Talk of The Villages Florida - Political Forum Notice

Talk of The Villages Florida (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/)

- The Villages, Florida, General Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/)

- - Political Forum Notice (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/political-forum-notice-251644/)

Political Forum Notice

Political Forums Notice

TalkofTheVillages.com

TalkofTheVillages.com would like to wish everyone a safe, happy and healthy New Year!

There is a forum dedicated to political discussions that users have to opt into in order to view them. Due to the 'nature' of politics we only have less than .5% of all users subscribed to them. The other 99.5% do not.

Due to some programming and development updates that need to be done the Political Forum will be closed for an unspecified amount of time as these development improvements will take a back seat to the enhancements and upgrades scheduled that server the 99.5% of TOTV users. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Reminder: This does NOT mean that political comments are now allowed on the general forums they are not. Users who violate this rule will be subject to infractions issued against user account and further actions including account suspension and banning.

This would include but not be limited to reference(s) to a political party, political individual, or political topic. Moderators and Administrators retain the right to use their discretion and any politically related or implied thread or post will be removed.

Thank you for making Talk of The Villages the #1 website for over 10 years!
1,182,190 discussions and counting!

Hopefully, there will be a few changes to it upon its return.

Suggestions:

1. Give each guest a permanent sign in number. This way, anonymity is retained but you know who is responding to their own thread, etc.

2. Prohibit bullying and racist posts.

3. Get a moderator. Ban those who bully and post the truly disgusting racist comments and pictures. They don’t belong anywhere, let alone on anything related to TV and TOTV. The banning should be permanent and include banning from the main site as well.

I love discussing politics. It was a mainstay in our home as I grew up. But what happens here is not a discussion. It is just ugliness to the nth degree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by redwitch (Post 1498454)

Excellent ideas. I hope they are listening. I'm sure the advertisers would be pleased as well.

Changes are needed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by redwitch (Post 1498454)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725 (Post 1498471)

I would agree with these suggestions. I recall that Carl in Tampa offered himself as a volunteer moderator and he seems like a very fair person from what he has posted on the Regular and Political Forum. He did leave the Political Forum with disgust or it seemed like that because of the bullying by groups of people who often gang up on one person mercilessly. Mainly because they get away with it.

The suggestions of redwitch are excellent, but can be effective only if banning of offensive posters, after one warning, can be quickly implemented.

Taltarzac725 is correct that I once volunteered to moderate the political forums. A Moderator said the gesture would be relayed to the owners for a decision. I never heard anything further.

After volunteering to moderate the political forums I reviewed the multitude of offensive postings and realized moderating them by simply deleting the offensive posts would be ineffective because the hateful personal attacks were made in a frenzy of postings that would be extremely time consuming to review. Only banning the poster would be effective.

And with the technology of joining message boards using masked IP addresses, banning of posters is not fully effective in many cases because a new identity can be assumed by the offender. So the Moderator should have free rein to deal quickly with any posts that contain personal attacks on other posters. The political forums should be about discussing political issues, not insulting each other.

If there are no changes in the political forum when it returns, I will continue to avoid it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CFrance (Post 1498463)

Excellent ideas. I hope they are listening. I'm sure the advertisers would be pleased as well.

I’d be happier if the political forum just died a peaceful, lasting death.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbussone (Post 1498501)

I’d be happier if the political forum just died a peaceful, lasting death.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Amen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbussone (Post 1498501)

I’d be happier if the political forum just died a peaceful, lasting death.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I was thinking the same thing. It was difficult from the start, even without all the other stuff that started up over time. It seems that too many people today have political beliefs and opinions that are so deeply embedded that they do allow themselves to be open for discussion other than with those who are like-minded. It was rough from the get-go, just in a different way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abby10 (Post 1498526)

So true, all debates should be left for the voting booth.

Hope they have a poll, they would see most people do not want that forum.

It divides the villages and makes it seem like something it is not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbussone (Post 1498501)

I’d be happier if the political forum just died a peaceful, lasting death.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Well, I would too, actually, DB--as it is now. There was a time that it did go away. But I believe there was pressure to bring it back, and it was reinstated.

I don't participate in discussion, and the few times I've checked in to the political forum, I was horrified. So I would be happy if it is discontinued. However, there are civil people like Redwitch and others, very knowledgeable and civil people who would enjoy discourse--including my husband the Poly Sci major. I would enjoy reading what they have to say and try to glean something I haven't considered. But it's too hard to wade through all the knee-jerk reactions posed as knowledge.

I really think the anonymity was a very bad idea and makes moderation impossible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbussone (Post 1498501)

I’d be happier if the political forum just died a peaceful, lasting death...

I think the 0.5% and 99.5% numbers in the OP speak volumes about the popularity of the political forum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polar Bear (Post 1498567)

I think the 0.5% and 99.5% numbers in the OP speak volumes about the popularity of the political forum.

Yep

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polar Bear (Post 1498567)

I think the 0.5% and 99.5% numbers in the OP speak volumes about the popularity of the political forum.

I would agree, except... there are many more members of the forum than are actually active. So the percentage stated might not be realistic.

I think the Political Forum should be terminated at midnight before it implodes under the sheer weight of all the BS it has gathered. Either that or I will be forced to release the dung beetles.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro