Need a Sub-Political Forum for the Middle East!

[Obama 2012 1,714]

There's been a lot of political threads related to the middle east that 95% of the people in P&R don't give a damn about. We're not talking about US Relations vs. the Middle East, we're talking threads that are just about the middle east in general and the political situation there.

So I vote for a sub-forum of politics & religion that's just for middle east politics discussion!

My 2 cents!

[^_^ 5,021]

There's been a lot of political threads related to the middle east that 95% of the people in P&R don't give a damn about. We're not talking about US Relations vs. the Middle East, we're talking threads that are just about the middle east in general and the political situation there.

So I vote for a sub-forum of politics & religion that's just for middle east politics discussion!

My 2 cents!

Another way to address this could be to simply call P&R a forum to discuss religion and politics that affects America and stick the internal Isr/Pal stuff into MENA.

For example, a thread about what some Palestinian yahoo said about Israeli collusion with America on a possible war with Iran would belong in P&R while a thread about derogatory depictions of Israelis on Palestinian TV would belong in MENA.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I don't like this idea. Nope. Why should we sweep a major issue under the carpet because it makes a few people uncomfortable? The middle eastern situation is being discussed in US politics, so that makes this a relevant political discussion.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

However, I would like to see all the hippie save the planet/climate change stuff moved to Off Topic, as that has little relevance to real politics.

[luckytxn 2,264]

I don't like this idea. Nope. Why should we sweep a major issue under the carpet because it makes a few people uncomfortable? The middle eastern situation is being discussed in US politics, so that makes this a relevant political discussion.

Holy #######. I agree with you.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Maybe if a bunch of threads with roughly the same topic hit the board in the same day or two we can just ask a mod to combine.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Maybe if a bunch of threads with roughly the same topic hit the board in the same day or two we can just ask a mod to combine.

Great minds think alike!

At the last Moderator's meeting we discussed how to handle the flooding of P&R with multiple topics on the same general theme. Some themes are 'top heavy' on Visa Journey and some go through phases of being 'top heavy'. In some cases new threads are started just slightly different from a previous closed thread so that it is not technically restarting a closed thread but in effect is restarting the closed thread as the discussion quickly picks up where it was left off.

We are still working out the details with Captain Ewok of how this is going to work but basically, we will be trying a new approach when there is an overflow of threads that have the same 'over-reaching' theme to them - and that is by combining them all into one big thread.

So, when there is a flood of threads that all have the same 'general' topic, even though they discuss different elements of that general theme, they will be combined into 'Overthreads' (for lack of a better name). The title of the thread will be renamed into something more general that describes the 'common theme' behind the threads - such as "Israeli-Palestinian Discussion', and will include a sub-title of 'Combined general overthread' or words to that effect.

These overthreads will be subject to TOS but because some themes can run for a number of days, we want to try to avoid closing them, so if they get out of hand, we will remove offending posts and thread ban the posters for a 2 week period. After 2 weeks, if the thread is still running, they will be allowed to participate again. We are hoping that this approach will prevent the forum from being overrun by one main theme and that confining the discussion in one place will prevent baiting threads being started to replace closed threads. The 2 week thread ban should also be a good incentive for those who participate in the Overthread to post responsibly as they will not be able to post on that general theme at all for 2 weeks if they are thread banned.

This approach isn't going to be used for all big theme threads, just when the forums threaten to be overwhelmed in a short period of time by many threads all on that same theme. It also won't work for some really big themes, such as the US Presidential Campaign/election, but elements within that theme may be combined into overthreads, such as "2012 Presidential campaign: Environmental issues and concerns - Combined general overthread" if the forum gets inundated with a number of threads on that theme.

We still need to decide on parameters and how this will be implemented and maintained, but we hope to start using this new 'tool' in the very near future. This is a trial run to see if this approach will work, because there is a definite problem with certain themes taking over the Politics & Religion thread and generating a lot of reports and a lot of need for moderator intervention. Captain Ewok will probably make an official announcement when we have the kinks worked out and this process in place, but it should be very soon.

Edited January 20, 2012 by Kathryn41

[^_^ 5,021]

... such as "2012 Presidential campaign: Environmental issues and concerns - Combined general overthread" ...

Non-serious response: You're trying to give Brother Steven a woody aren't you?

Serious-response: Please don't call them overthreads. Also, anything that sounds this complicated and attempts to solve a problem so trivial is usually a bad idea.

[웃 910]

What about a nuclear option (no pun intended).

Create a little radioactive button that you can click that will explode the topic into oblivion never to be seen again. Something annoys you then it is just 1 click away from disappearing forever.

I know I'd be doing that to 90% of those threads.

Edited January 20, 2012 by ☠