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Political message boards? (1 Viewer)

Joshua Clinard

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Since we aren't allowed to discuss politics here, I'd like to find a message board that is centered around political topics. Are any of you a member of any such forums? I am specifically looking for a conservative centered forum, but if you know of any that are neutral, I would appreciate hearing about them as well.
 

Max Leung

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There is always www.kuro5hin.org . They'd be pissed if you tell them they are politics-oriented though...they're supposed to be a general blogging place, but somehow all the hot-button "essays" make it to their front-page, while all the cool cooking tips and science articles are ignored. :)
 

Chris Lockwood

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Some of the major news sites have message boards where you can discuss those topics. Or try a search.

I'm not sure if HTF rules allow us to post links to such places, but that's how I'd try to find a political forum.

My guess is you'll probably find a lot of name calling & the like on those forums that might make it more clear why the topics are banned here.
 

Joshua Clinard

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I've already tried a search, and didn't quite find what I was looking for. I don't see why the administration would have a problem with just posting a link to a resource for such information.

The problem with most of the message boards on the big news sites is that they are usaully threaded, and I HATE threaded messages boards.
 

Ryan Wright

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So, I am considering opening up a message board similar to this one that allows political & religious talk. There are a lot of people in your situation, Joshua. The HTF is a unique place full of intelligent people, and it is very well operated. There aren't any political/religious message boards that even come close to the "prestige" of the HTF in terms of intelligent membership & administration. Most are just full of flame wars.

There really should be a place where people like us can go to chat about anything. After Hours comes close, but we can't touch on sensitive subjects here, and that's OK. We just need another board for this type of discussion.

If I get around to launching this, I will post the URL here - with permission from the HTF.
 

Charles J P

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The problem you would have with opening a political message board is it wouldnt be like HTF, populated (mostly) by extremely intelligent people. Why? Because in order to have a political board with good types of discussions, you would have to disallow all forms of censorship, which means you (for the most part) lose the ability to remove members, which means eventually the board would just be full of political trolls with an agenda. I dont see how it would work.
 

Michael*K

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I think Fox News has a non-threaded message area. Are they conservative centered? There's a reason they've earned the nickname "GOP TV"
 

Joshua Clinard

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Thanks. I'll check that fox board.

Ryan, I used to run one of the best Harry Potter forums on the internet. I used vbulletin, and I set it up very similar to the HTF. It was well respected before I had to remove it. If you would like some help with this, feel free to contact me. I do happen to have a copy of vB as well, but I would have to purchase another liscence if you wanted me to host it on my server.
 

Ryan Wright

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which means you (for the most part) lose the ability to remove members
That's not the case at all. Trolls and flamers and general troublemakers simply get booted off, and people who want to discuss politics like adults can do so in peace. Simple and effective.

To respond to the rest of your message, a nice bulletin board must engage in censorship to some degree. For instance, it would be a cold day in hell before I'd allow someone to post racist remarks on a board I owned. You can still have intelligent, high level political discussions while prohibiting certain things. You simply need the right crowd. People who are prone to taking offense and flipping out over every little thing probably wouldn't fit in.
 

Charles J P

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Ryan, certainly you will be able to kick some people out, which is why I said for the most part. For example, you can allow people to disagree, but a person cant post "you are an asshole and clearly dont know what you are talking about". If someone posted that you would have every right to kick them off. However, a political forum will be inherently inflamitory IMHO, and in the end it seems like you would have a population of members that hate each other. I dont know. I'd love to drop in if you get something setup, but I'm really not sure how it would work.
 

D. Scott MacDonald

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It would be great if such a site did exist, but in reality I just don't see how it could. Think of how heated our discussions get when involving relatively unimportant things such as animated DVD menus, pan-n-scan, and DD vs. DTS. Now imagine how lively they would get if they involved real life and death issues such as war, how money is divided, etc.

I love a good religious/political discussion, but in real life I can only have such discussions with very few people. First of all, I need to respect them in order to respect their points of view. Even then, very few of them are able to express their views well or listen to my views without making knee-jerk blanket remarks that do not further a conversation.

In reality I find that most of time (both in real life as well as on the internet), such discussions usually fall into two categories:
1) A one sided discussion where only those that share an opinion are allowed to participate. I find such discussions very boring if I agree with them, and nauseating if I do not.
2) A no brained free-for-all that resorts to name calling and labeling, where it is assumed that everybody else is an idiot. Smart people learn to shy away from such discussions, so all you are left with is drivel.

But if you make your site work, I will definitely participate.
 

TimPaul

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Try the Straight Dope Message Board (www.straightdope.com). It is an outgrowth of the Straight Dope site, which itself is a electronic version of a column in the Chicago Reader written by the great Cecil Adams. The entire site is pretty good, but the message board has some good discussions. While not strictly political, The Great Debates sections might just be what you're looking for. In addition, all the boards on the site are moderated so with the exception of the BBQ Pit (for rants, etc) nothing gets too out of hand.

Cheers,

Tim
 

Dalila

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I think Fox News has a non-threaded message area. Are they conservative centered? There's a reason they've earned the nickname "GOP TV"
Fox had more liberals guests on their various programs than CNN or MSNBC (year ending 2002) ;)


You can try the AMDMB forums... While it's mostly a PC site, they set aside a Political Discussion area.

;)
 

Marshall Alsup

Second Unit
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Ryan,
I'd certainly be willing to participate in a site like that. I'd even be willing to help out in some way. Definatly let us know if you plan to try it out!


-Marshall
 

Max Leung

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I'm not certain how anyone could pull it off either. They may work well for a while, but eventually will devolve into flamefests. This usually occurs when the site owners can no longer keep up with moderation, and things start falling apart.

With that said, sites like kuro5hin use a voting system, where the top-rated blogs make it to the front page. And people rate the blog comments, so you can sort messages by rating and filter out low-rated messages. It's not perfect, but does allow limited self-moderation to free up the owners hands a little.

If you do put up a site Ryan, I would be interested in participating, although to be honest I like the weblog format better. Essays are fun to write!

Will you insist on real names? That may cut down on trolling a little, and help with user accountability. I think trolling will be a major headache, however.

At any rate, I'd lay out rules similar to the HTF. I have never seen any board as well run as this one.
 

Ryan Wright

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At any rate, I'd lay out rules similar to the HTF. I have never seen any board as well run as this one.
I agree. Where do you think I got my inspiration?? ;) From hanging out here, I saw a need for a well-run board (like the HTF) that allowed political & religious talk. Putting up a board never would have occurred to me otherwise.

Heck, I already own a nice domain name and found freeware BBS software that is very similar to vBulletin. I just have to set it up. Perhaps I'll do that next week. I was actually working with another HTF member to do a joint system, but I haven't heard from him for over a month... I'm thinking he lost interest. :frowning:
 

Max Leung

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Hey, have you talked privately with the mods here at the HTF? I'm sure they can give you pointers, to-dos, and things-to-watch-for, and give you an idea of their stress levels.
 

BrianB

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I think trolling will be a major headache, however.
I've watched(read) political and religious discussions on another very good forum, Gone Gold, for a number of months now. They almost always seem to devolve to the same names talking the same party lines in almost all the discussions. These aren't idiots - they're smart, well read people, but the political lines never seem to differ in the end - people are too entrenched in their existing political beliefs. Sometimes it gets downright ugly with the sweeping generalisations made about the "opposite side" of the political spectrum. I can't see any "cross party" forum being much different.

This isn't Dolby vs DTS style arguments, think the worst cable argument * 100. ;)
 

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