Considering Unmoderated Forum

[Chris]

We are considering implementing an unmoderated forum for the discussion of politics, religion, etc. This forum, as the name states, will not be moderated and anything will go (with the exception of nudity, etc). I'm interested in hearing your thoughts and feedback on the topic.

Thanks,
Chris

[Vator]

Hey Chris,

I cannot frankly imagine how, if the contributors understand and agree that what happens in the "UMF" remains exclusively in the "UMF", such a forum would be anything less than beneficial to the site. I'm in favor, as I would love to participate in some political discussions.

[BillCable]

No nudity?  What the ****??!!

I'm all for it, baby!

[Jediknight760071]

Sounds like a cool idea to me.

[Neal]

Hey Chris,

I cannot frankly imagine how, if the contributors understand and agree that what happens in the "UMF" remains exclusively in the "UMF", such a forum would be anything less than beneficial to the site. I'm in favor, as I would love to participate in some political discussions.

That's the real trick.  Members have to keep their differences and petty squabbles from spilling out into the other parts of the Forum.

[Rob]

I'd love that.

Give it a go and if it's a disaster, then kill it. 

[ruiner]

That's fine as long as everyone respects each other's views and it doesn't turn into an alienation event of sorts.

It'd be nice if we could discuss current political events without the nasty catch-all labels of 'conservative' or 'liberal.'

[DarkKnight2k4]

Considering the topic, I don't know if it's a good idea...

Some things just don't stay where they are...

[Matt_Fury]

I don't think it's such a good idea.  Although this is an older crowd, there's still a lot of younger people in here and I think the flaming and trolling would spill out into the other forums.  I just think of the W&P thread at RS and what a disaster that was.

Hell...look at the latest crap in the 24 thread...plenty of stuff in there that really didn't need to be said and we don't even have an UMF yet.  I think that kind of stuff would just get worse.

I come here for all things Star Wars and some other collecting...if I wanted Religion and Politics, there's plenty of other places for that on the net.

[ruiner]

I say we put restrictions on who could post.  Say 1000 posts or more.  Or 1 year of membership. 

I know it sounds harsh but hey, it's a benefit -- similar to Yakpoints.

[Rob]

Hell...look at the latest crap in the 24 thread...plenty of stuff in there that really didn't need to be said and we don't even have an UMF yet.  I think that kind of stuff would just get worse.

You could argue that it wouldn't have happened at all if there was a designated place for those discussions.

We can delete anything that spills over.

[Deanpaul]

If it's going to be someplace worse than Watto's and Wuher's, you could make it a secret invite only type forum.

I like the idea, but there's no way the feelings would stay put.  They'll leak out.  Then again, they already do, so there shouldn't be much difference.

[Scott]

My two cents...we toyed with this idea many times and never really did it...I think there is enough adult people here to make it fly and there is enough righties and lefties to keep it balanced. 

[efranks]

I think there is enough adult people here to make it fly and there is enough righties and lefties to keep it balanced. 

Actually, there are a lot more righties than lefties in the world.  If we have an unmoderated forum all the righties will be running around with their scissors taunting the lefties, "I can cut paper and you can't!"  Then the lefties will be all like, "yeah, but we're more artistically inclined!"  And the righties will have to be like, "Nuh-uh!"

And it just gets worse from there.   

   E...  (in favor of a UMF even if I might not post there much)

[Jesse James]

I won't be posting in it myself...  I have friends on both sides of the political fence and tend to just ignore them when I disagree with them for the sake of staying friends/happy.  That said, I can attest that the staff here will be incredibly heavy-handed with any members who carry it outside this proposed forum.

I'm not personally completely in favor of it actually, however I agree that I feel a comparison with Rebelscum isn't really fair.  They're far less moderated there and many of their "problems" aren't banned in the first place.  Around here we happily give many people the boot for the sake of the community...  You could have 10,000 posts here and you'd still get banned for being a dick.

I think we do have the "maturity" here...  I like some of the suggestions too on time spent, post count/content, etc., as all criteria to be allowed in, however I do not have the expertise to know whether our software would allow those kinds of things to restrict or allow access and such.  That'd be something Chris or Jeff would know.

I think the discussion, so far here, is at the very least a sign of the caliber of membership we have here, so that makes me happy unto itself.  I'm sure this isn't something we're just jumping into though, and the discussion is incredibly helpful so feel free to keep it coming guys.