Betcha can't guess which way I voted...
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I like political threads; I like getting differing viewpoints on some issues, and to be honest with you, I've altered the way I think about some things in part because of the debates I've engaged in here. If that's not a positive element, I don't know what is. Of course, as Lorena says, we can just go somewhere else to get our political debate---but to be completely honest with you, there's not too many other places on teh interwebz that are as civilized and fun to banter with. I'd challenge anyone who thinks that our debates here are out of hand to check out any of the thousands of political forums out there, and then still tell me they think we have a serious problem. Really, I think that the rather tame arguments that we get into here have the tendency to devolve over time, but that's usually because the meat of the debate has been rehashed and rehashed so much already that the participants have nothing more to debate than semantics or logical-conclusions or, unfortunately, personal attacks. As long as that is policed, I don't see a problem.
To the point about losing respect for someone because you get to see their ugly side, well, I have to say that banning political threads just so that you only get to see the peachy side of people is a bit troublesome if you ask me. If someone's an *******, then they're an *******. Talking about the technicalities of homebrewing doesn't usually bring out the ******* in people, but that doesn't mean they're any less of one. If your respect of someone is based only on a portion of their personality, and you'd rather just keep a paper bag over the other side so you don't have to see it, then I'd say that that's not a very meaningful interaction. Or, inversely, if you can't respect someone because they have different beliefs and ideals, and would rather just talk about beer, then I'd say you might have some growing up to do. Either that, or just avoid the political threads. As for religious threads, I don't see how that's an issue since there's one of those maybe every 6 months that I can see. Not exactly a pressing issue.
All in all, I feel like the policing needs to be much more refined than it has been in the past...much more savvy. I can't tell you how to do that, but I can say that, in the past, the policing has seemed very subjective and selective. I've never gotten an infraction or a suspension or anything, but apparently there are some people who feel like I should have tons---or that I'm a step away from one. Is any of this communicated in a clear, objective manner? I don't think it is. And this creates problems, simply because it almost leaves an invisible threshold out there that nobody really knows when they're going to pass. Certainly, there are things that are obviously deserving of infractions or suspensions---but there are other things that could probably be addressed with a simple "hey, watch it, this is your last warning" kind of thing. It just doesn't seem to me, someone who's been around for about 2 years now, that there's any universal protocol for these things, and that worries me---not because I'm scared of getting the whip cracked on myself (who knows, I might), but because it can drive otherwise good people away from the site because they can't deal with the constant ambiguity. And lastly, I think that it is of utmost importance to maintain at least the appearance of objectivity from those policing the place---and when moderators are actively involved in debates, it threatens that concept.
I'm of the firm opinion that the OT banter, including political discussion, is one of the cornerstones that make this place enjoyable to frequent---and that eliminating them altogether is NOT the answer.