[DocJohn]

NeuroTalk is first and primarily a neurological and related conditions support and information-sharing community. Having said that, I'd appreciate your input as to whether during the Presidential election season here in the U.S., you believe we should continue to allow the kind of extended political discussions we've been allowing in the Social Forum. This is an exception to the Community Guideline which suggests members in general should limit such political discussion.

Your community, your vote. Thank you!

DocJohn

[AfterMyNap]

Since there are so many hundreds of other places and ways to hold these heated discussions, it feels wrong to me here. It's hard to watch those I usually respect, and even admire, reduced to pointless bickering at one another. It would be nice if it didn't happen here, I'm not comfortable with how it might look to someone considering membership for support and friends.

When it's finished, the next round will be how unjust the election system is and about how it's a crime that candidate X was elected.

Thanks for addressing this, Doc, and for allowing us this opportunity to weigh in on the decision.

[mrsD]

I myself am not much of a political person, and even I feel the
pull during this election, to vent some.

I can only imagine how others feel.

But then, politics is a very volatile subject. I visit another forum, which is non medical, but has an Election 2008 forum. It started out this year during the primaries, and the moderator there put in the stickies, that she was FED UP with moderating it, and would only intervene when something really awful appeared.
But you know, in the last two weeks she is back moderating like mad! Things get really tense there, judgemental and sometimes insulting. I rarely post there, but I have used the links shared by others, most of which are very good on both sides.

I think you should listen first and foremost to your moderation staff. If they feel this subject takes up too much time, and is destructive and it is their time and effort spent there to the detriment of other tasks, then I'd not allow it.

It is very generous to get all the posters opinions here, tho.
I think most people TRY to stay within guidelines, but sometimes the subject just gets away from us. I don't think posters here mean to get carried away, but this election is really over the top IMO and hard to be reasonable about.

So I would vote for limited political type posts, but not long discussions. For example sharing a good link, like the 60 Minutes link for people who missed the show, that type of thing, could be helpful.

The many other forum places on the net are very highly
charged and becoming rather obnoxious IMO. It can be hard to visit those places and stay sane!

Thanks for asking us. That is really considerate and generous!

[Blessings2You]

You are very generous even to offer us the opportunity to have a say-so in this! Thank you!

I hate political discussions, which almost always deteriorate into arguing and mean-spiritedness, and tend to avoid them at almost any cost, whether online or in "real life".

That said, I wonder if it might be difficult to determine what constitutes a political discussion, as opposed to a "political comment" or a comment that's simply CONSTRUED as being political? As much as they tend to upset me personally, I vote to keep the political discussions (properly labeled) and continue to trust the wisdom of our moderators to keep things from going over the edge. Thank God for our moderators!!

One of the nice things about this community is that we CAN talk about what's on our minds and hearts, whether it be politics during this election year, or something as personal as our relationships, our fears, our faith.

[Chemar]

the last thing I want to do is censor open and civil discussion and debate here.

and I commend the vast majority of members for maintaining that civility, even when in disagreement.


I would like to just also present something from the mod side....

we try to be fair, neutral and unbiased when it comes to modding political threads (all threads for that matter), and to only intervene when things move into the realm of violating NTs guidelines on member to member interaction

but

it does seem that we inevitably have members from both "sides" getting upset and accusing us of being biased toward the other when we intervene in any way

for that reason I my vote is to return to only having very limited political discussion.

I realize it will still be hard to determine where the "limit" is.....but I care deeply about the members who are getting upset by the many political topics on the social forum, and felt things were beginning to focus too much on the negatives and personalities, and not enough on the issues and facts.

I will without question abide by whatever the majority decision is from the membership on this, and continue to apply the guidelines fairly and without partiality

[Kitty]

Thanks, Doc John, for giving us a say in the decision. That's very generous and considerate of you. That's what separates this board from all the others....there's really no comparison!

[Alffe]

Oh, my knee jerk reaction was let us continue to talk about it....it's almost over...but then I read AMN's post and she's right...we'll all have to rehash who shoulda, coulda...blah blah blah.

And Chemar...well we all know that she's just a saint who's middle name is fair.

Getting to vote on the decision is such a wonderful reminder that this is a "home" we should all be proud to be a part of.

And Mrs.D..I had missed 60 min show so because of you...I got to see it. *grin

Thanks Doc John. I guess I'll vote...

[Momma's Kids]

I some times read the political views, but rarely, actually never post. I've seen many members get upset, feelings hurt and then there is the rehashing after the election as AMN stated.

I also feel the community team has plenty to read without having to worry about being a referee on political issues. Then again, like I stated I don't post on certain subjects simple reason being...

My parents taught me never to discuss, politics, religion and the right and wrongs of the world. lol

[barb02]

I'm confused. Are we talking about threads on politics or the election 2008 subgroup? If it is a subgroup, can it be limited to just those who want to be involved in the discussion?

[FranksAngel]

first and foremost ... my hat is off to all moderators .. i believe they are doing a wonderful job ...

i have placed my vote ... i just have one small comment to make ... i am wondering just how the bickering looks to the newbies who are viewing our site for the first time ... just because we dont see their post doesn't mean they dont see ours ... is bickering how we want to portray our community??? i thought the whole idea behind our community here was to be open-minded ... informative ... helpful ... supportive ... im sorry but how can we be these things if we are bickering amongst ourselves ???

thanks for allowing us to vote doc ...