I thought about phrasing this question in a hypothetical, round about way, but I'm just going to ask and suffer whatever the consequences.
Do you have any idea why D&D is so very liberal?
Historically speaking a lot of the less liberal posters got left behind when the GOP went off the deep end. So they've been pushed into the liberal camp. Plus DnD values facts, plus it's hard for conservatives to bear the brunt of the dogpile.
Astaereth on
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syndalisGetting ClassyOn the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Productsregular
I thought about phrasing this question in a hypothetical, round about way, but I'm just going to ask and suffer whatever the consequences.
Do you have any idea why D&D is so very liberal?
Historically speaking a lot of the less liberal posters got left behind when the GOP went off the deep end. So they've been pushed into the liberal camp. Plus DnD values facts, plus it's hard for conservatives to bear the brunt of the dogpile.
The one I bolded is questionable to be honest, but 1 and 3 are pretty spot on. We have a democrat coalition here that includes disaffected republicans and super leftists alike.
Also we can be rude as all hell, glorious edict aside, when it comes to someone defending Paul Ryan or conservative ideology.
SW-4158-3990-6116
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
I thought about phrasing this question in a hypothetical, round about way, but I'm just going to ask and suffer whatever the consequences.
Do you have any idea why D&D is so very liberal?
Historically speaking a lot of the less liberal posters got left behind when the GOP went off the deep end. So they've been pushed into the liberal camp. Plus DnD values facts, plus it's hard for conservatives to bear the brunt of the dogpile.
The one I bolded is questionable to be honest, but 1 and 3 are pretty spot on. We have a democrat coalition here that includes disaffected republicans and super leftists alike.
Also we can be rude as all hell, glorious edict aside, when it comes to someone defending Paul Ryan or conservative ideology.
Fact based isn't quite right, evidence based is probably a bit better. Stuff like Laffer Curve comments get dog piled by requests for evidence of it ever working and the like. To say the average GOPer is unprepared for that level of response is an understatement. It's just a completely different discussion than happens in main stream political comments where things like reducing taxes can be revenue neutral through economic stimulus is accepted as plausible.
I thought about phrasing this question in a hypothetical, round about way, but I'm just going to ask and suffer whatever the consequences.
Do you have any idea why D&D is so very liberal?
Historically speaking a lot of the less liberal posters got left behind when the GOP went off the deep end. So they've been pushed into the liberal camp. Plus DnD values facts, plus it's hard for conservatives to bear the brunt of the dogpile.
Do you view d&d as a whole to be biased in any direction?
Have you ever taken active steps to adjust that perception?
If there was one activity you wish D&D would lessen or stop, what is it?
It's super liberal. That's beyond our ability to really change. We do try though, to discourage dogpiling and allow conservative voices to have a place on the forums. That's probably the most time intensive moderation task on the forums. Most conservative voices who do sign up aren't interested in anything other than screaming at anyone, unfortunately, and the ones that are find the hyper-liberal atmosphere off putting. TLDR, you can be a Trump supporter here, I don't have a problem with that ad admin, but you have to be able to keep your shit together. That doesn't really happen. We have a ton of hyper left wing members who got kicked off for not being able to keep their shit together, but people don't count them.
I thought about phrasing this question in a hypothetical, round about way, but I'm just going to ask and suffer whatever the consequences.
Do you have any idea why D&D is so very liberal?
I have a pet theory that any forum with selective membership/participation will eventually trend towards one of the poles and stick there, as folks who disagree either leave themselves or are driven out by a dogpile. Then the remaining group just sort of reinforces themselves.
I thought about phrasing this question in a hypothetical, round about way, but I'm just going to ask and suffer whatever the consequences.
Do you have any idea why D&D is so very liberal?
I have a pet theory that any forum with selective membership/participation will eventually trend towards one of the poles and stick there, as folks who disagree either leave themselves or are driven out by a dogpile. Then the remaining group just sort of reinforces themselves.
I dunno, it's very much a half-baked notion
Doesn't sound that half baked to me. Sounds like you defined "Echo Chamber" in two sentences.
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
I thought about phrasing this question in a hypothetical, round about way, but I'm just going to ask and suffer whatever the consequences.
Do you have any idea why D&D is so very liberal?
I have a pet theory that any forum with selective membership/participation will eventually trend towards one of the poles and stick there, as folks who disagree either leave themselves or are driven out by a dogpile. Then the remaining group just sort of reinforces themselves.
I dunno, it's very much a half-baked notion
Doesn't sound that half baked to me. Sounds like you defined "Echo Chamber" in two sentences.
I thought about phrasing this question in a hypothetical, round about way, but I'm just going to ask and suffer whatever the consequences.
Do you have any idea why D&D is so very liberal?
I have a pet theory that any forum with selective membership/participation will eventually trend towards one of the poles and stick there, as folks who disagree either leave themselves or are driven out by a dogpile. Then the remaining group just sort of reinforces themselves.
I dunno, it's very much a half-baked notion
Doesn't sound that half baked to me. Sounds like you defined "Echo Chamber" in two sentences.
I think the Democratic primary undermines the idea that PA is an echo chambers tbh. It's definitely liberal and has a political alignment and temperment that doesn't quite match up with what is expected on an Internet forum for the vidja but there's some fairly substantial divergence too.
AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
I do think we don't get the range of ideological disagreements that we used to--DnD used to fairly frequently get "issue" threads on capital punishment, abortion, etc., and besides the occasional gun thread that doesn't seem to happen anymore. Although this is partly due to some of those having been shitshows I know.
Tube, in terms of community management and biker gangs, do you think much larger platforms like Reddit and Twitter should also aim for the "center up" position you described? Or is that less possible/advisable when not dealing with a relatively small forum like PA?
We have plenty of topics that still see a ton of conflict, it just doesn't swing all the way towards the alt-right.
Ehhh...Those threads tend not to last long.
It is the one thing I miss, even as short as a few years ago when I joined (and all my lurking before) there were frequently long, extensive debate theads. Now they seem to get closed and locked quite early.
I was never sure if that was an actual direction the mods were taking (closing down divisive/controversial threads to keep the peace) or if it just kinda happened.
I think a lot of the old-type threads on "touchy" topics died out from equal parts boredom and moderation. The really dogmatic people got banned, left, or learned which topics they couldn't discuss amicably without getting infracted. What remained was a halfhearted dance with the same people putting forth the same arguments, many of which were probably started in a bar or a hotel room at PAX '09 or whatever, and just reheated once or twice a year. Eventually people quit bothering. Or at least that was how it seemed to me, as an observer/occasional participant.
Like, I think "religion" threads have been (unofficially?) banned for years, for being overbroad, repetitive, prone to vitriol, and generally useless. But even absent that discouragement I'm not sure how many people who are still here who would want to do another go-round of a subject like that, the way they used to years ago. It just got old and stale.
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
To be honest there is too much shit happening in the world for another round of atheism vs. religion to be in any way interesting.
Is the ad revenue just needed for financial solvency, or will it be used to fund PA projects or other expansion?
Also, do you know if Child's Play sponsors or is interested in research in the use of recreation technology for rehabilitation?
Paladin on
Marty: The future, it's where you're going? Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
I, for one, am kinda happy that D&D has grown up away from religion threads and things of that nature.
That shit's so 2006, y'all.
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
I dunno. I think I'd like to have a comparitive religion thread of sorts. like for educational purposes, sincere discussions of thoughts, tenants, and modern practices by those who do the practicing. Curious people asking questins, people answering.
Which would last for all of two pages before things got nasty and had to be shut down. Maybe 5 pages.
To be honest there is too much shit happening in the world for another round of atheism vs. religion to be in any way interesting.
This. I used to be really active on D&D. But now I post more on the G&T Heroes of the Storm thread than anything else (which can itself get pretty contentious BUFF MURKY DAMMIT). I think a lot of us aged past our college freshman internet argument phase and want to just talk about stuff we like or bitch at each other over petty things, instead of having the exact same got-us-nowhere argument that we had 17 times when we were all insufferable pricks.
To be honest there is too much shit happening in the world for another round of atheism vs. religion to be in any way interesting.
This. I used to be really active on D&D. But now I post more on the G&T Heroes of the Storm thread than anything else (which can itself get pretty contentious BUFF MURKY DAMMIT). I think a lot of us aged past our college freshman internet argument phase and want to just talk about stuff we like or bitch at each other over petty things, instead of having the exact same got-us-nowhere argument that we had 17 times when we were all insufferable pricks.
Those not interested could always just... not post there.
I ended up signing onto these forums because I found the discussions to be interesting, fun and better moderated than most. And while I still reading these forums and participating in some threads I definitely find the subject matter more tame/less exciting than it used to be--and honestly less debate in general. That's not a damning condemnation or anything, I just found the forums more regulated format lent itself well to more intense topics, so I was sad to see those discussions mostly go away.
But that might be a naturally occurring thing, as people tend to see the area less as a forum for debate and more as a community. It seems like something that would just kinda happen over time.
I dunno. I think I'd like to have a comparitive religion thread of sorts. like for educational purposes, sincere discussions of thoughts, tenants, and modern practices by those who do the practicing. Curious people asking questins, people answering.
Which would last for all of two pages before things got nasty and had to be shut down. Maybe 5 pages.
I think it would require intellectual honesty from the people involved, which is too much to ask of some folks. It would also require people who have an emotional investment in the subject engage politely, objectively, and intellectually with lines of argument that they might not deem deserve it.
Like, people who are genuinely religious (like myself) are largely disinterested in having a AMA about our religious faith, especially from the small minority of people who are seriously hostile towards the very idea of religion.
The people who are hostile about religion, likewise, are largely disinterested in actually talking about religion from a perspective of it having any sort of value or its socio-cultural impacts in any sort of positive sense, because they have an axe to grind and would prefer to accentuate the negative and instead demand answers to fallacious logic or scientific inaccuracies in religious dogma that quite possibly nobody here believes in and can't genuinely answer to.
Like, I don't really think anyone on this forum is into YEC, even people who are otherwise Christian or whatever. If they are, they're understandably quiet about it and are unlikely to engage anyone about it. So a forum thread about "comparative religion" that brings up something like YEC is completely pointless. Nobody here believes in it (or those who do won't talk about it, if they exist), so it's going to be a big circle-jerk about how dumb YEC is.
And... who cares about that? Nobody. Even though YEC matters because of the political influence it has in places like the US, the only people with an emotional stake in the subject (like those of you who are, say, biologists) are going to be espousing views the rest of us kind of shrug and nod at. There's no debate to be had there.
Even on subjects where the forum zeitgeist is less uniform, you're still going to run into the problem of the people who have an emotional stake in the issue being uninterested in debating about it, precisely because of that stake in the issue.
Like nobody on this forum who is trans, for example, is super duper interested in the hot takes on trans issues that come from transphobes or people who treat trans people as like some kind of abstract thought experiment. Historically, that has not gone well.
It's vogue nowadays on the internet among certain clades of folk to try to present oneself as some kind of emotionally detached, intellectually questioning observer. Personal bias, anecdote, life experience, or status as a member of a relevant group is somehow gauche or considered fallacious argument.
But it's nonsense. We all think and believe things. We all have biases and opinions and experiences that contribute to having them. Threads about a lot of subjects like gender, sexuality, race, and religion are inevitably "touchy" when they involve people directly impacted by those issues.
I don't think they're better left avoided, I think if they're approached at all it's with humanity and honesty and understanding. That won't happen for some subjects.
I thought about phrasing this question in a hypothetical, round about way, but I'm just going to ask and suffer whatever the consequences.
Do you have any idea why D&D is so very liberal?
The hell's angel effect. I'm not super interested in legislating the politics of the board to any great extent, other than ensuring that simply having conservative views is not seen as a license for a poster to be pilloried. You can be Trump voter here, that isn't a problem as long as you can keep your shit together. I'm going to come down hard on anyone who attempts to use social pressure to force people they disagree with out. The problem, honestly, has been finding a Trump voter who can keep their shit together.
I do think we don't get the range of ideological disagreements that we used to--DnD used to fairly frequently get "issue" threads on capital punishment, abortion, etc., and besides the occasional gun thread that doesn't seem to happen anymore. Although this is partly due to some of those having been shitshows I know.
This wasn't really a question, but it's worth addressing. I don't feel like there's any real value in discussions about abortion, the death penalty, religion or any of those giant totemic Internet Debates. Everyone has a chance to say what they need to on the subject elsewhere. There's simply no meat on those bones. They're not banned, per se, but I think the community silently agreed that they weren't interested in the discussion and I have no problem with that.
Tube, in terms of community management and biker gangs, do you think much larger platforms like Reddit and Twitter should also aim for the "center up" position you described? Or is that less possible/advisable when not dealing with a relatively small forum like PA?
Well it's a defacto political position to take. It's just not an extreme one. I think other platforms should feel free to take or not take political positions as they see fit.
I do think, however, that this idea of "well we have to let people say that maybe we should round up gays and put them in camps because of free speech" is horseshit. That's not a thing where your hands are tied. It's not an area where there's reasonable disagreement. Racism, misogyny, transphobia et al being wrong is not a matter of debate. That is settled law. You aren't taking a political position by saying "you can't scream at some woman that she's a cunt because you don't like her opinion on video games", you're just being a shitty, cowardly human being if you don't say that.
Twitter is hemorrhaging revenue and user growth because of the hell's angel effect. I have zero sympathy for them. If you won't pick a side in the case of basic human decency versus neo nazis, you picked neo nazis. There isn't a sensible middle ground.
Is the ad revenue just needed for financial solvency, or will it be used to fund PA projects or other expansion?
It goes into a big bucket marked "revenue". It's worth pointing out that no one in PA is interested in this except for me, it is entirely a Tube based initiative. I think the forums should contribute more to PA as a whole, so I'm making it happen. I'm not being pushed to make them solvent.
Also, do you know if Child's Play sponsors or is interested in research in the use of recreation technology for rehabilitation?
I have no idea, but klindsay or eblandin at the usual email domain would know.
I dunno. I think I'd like to have a comparitive religion thread of sorts. like for educational purposes, sincere discussions of thoughts, tenants, and modern practices by those who do the practicing. Curious people asking questins, people answering.
Which would last for all of two pages before things got nasty and had to be shut down. Maybe 5 pages.
I think it would require intellectual honesty from the people involved, which is too much to ask of some folks. It would also require people who have an emotional investment in the subject engage politely, objectively, and intellectually with lines of argument that they might not deem deserve it.
Like, people who are genuinely religious (like myself) are largely disinterested in having a AMA about our religious faith, especially from the small minority of people who are seriously hostile towards the very idea of religion.
The people who are hostile about religion, likewise, are largely disinterested in actually talking about religion from a perspective of it having any sort of value or its socio-cultural impacts in any sort of positive sense, because they have an axe to grind and would prefer to accentuate the negative and instead demand answers to fallacious logic or scientific inaccuracies in religious dogma that quite possibly nobody here believes in and can't genuinely answer to.
Like, I don't really think anyone on this forum is into YEC, even people who are otherwise Christian or whatever. If they are, they're understandably quiet about it and are unlikely to engage anyone about it. So a forum thread about "comparative religion" that brings up something like YEC is completely pointless. Nobody here believes in it (or those who do won't talk about it, if they exist), so it's going to be a big circle-jerk about how dumb YEC is.
And... who cares about that? Nobody. Even though YEC matters because of the political influence it has in places like the US, the only people with an emotional stake in the subject (like those of you who are, say, biologists) are going to be espousing views the rest of us kind of shrug and nod at. There's no debate to be had there.
Even on subjects where the forum zeitgeist is less uniform, you're still going to run into the problem of the people who have an emotional stake in the issue being uninterested in debating about it, precisely because of that stake in the issue.
Like nobody on this forum who is trans, for example, is super duper interested in the hot takes on trans issues that come from transphobes or people who treat trans people as like some kind of abstract thought experiment. Historically, that has not gone well.
It's vogue nowadays on the internet among certain clades of folk to try to present oneself as some kind of emotionally detached, intellectually questioning observer. Personal bias, anecdote, life experience, or status as a member of a relevant group is somehow gauche or considered fallacious argument.
But it's nonsense. We all think and believe things. We all have biases and opinions and experiences that contribute to having them. Threads about a lot of subjects like gender, sexuality, race, and religion are inevitably "touchy" when they involve people directly impacted by those issues.
I don't think they're better left avoided, I think if they're approached at all it's with humanity and honesty and understanding. That won't happen for some subjects.
I get that you don't want the almost inevitable case where there are going to be formers coming in and telling you, "you can't just cherry pick parts of the bible you like. You have to practice your faith based on my definition of consistency." or some such...
And there are topics which do degrade into dumpsterfires where folks wander in and make a lot of accusations very close to "no, that's not how you feel and think of yourself, and you experiences don't matter."
It's really a shame though, because as vitriolic and gross as these threads have got in the past, they've done a whole lot to inform a lot of my opinions on gender, racial and ideological identity related issues.
I also sort of miss non-megathread science thread and stuff about technology. Though, that's probably something I could do something about if I got motivated. Math thread? that could be fun.
If there's an issue of some sort in, say, a politics (or any other) thread and you come in to warn/infract/etc instead of Jacob or Jeffe, is there any significance to that? Or is it just whoever got there first.
I think it was more like the yipping of angry chihuahuas roused the sleepy bear, who looked around, did a double take, and was like, 'the fuck happened here?'
Because being a modern staunch Republican pretty much involves you either being a, or comfortable with supporting people who hold views and positions that do not mesh well considering the demographic that tend to read PA and end up in the forums. As abstractly described with El Jeffe above, there are more than a few posters who were Republicans, until the party left them behind on the full speed train to crazyville.
I do think we don't get the range of ideological disagreements that we used to--DnD used to fairly frequently get "issue" threads on capital punishment, abortion, etc., and besides the occasional gun thread that doesn't seem to happen anymore. Although this is partly due to some of those having been shitshows I know.
Tube, in terms of community management and biker gangs, do you think much larger platforms like Reddit and Twitter should also aim for the "center up" position you described? Or is that less possible/advisable when not dealing with a relatively small forum like PA?
Even the gun thread basically died down. And I think for largely the same reason the others did eventually. You get alot of people deeply committed to both their side of the argument and to arguing constantly and continuously on the subject and basically at some point almost everyone just gets tired of dealing with the argument and leaves and then develops a real aversion to doing the same song and dance again and at that point they threads just don't get made or die quickly on their own.
I feel like the moderation policy of "Behave you goddamn fucking animals" basically led to everyone eventually tiring themselves out and wandering off to go talk about something else.
Tube, do people ever blow up on you for stuff that isn't like ban/infraction related?
Like, as stupid as it is I can at least understand the whole "I got banned/infracted, I'm so fucking mad about it" stance, but do you get hatemail for just random other parts of your duty as a mod? Are you like getting death threats for not allowing kickstarters or something?
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Andy JoeWe claim the land for the highlord!The AdirondacksRegistered Userregular
Has there ever been a poster who seemed like a total jackass you were sure would do something to get booted out pretty quickly, but then they defied your expectations, shaped up, and became a productive member? Don't have to be be specific or name names, just want to know if it's happened.
Real question: I remember the Awesome forum was a lightning rod for drama now and again. Was it always meant to be an interim step to the reaction system we have now, or did you distance away from it in favor of what we have now because of the drama?
There may have been some "we're closing this down" posts that I never read, I dunno.
Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
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Giggles_FunsworthBlight on DiscourseBay Area SprawlRegistered Userregular
Is the ad revenue just needed for financial solvency, or will it be used to fund PA projects or other expansion?
Also, do you know if Child's Play sponsors or is interested in research in the use of recreation technology for rehabilitation?
Speaking of, if they wanted to get in on some of that my girlfriend is currently working with a university creating games to diagnose traumatic brain injuries before normal diagnostics can, as well as exploring the potential for treating and mitigating them via games. If that is the type of thing Child's Play might be about I'm sure I could make the connections between the appropriate individuals and I know they're hungry for grants.
Posts
can you tell us what he does now/where he went?
Do you have any idea why D&D is so very liberal?
Historically speaking a lot of the less liberal posters got left behind when the GOP went off the deep end. So they've been pushed into the liberal camp. Plus DnD values facts, plus it's hard for conservatives to bear the brunt of the dogpile.
Also we can be rude as all hell, glorious edict aside, when it comes to someone defending Paul Ryan or conservative ideology.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
Fact based isn't quite right, evidence based is probably a bit better. Stuff like Laffer Curve comments get dog piled by requests for evidence of it ever working and the like. To say the average GOPer is unprepared for that level of response is an understatement. It's just a completely different discussion than happens in main stream political comments where things like reducing taxes can be revenue neutral through economic stimulus is accepted as plausible.
Because the Republican party has gone so far right that centrists like myself were left behind.
I'd throw in $5
I have a pet theory that any forum with selective membership/participation will eventually trend towards one of the poles and stick there, as folks who disagree either leave themselves or are driven out by a dogpile. Then the remaining group just sort of reinforces themselves.
I dunno, it's very much a half-baked notion
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Doesn't sound that half baked to me. Sounds like you defined "Echo Chamber" in two sentences.
Doesn't sound that half baked to me. Sounds like you defined "Echo Chamber" in two sentences.
I think the Democratic primary undermines the idea that PA is an echo chambers tbh. It's definitely liberal and has a political alignment and temperment that doesn't quite match up with what is expected on an Internet forum for the vidja but there's some fairly substantial divergence too.
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Tube, in terms of community management and biker gangs, do you think much larger platforms like Reddit and Twitter should also aim for the "center up" position you described? Or is that less possible/advisable when not dealing with a relatively small forum like PA?
Ehhh...Those threads tend not to last long.
It is the one thing I miss, even as short as a few years ago when I joined (and all my lurking before) there were frequently long, extensive debate theads. Now they seem to get closed and locked quite early.
I was never sure if that was an actual direction the mods were taking (closing down divisive/controversial threads to keep the peace) or if it just kinda happened.
Like, I think "religion" threads have been (unofficially?) banned for years, for being overbroad, repetitive, prone to vitriol, and generally useless. But even absent that discouragement I'm not sure how many people who are still here who would want to do another go-round of a subject like that, the way they used to years ago. It just got old and stale.
Or middle...
Hence the echo chamber argument.
Also, do you know if Child's Play sponsors or is interested in research in the use of recreation technology for rehabilitation?
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
That shit's so 2006, y'all.
Which would last for all of two pages before things got nasty and had to be shut down. Maybe 5 pages.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
This. I used to be really active on D&D. But now I post more on the G&T Heroes of the Storm thread than anything else (which can itself get pretty contentious BUFF MURKY DAMMIT). I think a lot of us aged past our college freshman internet argument phase and want to just talk about stuff we like or bitch at each other over petty things, instead of having the exact same got-us-nowhere argument that we had 17 times when we were all insufferable pricks.
Those not interested could always just... not post there.
I ended up signing onto these forums because I found the discussions to be interesting, fun and better moderated than most. And while I still reading these forums and participating in some threads I definitely find the subject matter more tame/less exciting than it used to be--and honestly less debate in general. That's not a damning condemnation or anything, I just found the forums more regulated format lent itself well to more intense topics, so I was sad to see those discussions mostly go away.
But that might be a naturally occurring thing, as people tend to see the area less as a forum for debate and more as a community. It seems like something that would just kinda happen over time.
Also, that's what I'd rename Tube's Circus to should I ever suffer the misfortune of becoming the forum admin.
I think it would require intellectual honesty from the people involved, which is too much to ask of some folks. It would also require people who have an emotional investment in the subject engage politely, objectively, and intellectually with lines of argument that they might not deem deserve it.
Like, people who are genuinely religious (like myself) are largely disinterested in having a AMA about our religious faith, especially from the small minority of people who are seriously hostile towards the very idea of religion.
The people who are hostile about religion, likewise, are largely disinterested in actually talking about religion from a perspective of it having any sort of value or its socio-cultural impacts in any sort of positive sense, because they have an axe to grind and would prefer to accentuate the negative and instead demand answers to fallacious logic or scientific inaccuracies in religious dogma that quite possibly nobody here believes in and can't genuinely answer to.
Like, I don't really think anyone on this forum is into YEC, even people who are otherwise Christian or whatever. If they are, they're understandably quiet about it and are unlikely to engage anyone about it. So a forum thread about "comparative religion" that brings up something like YEC is completely pointless. Nobody here believes in it (or those who do won't talk about it, if they exist), so it's going to be a big circle-jerk about how dumb YEC is.
And... who cares about that? Nobody. Even though YEC matters because of the political influence it has in places like the US, the only people with an emotional stake in the subject (like those of you who are, say, biologists) are going to be espousing views the rest of us kind of shrug and nod at. There's no debate to be had there.
Even on subjects where the forum zeitgeist is less uniform, you're still going to run into the problem of the people who have an emotional stake in the issue being uninterested in debating about it, precisely because of that stake in the issue.
Like nobody on this forum who is trans, for example, is super duper interested in the hot takes on trans issues that come from transphobes or people who treat trans people as like some kind of abstract thought experiment. Historically, that has not gone well.
It's vogue nowadays on the internet among certain clades of folk to try to present oneself as some kind of emotionally detached, intellectually questioning observer. Personal bias, anecdote, life experience, or status as a member of a relevant group is somehow gauche or considered fallacious argument.
But it's nonsense. We all think and believe things. We all have biases and opinions and experiences that contribute to having them. Threads about a lot of subjects like gender, sexuality, race, and religion are inevitably "touchy" when they involve people directly impacted by those issues.
I don't think they're better left avoided, I think if they're approached at all it's with humanity and honesty and understanding. That won't happen for some subjects.
The hell's angel effect. I'm not super interested in legislating the politics of the board to any great extent, other than ensuring that simply having conservative views is not seen as a license for a poster to be pilloried. You can be Trump voter here, that isn't a problem as long as you can keep your shit together. I'm going to come down hard on anyone who attempts to use social pressure to force people they disagree with out. The problem, honestly, has been finding a Trump voter who can keep their shit together.
This wasn't really a question, but it's worth addressing. I don't feel like there's any real value in discussions about abortion, the death penalty, religion or any of those giant totemic Internet Debates. Everyone has a chance to say what they need to on the subject elsewhere. There's simply no meat on those bones. They're not banned, per se, but I think the community silently agreed that they weren't interested in the discussion and I have no problem with that.
Well it's a defacto political position to take. It's just not an extreme one. I think other platforms should feel free to take or not take political positions as they see fit.
I do think, however, that this idea of "well we have to let people say that maybe we should round up gays and put them in camps because of free speech" is horseshit. That's not a thing where your hands are tied. It's not an area where there's reasonable disagreement. Racism, misogyny, transphobia et al being wrong is not a matter of debate. That is settled law. You aren't taking a political position by saying "you can't scream at some woman that she's a cunt because you don't like her opinion on video games", you're just being a shitty, cowardly human being if you don't say that.
Twitter is hemorrhaging revenue and user growth because of the hell's angel effect. I have zero sympathy for them. If you won't pick a side in the case of basic human decency versus neo nazis, you picked neo nazis. There isn't a sensible middle ground.
It goes into a big bucket marked "revenue". It's worth pointing out that no one in PA is interested in this except for me, it is entirely a Tube based initiative. I think the forums should contribute more to PA as a whole, so I'm making it happen. I'm not being pushed to make them solvent.
I have no idea, but klindsay or eblandin at the usual email domain would know.
I get that you don't want the almost inevitable case where there are going to be formers coming in and telling you, "you can't just cherry pick parts of the bible you like. You have to practice your faith based on my definition of consistency." or some such...
And there are topics which do degrade into dumpsterfires where folks wander in and make a lot of accusations very close to "no, that's not how you feel and think of yourself, and you experiences don't matter."
It's really a shame though, because as vitriolic and gross as these threads have got in the past, they've done a whole lot to inform a lot of my opinions on gender, racial and ideological identity related issues.
I also sort of miss non-megathread science thread and stuff about technology. Though, that's probably something I could do something about if I got motivated. Math thread? that could be fun.
Even the gun thread basically died down. And I think for largely the same reason the others did eventually. You get alot of people deeply committed to both their side of the argument and to arguing constantly and continuously on the subject and basically at some point almost everyone just gets tired of dealing with the argument and leaves and then develops a real aversion to doing the same song and dance again and at that point they threads just don't get made or die quickly on their own.
I feel like the moderation policy of "Behave you goddamn fucking animals" basically led to everyone eventually tiring themselves out and wandering off to go talk about something else.
Like, as stupid as it is I can at least understand the whole "I got banned/infracted, I'm so fucking mad about it" stance, but do you get hatemail for just random other parts of your duty as a mod? Are you like getting death threats for not allowing kickstarters or something?
There may have been some "we're closing this down" posts that I never read, I dunno.
Speaking of, if they wanted to get in on some of that my girlfriend is currently working with a university creating games to diagnose traumatic brain injuries before normal diagnostics can, as well as exploring the potential for treating and mitigating them via games. If that is the type of thing Child's Play might be about I'm sure I could make the connections between the appropriate individuals and I know they're hungry for grants.
- John Stuart Mill