Would you like a political forum here?

randy883 · Joined: 07 Jul 2008 Posts: 124 Location: Tucson, AZ

I vote no. Just asking for trouble.

desertgirl · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 3350 Location: Chandler, AZ

If everyone were this passionate about hiking ...this site will be buzzing with life!!!! Very Happy

Desert-Boonie · Joined: 23 Nov 2004 Posts: 219 Location: Glendale, AZ

NO

Just talk politics while you are on the trails with anyone who wants to talk about it.
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azbackpackr · Posted: 11/10/2008, 5:05 pm Post subject:

I guess I wouldn't mind a little spicy argument myself. However, I want to remind everyone that Hooli and others get very tired of PMs complaining, "WAH WAH WAH, look what so-and-so said, I'm telling on them, I'm telling Mommy! Wah wah wah! I want you to lock that thread RIGHT NOW because I'm not grown up enough to deal with reading it, and it has never occurred to me to just click somewhere else and not worry about it, WAH WAH WAH! Oh, Daddy, look those people are having a big argument, you need to go stop them RIGHT NOW and lock that thread! Yeah, lock that thread right now Hooli or I'm never going to play with you again! I am not able to make myself click away from it so YOU the moderator MUST lock it so I don't have to read it."

So I am going to vote NO because when I put myself in Hooli's and other's shoes I think I would not want to have to deal with all that complaining crap constantly. That would just take all the fun out of being a moderator (if, indeed, there is any fun involved ???) if you constantly had to deal with this type of thing. So I vote NO and we can continue to all be very civil and very boring and never say anything controversial ever again as long as we live.

bigfoot · Joined: 19 Oct 2005 Posts: 64 Location: Austin, TX

I voted not just NO (but hell NO!!). We beat each other up every 4 years or so. The rest of the time, lets all be happy hikers. This morning, on the radio (dont ask which station...) I heard about "our side" and "their side" and why "our side" does not beat up the other side. Well as it turns out "our" side and "their" side are all Americans. There is enough place for everybody in this world Laughing

as long as we are not greedy and want what to take over what the other man has.
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azhiker96 · Joined: 05 Jan 2003 Posts: 1419

I voted yes but don't think it should be a hidden area. Maybe just appropriately labeled such as, "Warning- Political Topics". I doubt that I'd visit it often but I also don't want to limit other's discussion based on my preferences. There are few people with whom I can enjoy a political discussion. I prefer to discuss ideas or topics and not what those porridge (liberals, conservatives, communists, socialists, independents; pick one) are doing.
I'd say just set up an area for political topics, just as we have for hiking, off-trail, etc. I do think it could be moderator intensive and that cost alone could be prohibitive. I sure don't want to moderate it. Maybe someone who wants to discuss politics could moderate it, just to keep things civil.
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It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. -- Carl Sagan

Suz · Joined: 27 Nov 2005 Posts: 3186

Well I didn't actually PM Hooli at all.....and I don't think I was crying to mommy and daddy. I thought the thread became pointed, offensive and hurtful. I suspect there are others that thought the same thing.

Some people just get a big kick out of expressing their hatred and don't want it in a private forum......not a big enough audience for them.

I understand that Todd is trying to be very diplomatic....however, I don't believe it is a productive idea for the site.........and I'm done with this thread but wanted to note that I haven't seen any porn here in a long, long time....nice work on cleaning that up!

azhiker96 · Joined: 05 Jan 2003 Posts: 1419

One side note, it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if we didn't have a politics sub-section.
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It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. -- Carl Sagan

evenstar · Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Posts: 5548 Location: SCW by way of CA

Trishness · Posted: 11/10/2008, 11:38 pm Post subject:

If someone decides to start a political forum for members only I would have no problem with that. Not to say that I would be a part of it. But as a general rule, politics and hiking have nothing in common except the common denominator and that is the passion we have for each. So while each of us have our passions, leave them to the trails....dirt trails or political.

There was no "Maybe" vote as an option! So I voted NO because there may be other venues to discuss political topics.

Mr. Green

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~~~Trish~~~

"Eastward the dawn rose, ridge behind ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight into guess; it was no more than a glimmer blending with the hem of the sky, but it spoke to them, out of the memory and old tales, of the high and distant mountains." � J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of The Rings.

azbackpackr · Posted: 11/11/2008, 6:50 am Post subject:

Hikngrl · Posted: 11/11/2008, 7:08 am Post subject:

azbackpackr · Posted: 11/11/2008, 7:25 am Post subject:

I understand that, but that wasn't the case with three friends of mine. They each had been posting for several months or so.

Hikngrl · Posted: 11/11/2008, 7:39 am Post subject:

beckett · Joined: 14 Feb 2005 Posts: 1066

I find the site very easy to navigate. I click on the topics I want to read or take part in. I don't click on the topics I don't want to read or that just don't interest me. Thanks Todd for setting up the site where we have choices of what to read. I voted no because I feel politics should just fall into the off trail area.

I enjoy hearing lots of people opinions; however, when it gets personal I just stop reading it. Let's all just try to continue to be grown ups. There are some topics in the past that just didn't interest me...so I didn't read them.
Just my 2 cents.
Linda
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