Should QRZ allow discussion of Politics and Religon?

A lot of the topics/threads outside politics and religion are nasty and full of vitriol too.

Keep the following: news, announcements, hamfests, for sale, wanted/trade, sked, youth, help, silent keys, equip reviews. Nuke the rest.

 

I would get rid of it. There aren't any political or religious discussions here, only arguments and arguments aren't discussions. Nearly everyone is so polarized that it's nothing more than people on different sides clubbing each other. Rag chew has improved 100% since the politics were removed from it. If political and religious arguments are banned, people will get along better IMHO.

 

Dump It!

Enough said.

 

My vote is no...they have to go

I think we should remove anything that isnt amateur radio related....but religion and politics is a good start!

Vince
N3VMC

 

Since we see each other only as verbal posts, it's easy to say unkind things we probably wouldn't say to one another face-to-face. Religion and Politics are touchy subjects full of strong personal conviction and opinion. It's my experience that discussion of those two things leads to arguments, hurt feelings, and strained (if not ruined) friendships. Let's leave Religion and Politics to the preachers and the Spin Doctors in order to keep QRZ friendly.

 

Keep all the non ham related sections, just make it so everyone can read but you can only post or reply if your a subsciber. Most hams are to cheap to subscribe so they can argue a point.

 

I voted to keep them simply because it means that there is a place where the political discussions are all grouped together. It provides some focus and keeps that sort of thing out of the other areas.

I almost never read the political stuff but don't have a problem if some hams enjoy that sort of thing.

 

Lose it.

If I need to fulfill the urge to argue politics or religion, I can always go to my fishing forum

 

Full agree with this post, if you have the room on your servers and it costs you no more, then let people have their say. I am sure that if you delete PJ then they will just revert back to using the other forums and spoil these for those more interested in the Ham Radio subject matter. Maybe you should also give due consideration to banning any furher mention of the code -v- no code argment too?

In any event, it's yours to do with as you see fit, and I take my hat off to you for having the decency to ask before you act.

73 to all
de Geoff
M0GID

 

The way I see it, Amateur radio is a international activity, and this forum has members from all over the world, yet most of the fighting and BS regarding politics is people in the US. All the fighting and BS does is make the US amateurs look bad in the international community.

It would be one thing if everyone would/could remain civil in their comments, but thats not the case as we have all seen. I say it should go.

 

I think it would be wrong to remove political discussions from QRZ for several reasons.

1) Ham radio and politics are joined at the hip. They cannot be separated. Technology and politics are inseparable. No matter how hard one tries to abstract technical, scientific or philosophical discussion from politics the politics will manifest itself and will be picked up upon by others. It makes sense to have a forum which permits political discussion among hams. Hams are as political as anyone else.

2) Political discussions is healthy and normal. Even if it does become emotionally charged at times and even if it seems to go nowhere. True, nobody is going to convince one another that he is right and the other is wrong. However, it does inspire thought. It often forces one to spend some time and do some research to back up and support ones own propositions. And that in turn inspires learning Many times in the course of political discussion I have had to research a topic to bring myself up to speed or to learn more about the subject at hand. And in the process I have learned things that I didn't know. While I and others may not convince one another that one is right and the other wrong we do often learn a great dead from one another during these discussions.

3) Communications. I thought ham radio was about communicating. What is wrong with having a forum where hams can communicate on political topics ? Politics is extremely important as it affects all our lives, for good or for bad. Why shouldn't hams communicate on such important things as political topics ? Why should hams be limited to only discussing cut and dry technical topics ? That gets boring fast. Communication among hams should be diverse and should include discussions ranging from technical, to political and even to art and creativity.

4) Learning.... In the discussions on :"political junkie" and "rag chew" a diverse range of subjects arise, from technical to scientific, to philosophical, to religious, to art, music, etc. Why would we want to limit such great diversity and learning.

5) keeping things focused. Politics is a major player in every ones lives. With an election coming up the political focus is going to become foremost in many peoples minds. Hams, like anyone else are people. These topics are bound to come up one way or another. It therefore makes sense to have a political forum where such political ideas can be focused. It makes it less likely that such thoughts will spill over onto the more technically oriented forums.

6) Some people may not like the politics forum. But they have an option. Nobody is forcing them to view or participate in it. There are plenty of other forums to go to.

7) Rules are rules. As long as people stay within the guidelines set forth by the owners and administrators I see no reason to remove the political forums. It is already understood that discussing politics requires somewhat of a thick skin as the discussions can get a bit emotional from time to time. As long as nobody becomes excessively abusive or threatening I see no problem. When someone does go overboard and clearly crosses the line they can be given a "cooling off" period or , if it continues, a permanent banning.

In conclusion, while the political forums may not be every ones cup of tea they do indeed serve a purpose and enable greater diversity in discussion among hams. And while they may not serve to change opinions they can be quite informative, and educational. I think they deserve a place and should stay.

Why should hams impose self censorship upon themselves ?

 

You might want to keep it. I ran a site years ago and people obtained a sense of ownership of things that aren't theirs. The forum, in this case. Somehow, it just worked that way. If you remove the forum, you may remove an outlet for some. That outlet may spill into other forums that are "clean" now. In the end, you don't want it. At all. You can probably block users if things get too bad, but they may only bring a small portion of hostility back to other forums that would be just enough to poison the whole group.

Just a "for what it's worth". I hope this makes some sense.

73
Paul
N9GXA

 

As with the purpose of these forums, the answer to this question too is self-evident. Anyone who reads this stuff does so to fulfill some need; the rest of us simply ignore it/them or have better things to do.
In other words, it makes no difference.
I suspect the vast majority of people simply use qrz for callsign lookups and ask/answer radio-related questions. You can trash the rest.

 

That's it!

I am throwing out my laptop