Should there be a politics forum?

[SBG Math Guy]

Previously I gave a recommendation to have a religious section.
Just like you ShavedForNow,  I thought everybody would be respectable and
that given that most people here are adults, I thought it would be simple.  Everyone
would be respectful. 
Little did I know that I would have to delete that entire topic myself.  Some members
who hardly make any contributions to this site were very much against it calling
religion fiction 
So unfortunately things like religion and politics tend to bring out there worst out of people sometimes .   cheers.

[xnewyawka]

Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dittoooooo!

[ShavedForNow]

Previously I gave a recommendation to have a religious section.
Just like you ShavedForNow,  I thought everybody would be respectable and
that given that most people here are adults, I thought it would be simple.  Everyone
would be respectful. 
Little did I know that I would have to delete that entire topic myself.  Some members
who hardly make any contributions to this site were very much against it calling
religion fiction 
So unfortunately things like religion and politics tend to bring out there worst out of people sometimes .   cheers.

That is too bad, Math Guy. Even most religious people understand that religion isn't logical or scientific by nature, but that doesn't stop people from having fascinating discussions about theology, or about religious writings as literature. Like Galileo said, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." Oh, well.

[dawgfan]

nope...not here.

Personally, I am very passionate about politics.  I have found over the years that most* people are very closed minded about thier political views.  In some cases, rightly so.   Much like abortion, nothing one person says is going to change the mind or opinion of another.   As others have suggested, there are many websites and forums on the www to discuss politics.  I think this thread is reason enough to end the conversation.  Just my 2 cents.

[Gambrinus]

PLEASE!  NO.  No offense.   No body will agree and it will do nothing but spark bickering.

[-Doug-]

Definitely not. They ALWAYS get out of hand!!

[tomgallagher]

Yes agreed. Politics and religion.

[Ming the Merciless]

Just what we need.  A place to snarl and snipe and sneer.  To get hot under the collar and pontificate and tear our hair (well, maybe not that).

As a despotic autocrat, however, Ming is above politics...

[b.driscoll]

No I don't think that is a good idea. This is a great site with very good people.Politics and Religion talk will bring it down.

[D.A.L.U.I.]

No bald head, like a  father of our (US) country who was a skullet, it just doesn't work.  It may be that our brothers from outside the US can handle it, but right now, we bald guys in the US are in a very divisive and polarized  society--so it must not even  be considered.  It's not what we want but it's what we've got.
Saintc

[Magoo]

Whats to discuss ..... You have your beliefs and I have mine and neither of us is going to change the other.

[crazy.irish.celt]

I feel that adding these sub-sections to a site dedidated to coping with baldness would reduce the frequency of quality posts on the subject, replacing them with things totally unrelated to the issues that originally drew most of us here.

I realize that it would be convenient to have ONE website where you can look up things about head shaving, talk about politics, and share prayer requests, or talk about anything on your mind.  Oh, wait....

www.facebook.com

That's where you need to be if you want an all-inclusive internet wormhole within which to bury yourself. 

Here, the primary focus is about man issues from the neck up.

[Vash]

I'd I like to say that I  give all us sly guys on this forum the benefit of the doubt and say that we are all adults who are capable of civilized debate and argumentative discourse toward a higher level of understanding amongst ourselves and through so doing could achieve an even more close-knit community via sharing our respective political views.

I'd LIKE to say that. But it's a hot button. And everyone is capable of saying (typing) things they don't always mean in the heat of the moment.  

I mean a part of what makes this forum great is that we DO share so much of our lives and interests with one another. While the main thrust of the conversation still revolves around baldness, head shaving and related topics, we also talk about our hobbies, likes, dislikes, movies, music, relationships, etc. So an forum for politics seems like a natural outgrowth of that sharing. And there have been topics posted from time to time that do involved political and religious opinions, for the most part without incident.

All that said, I do belong to another online forum that simply added a section that they call "Fight Club". This is where they put any and all topics that may prove volatile. It's a no holds barred arena for sensitive issues and everyone agrees that what is discussed in and happens in "Fight Club", stays in "Fight Club". No carrying the discussion or disagreements over into other parts of the forum. Sort of a gentleman's agreement. These rules are or course, enforced by the moderators.

This may not ultimately be the right answer for SBG, but it's worth thought.

Though, with the wonderous diversity of the internet outside the SBG forums, we may be safer to just error on the side of caution and leave such discussions off the forums entirely.  

[wpruitt]

Political discussions, despite the best of intentions, always get out of hand.  Also, the printed word does not carry the emotions of the ones spoken.  Hence, something comes across in the reader's frame of mind; the intentions of the poster may or may not come across. 

Politics is best left to a board intended for that purpose, or to be discussed in PM's.

[Nonick]

I say no, for all the reasons previously mentioned. 
It's not what this forum is about and it would degrade quickly.  Some people have enough on their plate trying to decide on whether shave, buzz, combover, do drugs rugs and plugs, etc.