Should QRZ allow discussion of Politics and Religon?

My observation, yet again...

So, I note yet again, after far too much time looking at this thread (again!) that most of the people railing against the political forum have rarely, or in most cases never even posted there. Presumably, based on the amount of responses here as compared to the votes, it pretty much matches up. The people having a problem with it really don't go there anyway. So, what is the problem? A few idiotic comments from a few people? Get rid of them, not the forum.

I still don't get what the big deal is, if you don't like it then don't read it. Seems pretty simple to me. If the QRZ.COM staff doesn't want it on the main page then don't put a link there. The fact of the matter is that most of the people that post in that forum have no problem, there are just a few wackos that have to cause problems.

If, on the other hand, the staff doesn't want to deal with it at all, then that's another story. But, don't blame the majority that have no problem on the forum for the minority of whiner, cry-baby, trouble-makers that have an inflated sense of self-importance by attacking someone on an internet forum. They are the minority, always have been, and I've been hanging around here off an on for 6 years (that's scary!)

Those that want to comment on and vote against it simply because "politics and religion don't belong in amateur radio" are missing the fact that this isn't amateur radio, it's just one forum of many that people can choose to look at or not, and it is an interesting sampling of people's thoughts and ideas that happen to also be into amateur radio.

Most of the time I would imagine that the people that don't go there wouldn't notice a thing anyway, but since one person had to make prejudicial statement about a southern state, and Fred started this poll, now it's suddenly a huge issue. It just doesn't make sense. Get rid of the minority of trouble-makers and the majority of the problems are gone.

 

Perhaps you haven't seen the posts here about how these arguments that get started in the PJ area bleed over into wholly unrelated threads, making the task of moderation that much more difficult.

More active moderation against all forms of personal attack would be nice, but it hasn't happened yet. In the absence of the personnel willing and able to actively police the forums, getting rid of some of the garbage that attracts all the flies is the next best choice. Ditch the PJ forum.

I think the message that a lot of those of us who think the existence of the PJ forum degrades the quality of the other forums on this board is: This is a ham radio forum not a place where you can fight with impunity. If that's not your thing, then by all means go somewhere else. This web site doesn't need to be all things to all people. There are many other places on the internet where these types of arguments are welcomed. There are considerably fewer places where discussions about radio and related technologies are welcomed.

 

It seems the final total will pretty much reflect the number of people who use the forum, (Keep it) and the people who don't use the forum ( scrap it) . Interesting.

 

politics and religion

lets keep this an AR site.
Boot it.

 

I reckon we should make like the Freemasons and ban the discussion of religion and politics. It can inflame feelings, even in person. Misconstruing something by text is a whole lot easier!!

L

 

WHAT moderation?

Every day I see people calling other members on this forum idiots and cutting them down individually, rather than having any good argument to prove their statements wrong.

Many times I am shocked to see staff members commenting in the same threads, meaning they seen the insults and did nothing about them.

When the "moderators" are participating in the threads themselves, and the offenders see that nothing was done about their rude posts, they feel it is acceptable, and they continue doing it.

It would be no different if a cop was standing on a street allowing people to drive through red lights without doing anything about it. Soon everyone would start driving through the red lights too, because they see the cop doesn't care and lets people do it without any penalty.

The idea of fixing this problem by eliminating the political forum, would be like the cop in this example closing down the road because too many people are driving through the red light on this road.

The fault of that being the cop himself that did nothing when anyone drove through the red light, and now wants to punish all those that DID obey the traffic signal that now are not allowed to use that road anymore.

 

I'd prefer to keep it, and just have the mods control things when they get out of hand. With this being a Presidential Election year, opinions are high on who is the best man for the job, and these opinions help others form their opinions and selection. Some of the conversations get highly entertaining and exciting to read!! On Religion, thats another story, as some are very sensitive about that. They can be deeply hurt by the sayings of others. But with Politics, Dems or Repubs, its all about the same. Mud slinging, thats just part of the game. Keep the Politics but boot the Religion

 

Here is an active thread, not in the political forum, but in:

Talk and Opinions - Amateur Radio
Hams are stinky noodle head doo doo faces

It seems that since it has something to do with "Ham Radio" it is acceptable, where as mentioning anything about the election is not, because it has nothing to do with "Ham Radio"

So much for the argument that everything should be related to "Ham Radio" as if that would solve the problem at hand.

 

Fixed that for you.

 

I am a moderator on an RV site, www.irv2.com and we specifically do not allow discussions on politics and religion. Anytime ther is a thread started on either subject, it breaks out in name calling and hurt feelings.

There are plenty of sites that allow such borish behavior and I do not want to be part of one.

ken

 

No way --- no way

My vote is to DEFINATELY REMOVE the politics and religion from qrz.
fight with you wife over such stuff ! it's more FUN !!

 

Isolated

I voted a few days ago for the elimination of the Politics and Religion threads.

Sorry.

I say that because I was tired of what I was reading.

I myself, was not doing any writing. That should elimitate me from voting.

Unless anybody wants to discuss offshoring my job to India.

I love India as a ham operator. But ...

No offense intended to anybody. Just hurting from my first day of inemployement.

 

I've considered my opinion in recent days, and honestly, the presence of the PJ forum really doesn't matter to me whether it stays or goes. I tend to self moderate. The political name calling gets old, so at times, I'll just go on vacation from it for weeks at a time, and in some cases months. Then again, I have enough other interests to not worry about a political forum on a message board. However, that's me. I'm not everyone. There are a lot of retired guys on here that don't have a lot to do. There are a lot of guys on here who are on the Internet all day at work. Some folks live on here all day. Some folks cannot discuss any politics with anyone else in their lives, maybe they NEED this site. I don't know. Some folks can post on a site without getting personal, and really some can't. That's the core of the discussion, right there. If folks came on here and acted their age, we wouldn't need moderation. If nobody committed crimes, we wouldn't need cops. There's utopia, and then reality.
So, it comes down to moderation.
Everyone's griping about better moderation. Yes, moderation is an important part of the board. Especially with regard to personal attacks. Having been on this board, and even this forum the last few years, I know I wouldn't want the job. Especially in the political forum. The minute that a popular poster is removed for their gross violation of the rules, the moderator is accused of favoritism of one political/religious/etc., ideology over the other. Everyone wants better moderation, as long as that moderator is favorable to posters on one or the other's side of an issue.
Again, I wouldn't want the job. So, I have an idea.
Fred, to make this thing really accurate and fair, put it to a vote of you and your moderators. If you and the others think it's getting old, shut it down. If not, keep it open. Just know that it will always be a zoo were some of the inhabitants cannot/will not self regulate, and there will always be the flinging of poo on the walls of the cage by someone. If you and your moderators can handle it, so can I.

 

A better solution would be to not allow name calling.

 

Just go to this thread and see why 76% of us want Politics Kicked off QRZ.

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?p=1303868&posted=1#post1303868