[GoremanX]

I heard a 10 year old playing war games in my neighborhood recently when he said "DIE IN PEACE BARACK OBAMA". Exactly how truly informed do you think that 10 year old was and where did he learn to shoulder such hatred towards the leader of his country.

uh oh, this thread just got derailed into politics...

I have to admit, the blatant political sidetracking in GT really gets annoying at times. We can be having a completely pleasant and informative discussion, and then someone barges in with some random political rant that _barely_ touches on the actual subject matter. Inevitably, the discussion descends into a political flamewar.

I won't pretend to be a saint, I've started my own flamewars on more than one occasion. They can be a very fun diversion But political flamewars suck. People take them way too seriously.

On the other hand, if we did have a political sub-forum, and disallowed political talk from GT, then the slightest political reference might get the over-sensitive whiners up in arms (I'm pointing at you, Blue). How would the admins draw the line? Would this drive people away? Would I have to be super-duper-extra careful not to accidentally slip a political reference in my posts, for fear of being reported?

I realize this forum isn't a democracy, but I vote we leave things "as is". And I will continue to keep my political opinions to myself. The only reason to share them is to try and convince other people to see things the same way I do.

No-one is likely to see things the same way I do, I'm too crazy

[cwood]

uh oh, this thread just got derailed into politics...

Just to clarify... It would have made no less difference to me if this was 3 years ago and he had said the same thing about Bush. The Point is that 90% of Democrats think Bush was a war mongering Idiot and 90% of Republicans think Obama is a Stalinist traitor and I see no value in fanning those flames anywhere... let alone here on this Pentax Forum.

Rush Limbaugh and his Conservative and Liberal buddies do a fine job on their own of fueling hatred - I don't think we need it here

[GoremanX]

OMG! It's really happening to this very thread!!! I can't believe it!




...the irony... it's killing me...

[cwood]

OMG! It's really happening to this very thread!!! I can't believe it!




...the irony... it's killing me...

its not ironic that I am expressing my dislike for political hatred in a thread suggesting the creation of a political subforum. I have expressed no political views of my own at all in my comments. The fact that it is virtually impossible to explain the point without mentioning something political (like the fact that Republicans and Democrats generally hate each other) is maybe unfortunate but it is not ironic - and it is precisely why I would rather not have the new subforum

Edit ... and YES I do regret expressing my opinion at all. Lesson learned - don't engage in off-topic conversation with strangers. Go for it and create a bunch of political forums...

[Wheatfield]

People come here because they either have a Pentax, Had a Pentax or at least appreciate the Pentax Brand.

Some people who have Pentax also carry other brands and some people who have Pentax are interested in buying another brand of Camera because Pentax does not offer a solution to their needs.

How is this as off topic as the hatred being shoveled in the General Talk forum?

So it's the degree of off topicness that offends you? Frankly, if I want to read about Nikons, Canons Sonys and Panasonic 4/3s there are ample discussion boards out there dedicated to those brands.
I come here to discuss Pentax equipment, so why am I subjected to off topic tripe about other brands?

If you want to do away with GT, then to be non hypocritical, you would have to do away with the off topic camera brand forum as well.
Or, do what i do and just don't read what you consider to be crap and let the kids play, whether it is extolling the virues of their Nikons or Canons on a Pentax Forum or whatever else they want to discuss.

[ve2vfd]

Well my 2 cents here is that when I joined this board 3 years ago, the GT forum was a vibrant pleasant place to be with plenty of fun discussions. Some intellectual, some downright silly and just a few political. It had 50+ regular posters. Go back and read threads around 2007. I like many others used to spend a lot of time on that forum as it was a pleasant and friendly place to be.

Now more than half of the new threads are American political/lifestyle bashing, and many of the few who are not quickly degrade into a bashfest within days as the usual suspects inject their political hatred. Personnal attacks are common, and you will notice that there are barely a dozen regular posters left in the GT.

Make what you will of this...

Pat

[GeneV]

Well my 2 cents here is that when I joined this board 3 years ago, the GT forum was a vibrant pleasant place to be with plenty of fun discussions. Some intellectual, some downright silly and just a few political. It had 50+ regular posters. Go back and read threads around 2007. I like many others used to spend a lot of time on that forum as it was a pleasant and friendly place to be.

Now more than half of the new threads are American political/lifestyle bashing, and many of the few who are not quickly degrade into a bashfest within days as the usual suspects inject their political hatred. Personnal attacks are common, and you will notice that there are barely a dozen regular posters left in the GT.

Make what you will of this...

Pat

FWIW, from my brief encounter with the political threads in GT, this forum is not one of the more substantive ones when it comes to politics. This is a terrific board for cameras and photography, but for some reason, the photography discussions seem to be at a level far more constructive than the political discussions. There are posts in GT political threads almost every day that would get you booted most other places that don't have politics as the primary focus.

Most other boards in which I have participated have put the political discussions in their own forum or banned them completely.

[Blue]

One possible thing would be to delete threads that become inactive for 90 days and have no intrinsic photographic value.

[Adam]

One possible thing would be to delete threads that become inactive for 90 days and have no intrinsic photographic value.

Now that would truly be counterproductive; however, I think the nature of this thread itself shows that we shouldn't have a dedicated political section.

[Blue]

Now that would truly be counterproductive; however, I think the nature of this thread itself shows that we shouldn't have a dedicated political section.

I don't know if it would be counterproductive or not. How much archival space to those threads cumulatively take up and does it effect overall search efficiency? After all, it seemed to be worth while to move "old" want adds to an expired subforum.

Edit: That suggestion had to do with long term site maintenance than the threads themselves.