in DL. I think that it's important that Degreeinfo remain a DL destination and an influential source of DL opinion.

    Second, I disagree pretty vehemently with the idea of creating a separate forum for discussing religion programs. The demography of Degreeinfo suggests that any religion forum will evolve (sorry) into being all-Bible, all-the-time. The minority of us that don't limit religion to those terms will be unlikely to even read it.

    If the non-evangelicals among us were expected to discuss our own favored religion programs in such an environment, then our posts might never be seen by those most likely to respond to them. So in effect we would be prevented from fully participating here on Degreeinfo.
     
  7. mrw142

    mrw142 New Member

    Actually, so long as the administrators don't go wild with new forums: auto mechanic questions, home gardening tips, penile dysfunction support thread, et. al., I think it's a fine idea to segregate political and religious discussions into seperate forums. Misters Bear, Nixon and Douglas say they'll never read them, but of course, that's the point: discussions of any sort often evolve--some would say devolve--into political or religious discussions. If there are seperate areas for these interests, then the true distance discussion topics will be less likely to turn into political insultathons.
     
  8. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Messrs. Dayson and 142 make good points.

    I can see where a separate Religious forum would have the same basic complication as a separate Degree Mills forum: where to draw the line on a continuum from 'purely religious' to 'entirely academic.' A new DL program at Notre Dame, Southern Methodist, or Yeshiva: does it go into the religious forum or not. Similar issue with religious schools like Hamilton and LaSalle awarding MBAs or PhDs in physics, etc.

    So I guess my real wish is for descriptive text in "Post subject" -- not "Is this OK?" or "Exciting new development," but "Question about DL doctorate in Apologetics from Teilhard Christian University" or "Looking for Bachelor's in sacred music."
     
  9. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    Right. Besides, not all "religion" posters are evangelicals (Tom Head and myself come to mind from rather different corners of the playing field). My gravamen with the wehemu, for example, has nothing to do with her Egyptian-restorationist religion, about which, frankly, I care as much as I do about Lawsonomy (another Wisconsin-based Weltanschauung). It does have something to do with her purporting to operate a seminary, and the issue there is whether the school is academically legitimate, not what it believes.
     
  10. Orson

    Orson New Member

    Whuh? - New topics! KERRY KAPUT? or REVIVAL of IDEAS?

    (This post moved to political forum)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 4, 2004
  11. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    Let me be clear.

    My close 2nd choice to creating the political forum was to close all the threads relating to politics and simply announce that such discussions weren't appropriate to this forum.

    However, because there's a small group that seems to delight in bickering with people whose opinions they will never change, I figured it would be less work for me to simply move the stuff out of the main space. But if I keep getting complaints about inappropriate postings and such, I probably will simply close that forum and close any such threads.

    I don't mean to be dictatorial, but the name of the forum is, after all, degreeinfo, and political discussions are no more appropriate than tractor repair tips or anything else, so at some point we probably *should* draw the line.
     
  12. mrw142

    mrw142 New Member

    Chip:

    You have every right to be dictatorial, it's your forum.
     
  13. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    I suspect the politics-only forum will wither away. I have posted to the political threads, but would not be sorry to see them go. They are not what I'm here for.
     
  14. Professor Kennedy

    Professor Kennedy New Member

    After a seven week lay-off because Wanadoo.fr seemed unable to open to several sites in the US and news programmes in the UK, I finally returned to the UK today and opened my normal set of forums.

    However, finding this new forum, Politics, I realise how, en masses, these threads seem utterly uninteresting and I will be able to avoid reading them. Good idea, Chip.

    They have nothing to so with DL or DT. They are monologues between the deaf, nearly dumb and almost pointless.

    Labelling what I can avoid in this manner is the decision of the month.

    'Degreeinfo.com' should stick to what it is best at - DL (oh, OK, and DT).
     

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