Giuliani

[JohnMont]

Just to state my opinion (and last word on the topic, I promise), I really don't get why this (and similar forums (fora ? ) should not permit discussion of  politics or religion.  These two items are at the absolute center of many people's lives, and banning them keeps a whole huge dimension of our lives out of the discussion.  This to  me is one of the saddest things about our (North) American culture; this refusal to "offend" anyone."  There has been plenty of heartfelt, heated discussion about head shaving, male self image, and many other things, so why not politics/religion.  But of course, you're the boss, Tyler, and I guess members interested in discussing religion/politics can do private messages (but how do they find out they have a mutual interest in the first place if they don't mention it in the open discussions?? )

John

[Tyler]

Just to state my opinion (and last word on the topic, I promise), I really don't get why this (and similar forums (fora ? ) should not permit discussion of  politics or religion.  These two items are at the absolute center of many people's lives, and banning them keeps a whole huge dimension of our lives out of the discussion.  This to  me is one of the saddest things about our (North) American culture; this refusal to "offend" anyone."  There has been plenty of heartfelt, heated discussion about head shaving, male self image, and many other things, so why not politics/religion.  But of course, you're the boss, Tyler, and I guess members interested in discussing religion/politics can do private messages (but how do they find out they have a mutual interest in the first place if they don't mention it in the open discussions?? )

John

I did a ton of research when I started this forum on how to keep a forum positive and flowing with new members, while keeping the old.  Almost every forum owner I talked to said to keep political and religious discussions/debates off the forum as it tends to be the demise of all forums that aren't solely to discuss those topics.  The reason is that no two people will ever be able to convince the other that their opinion is the correct one and it tends to lead to personal attacks and huge strife amongst those that debate. I even had political and religion boards but took them down because of what I learned.  Also, as a member of several other forums on the web, I've seen a few of them lose good members because of it.  I think the decision not to allow those topics on this forum has been one of the reasons that it has been successful to date.

If you do wish to discuss politics, a friend of mine helps run a political forum called Trees and Things (http://www.treesandthings.com).