Excellent! That will go quite a way toward re-enthusing the conversations around here. Political sites thrive on debate, even the salty kind.
The complaints are starting to pick up the other way. We're now being accused of leaving up way too much crap.
Well, of course. But those are different people from those who complained of too much moderation, aren't they? There is always a Fluffy Pink Bunny Brigade who believe in cutting dissent to the bone. In my experience, these aren't nice people. They're simply control freaks who dislike being disagreed with and love to impose their world view on others.
Speaking of which, it wouldn't hurt at some point to repeat the old words discouraging religious threads on the grounds that they're off-topic on a political site. Lately, the place has exploded with prayer threads and reprinted sermons. And the "Harry Potter is Hellspawn" stuff (60 Potter articles at my last count) is just embarrassing.
Listen to yourself! You no sooner tell Jim that he's stifling debate than you proceed to suggest what kinds of threads he might consider banning. Do you shave in two mirrors so you can see both faces at the same time?
This is the very essence of the struggle this site undergoes. Some self-righteous prig decides that a particular viewpoint doesn't have the right to be heard, so he demands that it be squelched. He doesn't argue the points or defeat the logic, he goes whining to the teacher because little Billy pinched him. But when Billy whines to the teacher, then he cries "censorship" and "bias," and refuses to do his homework.
If we can't tolerate controversy better than this, we'll never be a force to be reckoned with. Remember, the strength of a principle is not measured by the ease of its application, but by its breadth.
Speaking of which, it wouldn't hurt at some point to repeat the old words discouraging religious threads on the grounds that they're off-topic on a political site. Lately, the place has exploded with prayer threads and reprinted sermons. And the "Harry Potter is Hellspawn" stuff (60 Potter articles at my last count) is just embarrassing."
Well, I've got news for you, this forum was always intended for a family audience from the very beginning. The members have a right to object to posts and posters who spew profanity, obscenities, vulgarity, violence, threats, racism, slander, bashing, etc. We are also a patriotic site. Have been from the beginning. We do not advocate violence or an overthrow of the government. We love and support our country and defend her from all enemies foreign or domestic. We promote freedom, liberty and equality under the law for all Americans. We could care less about color, race, religion or country of origin. Our rights come from God, not government, and no person should be deprived of them. We've got a forum where we can discuss issues that are important to ourselves as conservative Americans and I only ask that we conduct our ourselves in a polite and courteous manner while doing so. We do not appreciate those who go over the line and we do not appreciate disruptors from any side of the political spectrum. We do believe that liberals, socialists, marxists, etc., are working to destroy our way of life and our Constitution thus we are defending ourselves from them. Therefore, unless they are especially polite and on topic and not pushing their anti-America, anti-family, anti-freedom, corrupt, lying leftist agenda, they will usually be ejected. Same goes for nazis, skinheads, racists or bashers of any stripe. They will be ejected on sight. You may call us control freaks if you wish, but those are the rules and those are the facts of life on FR. People who cross them are likely to be removed. Those who don't like the rules, and or cannot abide by them, might as well click over to another forum, because they probably will not like it here.
I have absolutely no problem with religion or prayer. I use a lot of it myself. My only draw back to religion on the forum is, I do not like to see threads where they are heavy into debate and they start accusing one another of being un Christian (or whatever), or claiming that their faith is the only true faith and the rest of us are going to hell. I also do not want sermonizing on FR. I agree that this is not the place for that. We have way too many religions represented here within our diverse membership and there are always people who are going to get hurt. Other than that, and the fact that I do not want anyone bashing any religion, I have no problem with these threads.