[Adam]

In 10 days, our "Political and Religious Discussion" section will be closed to new posts for the remainder of the year. Come January, the section will be history - for good.

The moderators and I have decided to close the section as it's been causing nothing but trouble despite our efforts to keep things in check. This will allow everyone to focus more on photography, which is what everyone is here for anyway.

Threads on political issues related to photography (i.e. news about photographers getting sued, what you can and can't shoot legally, etc.) will still be allowed in the general photography and industry forum and the same rules will apply as in the current political forum. All other political and religious topics will no longer have a place on PF and will simply be deleted.

Adam
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[hks_kansei]

Unfortunate to see it go, as it's quite refreshing to have an area to openly and thoughtfully discuss things like religion/morals/politics/etc


Unfortunately very few of the threads are "here's my thoughts on X topic, what are yours? let's discuss the differences to understand why each other thinks that way without any malice"

Instead it all seems to turn into "here's my thoughts, and anybody who disagrees will be called names"

[dfinjc66]

Good that it's going. Always generated far more heat than light.

[magkelly]

On one hand I'm sorry to see it go because I enjoy talking with the people here about almost anything, but on the other hand I won't miss all the political debate at all. There were some days right before the election where I swear there was more political chatter than photography chatter going on...

[Jonathan Mac]

Unfortunate to see it go, as it's quite refreshing to have an area to openly and thoughtfully discuss things like religion/morals/politics/etc


Unfortunately very few of the threads are "here's my thoughts on X topic, what are yours? let's discuss the differences to understand why each other thinks that way without any malice"

Instead it all seems to turn into "here's my thoughts, and anybody who disagrees will be called names"

It's open (but not open-minded) and not very thoughtful. Discussion is good but the forum was only ever used by many to reinforce bigotry and ignorance, not to share ideas thoughtfully.

Good that it's going. Always generated far more heat than light.

What he said.

[neil]

Great decision!

The Off-Topic forum at DPR is great for the poo-flinging monkeys.

[thoughton]

Good riddance, glad to see the end of it.

[rbefly]

Thanks to Adam and the Moderators for this move. My least favorite part of this Forum and one that won't be missed.
Ron

[wildman]

In 10 days, our "Political and Religious Discussion" section will be closed

Unfortunate but I understand.

[Nesster]

I have to say I'll be sorry to see it go - for me it is a lot of fun and educational too - it was a way for me to remain current and curious about current events etc.

[normhead]

I'll miss it, but I totally understand why it's going.... it's presence is part of what made this site unique. But then, I always thought the site should be limited to folks who are posting their pictures or learning from people who do. There are way to many people on here who get in on the action when it comes to political or "camera envy" debates, who don't seem to be at all interested in sharing photos or their experience of photography.

having expereinced the "wild west days" of other sites as well, and having watched what happens when inability to adequately moderate affects site management, I'm guessing, you'll lose some people, the site definitely loses some character, but in the end, moderators aren't paid, it's up to them to decide what they can handle.

I have to say, there's a lot of opinions in the Political Religious site, but there are just as many opinions of the same nature posted in the Camera and format wars. I'd like to see to site restricted to those working with and discussing Pentax equipment . There's another site for everyone else. Ignorant, aggressive camera related opinions are no less obnoxious than Political and Religious ones. A lot of sites get along just fine with no format or brand wars.

I'd restrict folks to talking about the pictures they take without reference to what can and can't be done. Or if they want to say they have an FF picture that couldn't have been taken with APS-c , then they should have made a reasonable effort to back it up with some images, that illustrate how hard they tried and couldn't get it done. Many of the beliefs expressed even in the camera section are posted by people who's religion is their camera brand or format.

The most rewarding part of the site is sharing images and learning technique and learning the technical aspects of using Pentax cameras. The rest of it is extraneous. And Canikon/Sony/whatever trolls to me should be less welcome than the political/religious zealots. On the other hand, I'd have no problem with anyone posting and discussing their images no matter what they shoot with. There's a difference between advancing photography, and getting into brand wars with theoretical discussions where the loudest and most believed viewpoints are often either wrong, inaccurate or deliberately obfuscating.

You advance photgraphy by posting what you're doing and sharing how you did it with those who are interested. The "my camera/format is better than your camera/format type of argument" has no value at all. The language of photography is the images. The rest is what people think about the images, and that may or may not have anything to do with the images.

[redrockcoulee]

I stopped going to it or at least posting in it due to some mean spiritness of several of the posters but enjoyed many of the threads and posts. While it does not bother me to see it go and will not really miss it I do not recognize most of the above posters who are happy to see it go from that forum. If you did not like it there is the option not to see it at all in your accounts page and nothing would have shown up from it on your views. On the other hand if the forum caused the moderators too much work that is in my mind an excellent reason to make it history.

There were at least a couple of threads discussed in that forum that really were not strickly either political nor religious and I fear that those might move over to the general forum where members are less likely to be opted out. Hope that is not the case

[nosliwmit]

I responded, long ago, to the blatant omission of an "abortion" discussion on this site by blocking the "politics and religion" discussion. It's as relevant to this site as Coke Classic vs. New Coke. And if it's taking up admin/moderator time then good riddance...

[audiobomber]

I will definitely miss the P&R Forum.

[MRRiley]

As Adam said, political discussions directly related to photography will still be permitted but must be posted in the General Photography and Industry forum. Any general political or religious posts anywhere on the site will result in infractions being levied with the appropriate consequences.