I think a Current Affairs open thread would be great, but it's also really tricky.

The best Political Forum I've ever come across was on the FCS board in its heyday. It had entertainment value and was interesting. I notice on the Spin Room a lot of the people that give it its infamy don't contribute much to the sports side of discussion, but no one was finding that political board on the FCS board unless they actually had a real interest in the FCS. And a lot of Xenforo boards set up for political discussion and moderated tightly for trolling and personal attacks are just really boring and full of trite one-liners. On GSUfans we had a thread about post-pandemic labor force issues and it was more interesting than most stuff on those boards.

I can't claim to have the right formula, but it is what it is.

(10-25-2023 09:56 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  I think a Current Affairs open thread would be great, but it's also really tricky.

The best Political Forum I've ever come across was on the FCS board in its heyday. It had entertainment value and was interesting. I notice on the Spin Room a lot of the people that give it its infamy don't contribute much to the sports side of discussion, but no one was finding that political board on the FCS board unless they actually had a real interest in the FCS. And a lot of Xenforo boards set up for political discussion and moderated tightly for trolling and personal attacks are just really boring and full of trite one-liners. On GSUfans we had a thread about post-pandemic labor force issues and it was more interesting than most stuff on those boards.

I can't claim to have the right formula, but it is what it is.

There was a time where people could engage in political discourse without getting horribly offended or ugly.

Unfortunately, that ship has sailed.

Lamar University? Why even bother talking about them?

(10-24-2023 10:47 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  

(10-24-2023 06:31 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  The Spin Room is /pol/ for boomers

I don’t care if it exists; it’s not my cup of piss but as long as it doesn’t bleed into the other forums and turn every sports thread into a crap factory then I’m not gonna yuck your yum. That said it irritates me to no end when I’m in a thread and then I go back to it, wonder what the hell Soros and Biden have to do with G5 realignment, then I look at the top of the page and … son of a bit …

Some definitely bleed it in to the other forums every little chance they get. It's much worse on the JMU board than it is here though. Always the same few that can hardly let a single thread go by without finding an opportunity to throw some dumb political jab in.

We had a guy on the AState board blame Joe Biden during a thread on our basketball team's poor performance once. People will throw politics in whenever they can these days.

(10-25-2023 09:56 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  I think a Current Affairs open thread would be great, but it's also really tricky.

The best Political Forum I've ever come across was on the FCS board in its heyday. It had entertainment value and was interesting. I notice on the Spin Room a lot of the people that give it its infamy don't contribute much to the sports side of discussion, but no one was finding that political board on the FCS board unless they actually had a real interest in the FCS. And a lot of Xenforo boards set up for political discussion and moderated tightly for trolling and personal attacks are just really boring and full of trite one-liners. On GSUfans we had a thread about post-pandemic labor force issues and it was more interesting than most stuff on those boards.

I can't claim to have the right formula, but it is what it is.

I think Current affairs is possible for sure if moderated correctly. But we'd almost have to put it on our General discussion board to ensure that it stays largely troll free. People generally click around randomly on other boards looking for stuff, but they tend to ignore sub threads from what I've seen.

We have one of the few forums on this site that could probably have a current affairs thread and get rational discussion on it.

So I just got a neg rep from a random Memphis fan for a comment I made on the thread that got moved with the message "eat a dick". It wasn't even that inflammatory of a statement, I've made much worse.

Strange crew over there.

Added +2 to make up for it. Thinking I'll add a -2 to the other guy with a comment of "because I can". But then, I realized I'd be just like that guy.

(10-25-2023 01:50 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  So I just got a neg rep from a random Memphis fan for a comment I made on the thread that got moved with the message "eat a dick". It wasn't even that inflammatory of a statement, I've made much worse.

Strange crew over there.

(10-25-2023 02:40 PM)stingingeagle Wrote:  Added +2 to make up for it. Thinking I'll add a -2 to the other guy with a comment of "because I can". But then, I realized I'd be just like that guy.

(10-25-2023 01:50 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  So I just got a neg rep from a random Memphis fan for a comment I made on the thread that got moved with the message "eat a dick". It wasn't even that inflammatory of a statement, I've made much worse.

Strange crew over there.

Oh I gave him a +3 and left a little message of my own. You can go check it out.

(10-25-2023 03:04 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(10-25-2023 02:40 PM)stingingeagle Wrote:  Added +2 to make up for it. Thinking I'll add a -2 to the other guy with a comment of "because I can". But then, I realized I'd be just like that guy.

(10-25-2023 01:50 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  So I just got a neg rep from a random Memphis fan for a comment I made on the thread that got moved with the message "eat a dick". It wasn't even that inflammatory of a statement, I've made much worse.

Strange crew over there.

Oh I gave him a +3 and left a little message of my own. You can go check it out.

That's just too funny

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke

There are some conversations that are not worth having. There are also times when it is important to speak up when you see or hear something that is not just disagreeable, but is a disgrace to your own conscience if you don’t. Knowing when to engage and when to ignore can be a challenge, and I certainly don’t pretend to have the self-discipline or just basic common sense to have mastered that balance.

What I don’t understand, for purposes of this particular thread, is the need to scold others regarding what they have decided is worthy of comment. If the spin room is not for you, that’s perfectly fine. There are plenty of threads over there that I will not touch. But there are (at least for me) plenty of interesting and important topics on which I get insights into opposing views that I would not be exposed to otherwise. For me, at least, that is worthwhile, especially since these are just words from which I can walk away.

I don’t think less of someone for not wanting to be exposed to disagreeable viewpoints. But I get the uncomfortable sense on this thread of a puritanical desire to shut out other voices - - not just for yourself, but for others as well. Again, these are just words.

Perhaps I am reading too much into some of these posts. I do that sometimes, and my apology if you get that sense from this reply. It is not directed at anyone in particular.

(10-26-2023 06:02 AM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke

There are some conversations that are not worth having. There are also times when it is important to speak up when you see or hear something that is not just disagreeable, but is a disgrace to your own conscience if you don’t. Knowing when to engage and when to ignore can be a challenge, and I certainly don’t pretend to have the self-discipline or just basic common sense to have mastered that balance.

What I don’t understand, for purposes of this particular thread, is the need to scold others regarding what they have decided is worthy of comment. If the spin room is not for you, that’s perfectly fine. There are plenty of threads over there that I will not touch. But there are (at least for me) plenty of interesting and important topics on which I get insights into opposing views that I would not be exposed to otherwise. For me, at least, that is worthwhile, especially since these are just words from which I can walk away.

I don’t think less of someone for not wanting to be exposed to disagreeable viewpoints. But I get the uncomfortable sense on this thread of a puritanical desire to shut out other voices - - not just for yourself, but for others as well. Again, these are just words.

Perhaps I am reading too much into some of these posts. I do that sometimes, and my apology if you get that sense from this reply. It is not directed at anyone in particular.

For me at least, it's not the viewpoints it's the manner in which they're expressed. I'm all for healthy debate and differing viewpoints. Hell, I'm actually for compromise for most political issues. I just don't see anything resembling actual debate on that forum. In fact it seems that a lot over there just shout down and drown out opposing views with name calling and very little substance. So they're doing what you're speaking out against. And I'm not thin skinned. You want to call me names, I can handle it. If that's ALL you want to do or all you have the capacity for then it's a waste of time. It's definitely an echo chamber over there, a weird circle jerk with Redwing Tom in the center. If that's what you want then have at it but it's not an environment that welcomes differing views.

(10-23-2023 07:27 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  That place is filled with a segment of humanity that is disturbing for a multitude of reasons. Often wondered if several law enforcement agencies keep tabs on it.

There are at least two feds posting over there so yea.

(10-26-2023 06:02 AM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke

There are some conversations that are not worth having. There are also times when it is important to speak up when you see or hear something that is not just disagreeable, but is a disgrace to your own conscience if you don’t. Knowing when to engage and when to ignore can be a challenge, and I certainly don’t pretend to have the self-discipline or just basic common sense to have mastered that balance.

What I don’t understand, for purposes of this particular thread, is the need to scold others regarding what they have decided is worthy of comment. If the spin room is not for you, that’s perfectly fine. There are plenty of threads over there that I will not touch. But there are (at least for me) plenty of interesting and important topics on which I get insights into opposing views that I would not be exposed to otherwise. For me, at least, that is worthwhile, especially since these are just words from which I can walk away.

I don’t think less of someone for not wanting to be exposed to disagreeable viewpoints. But I get the uncomfortable sense on this thread of a puritanical desire to shut out other voices - - not just for yourself, but for others as well. Again, these are just words.

Perhaps I am reading too much into some of these posts. I do that sometimes, and my apology if you get that sense from this reply. It is not directed at anyone in particular.

Find 5 posts where someone was presented evidence contrary to their entrenched position and fully acknowledged that they were unaware of the actual facts of the situation/their source of facts didn't give the full picture and that they were changing their perspective as a result of it.

Then find me 200 posts of people digging in on their opinion regardless of evidence presented.

Which one you think you'll get to faster?

I am going to start a poll on the SBC general discussion forum to determine the appetite for a current events thread to discuss politics in a healthy manner.

The forum would be moderated, and personal insults and attacks would not be allowed. I'll post further details in that poll and link it here.

Poll is up: Link

https://csnbbs.com/thread-979861.html

I just block the 3 Memphis posters who never post anything of consequence and 2 others who join in that bag. It gets rid of about 2/3 of posts. But, it also removes 2/3 of the junk. As they say the same thing on every post pretty much. Everyone's mileage varies there on any worth you can get out of it. But, the block feature is actually a really handy feature to use to skip people literally never or almost never add anything of value.

And yes a forum here for that would need to be moderated more heavily to work. The issue there is that posts that are 100% insult responses are allowed. It is probably the only forum where a one line response of "You're too stupid to be a real person troll" doesn't get a ban (actual response to a post I saw months ago.) Or people threatening to try to find out where I work to boycott it. Because I said that one day voting with no absentee ballot wouldn't work for me since I work in healthcare and can't be off on election day. Some of them have just gotten away the behavior for so long it seems they don't know or care that it's inappropriate.

Enjoying this thread, a lot. Spin Room has some really good folks. I enjoy the mental gymnastics of explaining a point of view and then working to defend it. Yes, sometimes that defense gets a bit salty, but there are some posters there that are saying important things, with viable references, about topics you do not see elsewhere. Guess I am also considered one of the saltier posters, and that's OK. I view and post here for entertainment when my work is over for the day. However, for those paying attention, there are some really big nuggets thrown out that have made me make better decisions about a particular topic.

(10-26-2023 09:24 PM)ODUsmitty Wrote:  Enjoying this thread, a lot. Spin Room has some really good folks. I enjoy the mental gymnastics of explaining a point of view and then working to defend it. Yes, sometimes that defense gets a bit salty, but there are some posters there that are saying important things, with viable references, about topics you do not see elsewhere. Guess I am also considered one of the saltier posters, and that's OK. I view and post here for entertainment when my work is over for the day. However, for those paying attention, there are some really big nuggets thrown out that have made me make better decisions about a particular topic.

I'm actually happy with the progress in this thread overall. As a mod, I can see every post that was made in this thread, even ones that were removed from viewing by either a mod or the original poster. There have been 6 posts removed from this thread so far mainly petty personal attacks.

There have been 8 posts removed so far in the JMU/ODU game thread. And lord knows there will be more.

(10-26-2023 09:34 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(10-26-2023 09:24 PM)ODUsmitty Wrote:  Enjoying this thread, a lot. Spin Room has some really good folks. I enjoy the mental gymnastics of explaining a point of view and then working to defend it. Yes, sometimes that defense gets a bit salty, but there are some posters there that are saying important things, with viable references, about topics you do not see elsewhere. Guess I am also considered one of the saltier posters, and that's OK. I view and post here for entertainment when my work is over for the day. However, for those paying attention, there are some really big nuggets thrown out that have made me make better decisions about a particular topic.

I'm actually happy with the progress in this thread overall. As a mod, I can see every post that was made in this thread, even ones that were removed from viewing by either a mod or the original poster. There have been 6 posts removed from this thread so far mainly petty personal attacks.

There have been 8 posts removed so far in the JMU/ODU game thread. And lord knows there will be more.

You just wait till the USM/ULM game thread. There's going to be so many hot emotions with fans excited about their team with posts going so fast that I fear for the mods.

(10-26-2023 09:38 PM)Eagleyed Wrote:  

(10-26-2023 09:34 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(10-26-2023 09:24 PM)ODUsmitty Wrote:  Enjoying this thread, a lot. Spin Room has some really good folks. I enjoy the mental gymnastics of explaining a point of view and then working to defend it. Yes, sometimes that defense gets a bit salty, but there are some posters there that are saying important things, with viable references, about topics you do not see elsewhere. Guess I am also considered one of the saltier posters, and that's OK. I view and post here for entertainment when my work is over for the day. However, for those paying attention, there are some really big nuggets thrown out that have made me make better decisions about a particular topic.

I'm actually happy with the progress in this thread overall. As a mod, I can see every post that was made in this thread, even ones that were removed from viewing by either a mod or the original poster. There have been 6 posts removed from this thread so far mainly petty personal attacks.

There have been 8 posts removed so far in the JMU/ODU game thread. And lord knows there will be more.

You just wait till the USM/ULM game thread. There's going to be so many hot emotions with fans excited about their team with posts going so fast that I fear for the mods.

That's going to be the Sun Belt Game of the year for sure. I can't believe ESPN wants to televise this silly JMU team instead. They don't understand what they are missing.