the forums rules have been loosened in the past to allow political and religious discussions.
dudemus wants to know if you feel we should:

Total of 111 votes


keep allowing them? 70.3
go back to the way it was and disallow these discussions? 29.7

Comments

Why not

When everyone is keeping to facts and respecting others opinions, these discussions make for some good reading

-- Wasp

Attica!

Free speech! Free speech!

-- QBsutekh137

Respect & Understanding

When there is a discussion on things of these natures then coming to an agreement doesn't matter. What does matter is Respecting anothers opinion and Understanding that it does not have to change because you argue it to be so.

-- Zenai

If you don't like it...

Don't click the link...

I do not enjoy political arguements so I stay out of those threads.

-- GnuUzir

Civil discussions are always good.

When they degenerate into name calling is when the admins will need to chime in or just lock the thread.

-- QBRanger

I would even say they were too strict before. We're all old and respectful people (most of us anyway). We know our limits, and when we don't we have authorities to help us.

-- Burton

We're all mature

And if people aren't, then take action against them as individuals. If people want to have deep conversations with meaning, let them. Otherwise it's just "Blendblendblend!"

-- PearsonTritonRaveshaw

Why do you post religious and political discussions in the off topic forum instead of the debates forum? Is it because you want to get more visibility for your possibly controversial ideas?

-- AdminQBVerifex

As it is now.

The rules are fine, but I am de-checking the debates forum for a reason. Please don't go in the other sections if you feel like talking about 1) religion or 2) politics. I think it's a good rule of thumb. Then what happens in the Debates forum is absolutely none of my business.

-- Eurynome Bartleby

i would like to either have all of these type threads placed in debates where you expect to see this kind of discussion or have a religion & politics forum that can be ignored by those who have no desire to see yet another thread about those topics.

if we are going to allow them in off-topic, i would appreciate some policing by admins and adding a religion or politics tag to the subject so it can be easily avoided if desired.

i actually did like jon's previous stance though, which was that there are numerous places online and otherwise to discuss these things and that we didn't necessarily need to turn cb into another one of those places.

-- Admindudemus

We might not all be mature, as newer CB players sometimes are young. We do get older and get more 'educated'.

We grow a certain tolerance towards another and such topics are fine as long as people remain polite and accept other people's values.

-- AdminShade

restricted to debates...

-- AdminQBnovice

A couple words...

Heh. Maturity levels in a CB debate (more so in the case of politics, mind you) tend to decline steadily as the conversation goes on, to the point where the only remaining argument on both sides becomes at one point: You are the devil! I'm not saying this to be insulting, but I honestly do not think "we are mature" can be an acceptable argument when considering if admins should (or not) maintain their current level of leniency on the forums. I especially wish said argument would not come into play when deciding if a thread should be moved to debates or not.
As a general rule of thumb, I cannot stress this enough, religion and politics should be an insta-move to Debate. In short, strict policing (regarding sensitive topics) in anything BUT Debates, which I do not care about and am not in a position to judge.

P.S: I am not pointing my finger at anyone in particular here, it's important that I make it clear.

-- Eurynome Bartleby

Try to keep it to debates to be nice to the people that don't like them, otherwise I don't see any problems currently. And if you're going to turn a perfectly mundane thread into a debate, make a new thread and provide a link in the existing one.

Personally, I think the idea that the forums are out of control here is ridiculous.

-- Cube

Loosened?

G, this Poll is biased. ;) CB (2 at least) never disallowed Religious/Political discussions.

-- AdminQBGentlemanLoser

Off Topic / Debates

Fexy, it's probably becuase Debates has been designed to be a strucured foru, There are rules we need to follow to post there, ways we need to structure the posts.

I'm sure sometimes folks don't want a structured debate on a political/religious matter, but maybe a more free form off topic post.

Like "Oh look, the Pope has recinded the notion of Purgatory" and not "Purgatory, do we go there before being Judged worthy to enter Heaven/Hell? Discuss!". ;)

-- AdminQBGentlemanLoser

we should have lots of rude things also

-- Phrede

I oppose censorship.

These forums need more free speech, not less. I already think the rules and the admins are a bit too restrictive around here. I say loosen things up further.

First and foremost: down with the juvenile PG rule!

-- Lord Bob

3rd option

Keep the discussion light, this is a game and such matters should not be discussed in a game. Heck I've been countless of forums that don't allow these kind of off-topic threads. Its all a game people, this is not your discussion site. If you want to discuss do it somewhere else.

-- Brakke Bres

....

A few points here.

- Adding rules is rarely the answer. Perhaps we should just enforce the ones we already have (Don't hate the discussion. Hate the people who can't keep civil during them)

- Stop locking threads because people get heated. Just fine the people who can't control themselves. Punishing the community because certain individuals just won't get a clue isn't the best policy, in my mind.

- Juvenile is what the forums would become if the PG rule was removed. My deepest sympathies for you, though, if your ability to communicate is so tightly wrapped up in 10-15 words. That would be truly terrible.


-- BootyGod

Rude Things

"we should have lots of rude things also"

Now that would be loosening of the Rules! ;)

-- AdminQBGentlemanLoser

All about having a voice

I used to hate politics. I still do to some degree, but these days people should be talking. Not just sitting around and letting things slide by. I view it as a privalege discussing issues in these forums, and the post wasn't created to cause chaos or people go insane. Politics happens to be an issue people are passionate about and I'll tell you what... kind of what Ranger mentioned inside the thread... here there is such a diverse opinion base and age group. Everyone may not agree with each other, but hearing other opinons and discussing the why's and how's and what if's opens up a new dimension of thought. A lot of the cms people have sent have been real civil and also has stirred up some good discussion, and I'm glad to be able to converse with people that take the time to express how they feel and listen to another person who doesn't agree with them completely.

-- kevlar

Down with freedom to be stupid!

Down with freedom to showcase stupidity! (Wasp, you answered your own question with the follow-up bold assumptions.)

-- QBBast

Debates forum

You can shout at each other there. Politely.

-- Admin{CB1}Slayer333

In response to Fel:

"Juvenile is what the forums would become if the PG rule was removed. My deepest sympathies for you, though, if your ability to communicate is so tightly wrapped up in 10-15 words. That would be truly terrible."

You know, I'm getting real tired of the crap argument that those who like to be treated as adults and don't like to have our language restricted as adults don't are incapable of communicating without grade school levels of supervision and censorship. The most mature forums I know are those that tread adults like adults with members that don't cry themselves to an admin everytime they hear potty words. Those I find with the most immature members seem to be the ones that feel the need to enforce child-like levels of communication. Guess which category CB falls into.

Here's something for you to think about: if you're one of those people who is incapable of behaving without elementary grade language restrictions, you're the problem. It's not us adults who know that a measly little f-bomb or two doesn't mean the breakdown of civilized communication.

-- Lord Bob

PG

My PM, CM, and chatting with CBers outside of CB are a testament to the fact that we need the PG rule.

-- Admin{CB1}Slayer333

only for FoS

I clicked "allow these discussions" only in favour of freedom of speech. I'm strongly against any debates that are carried over text-based messaging as most people have difficulty communicating when not in person. Emphasis on "most" people.

-- Levon

I wasn't aware religious/political discussions were ever forbidden.
As long as they follow the rest of the forum rules (keep it PG, no personal attacks, etc) I see no problems.


-- Sickone

By the way...

P.-P.-S: I really, really would like it if people stopped mesuring others' intelligence and maturity based on their choice of words.

-- Eurynome Bartleby

not to be argumentative, but...

"P.-P.-S: I really, really would like it if people stopped mesuring others' intelligence and maturity based on their choice of words."

what else do we have to judge their intelligence by when words are all the interaction we will ever have with them?

-- Admindudemus

Argumentative is fine :P

It's the interaction between a chosen set of words that makes a point get across. Not the choice of every word individually. By which I mean no one can be an appropriate judge of what word is "dumb" and what word is "clever". A message in it's entirety will be coherent or not irregardless of the fact that a swear/dirty word is used inside it.

-- Eurynome Bartleby

so?

our pg rule prevents this from happening now, correct?

-- Admindudemus

The PG rule is not really what I'm ranting against right now. (Although I don't like it.) It's the argument for it that goes: "If the PG rule irks you it's because your prefrerred, normal, choice of words makes you retarded."

-- Eurynome Bartleby

Irregardless?

Was that part of the "dumb" v. "clever" test?

-- QBBast

If everyone here were mature adults that knew how to carry on a conversation without devolving into a full-on sailor versus sailor language deathmatch, we wouldn't need the PG rule. But as it is, we have a lot of younger players here who aren't quite mature enough yet to be let loose in our midst with the arsenal of dirty words. I think that explains the reasoning behind the PG rule. It's not for the adults, ok?

-- AdminQBVerifex

Fexy,

That was the first intelligent defense of the PG rule I have seen so far. Far better than the idiotic "if you oppose it that means you're incapable of communicating without swearing" line of non-reasoning. 10 points to you, even though I disagree with keeping it.

-- Lord Bob

Debates forum

Actually has rules to keep these discussions just that, discussions.

-- QBOddBird

We have a severe lack of maturity

Seeing all the offhand "bitchy" comments (fine me if it's wrong, can't find another word) in a lot of the posts and its usually the same people doing it. These same people post in everyone one of these "serious" threads and it's a nuisance to read.

ALSO, people try to mislead me with their political topics and give funny names, so I can't stay away if I try.

-- Flamey

Non standard :P

"Irregardless?

Was that part of the "dumb" v. "clever" test?"

Maybe. Did I pass?



-- Eurynome Bartleby

regardless is the right term, irregardless doesn't make scents :)

-- Flamey

Sniffing Flamey

Irrespective will also do, in a variety of circumstances.

-- QBBast

C+ for effort?

I will remember the correction :P

-- Eurynome Bartleby