Why Can't We All Get Along?

Have you thought of making a sub-forum for Political debate? It gives the topics a place to belong (or be moved to) while keeping the clutter out of the other forums.

But doesn't Spoon refer to parts that are mainly used on Honda products? Now this thread might devolve into a FWD v RWD v AWD (the third party of the automotive world) mess.

no.. Spoon is Tick's battle cry.

Tim is correct, this is a for profit business, this is not some random forum. He has to protect his interests.

Actually, that was my request as "Mayor of Dorktown"
Per

Per Schroeder wrote: Actually, that was my request as "Mayor of Dorktown" Per

same difference

Per Schroeder wrote: If we have 75% of the threads on the current page devolve into political arguments, how does that look for our newer viewers?

I had no idea it was that much. I thought we had 2-3 threads going on it. I don't look at the pages in forum view though - I look at new posts, so maybe it is that way. That's bad.

Jensenman wrote: Yeah, Japan's Diet has a free for all every so often. They may not accomplish anything but it sure makes for good lowbrow TV. Hey, maybe we should do things that way: Red vs. Blue cage deathmatch! WWF could run and promote it.

The World Wildlife Fund?

I wouldn't mind watching real elephants and donkeys fighting to the death.

I counted the current off topic page yesterday and a majority of the threads had moved towards politics.

It's now backed off some, but you get my point.

captainzib wrote:

Jensenman wrote: Yeah, Japan's Diet has a free for all every so often. They may not accomplish anything but it sure makes for good lowbrow TV. Hey, maybe we should do things that way: Red vs. Blue cage deathmatch! WWF could run and promote it.

The World Wildlife Fund? I wouldn't mind watching real elephants and donkeys fighting to the death.

World Wrestling Federation. It's now the WWE.

I would definitely like to see a Political subforum. As it is, I stay out of the Off Topic because I get so annoyed at all the political posts. I also think it looks bad to new forum users. The posts that are obviously political are easy enough to avoid judging by the subject, but some subjects aren't so clear in their intent.

Per Schroeder wrote: I counted the current off topic page yesterday and a majority of the threads had moved towards politics. It's now backed off some, but you get my point

Well, you would have to admit, it is a very relevant current event.

What is the off topic forum for?

It happens to be election season. In November I will no longer care who is running for President. It does consume everything we see and read right now for a reason... more people are interested right now... We seem to be getting closer to having 20-30% of the populace actually getting out to vote this year and that is pretty important.

I have never been so interested in politics as I have been this year, and I can blame Dr Hess and everyone arguing against him for that. I now SEE other peoples opinion on these subjects.

No one here talks about football, and if we did it would be a LOT uglier than any politically based conversation we could have... Baecause all of your teams suck and mine is schweet.

We all agree to disagree on politics but we are all willing to accept each other for our automotive views...

It just goes to show that we are all the same where it counts... under the hood.

I have noticed an increase in new political threads since this thread started. LOL However, I do think we are doing well at getting along.

Ooooh! Fooseball talk! It's the devil!

I know, I was being a smartass, the only thing I truly excel at.

Naw, there's no more political talk here than on the old board. We have a temporary spike due to the conventions, IMHO.

And I pay -zero- attention to football (and the other stick and ball games) because it bores me to tears. That oughtta start a fight.

captainzib wrote: I know, I was being a smartass, the only thing I truly excel at.

"Better to be a smartass than a dumbass," I always say.

I'm not on a whole E36 M3e-load of message boards, but this is by far my favorite, partly because it's one of the only forums that has active, and generally intelligent and respectful political discussion. While I understand GRM is in the business of making money, just like everyone else, I'd really hate to see the political discussions go.

On the other hand, If there was a "no politics" rule here, I'd probably spend waaaaaay less time on the board...which would probably be a good thing for everyone (myself included.)

Salanis wrote:

captainzib wrote: I know, I was being a smartass, the only thing I truly excel at.

"Better to be a smartass than a dumbass," I always say.

Funny, I always make the same comment when people call me a smartass, and I try to find the most smartass way of saying it, such as calling the person a dumbass in an indirect way.

captainzib wrote: Funny, I always make the same comment when people call me a smartass, and I try to find the most smartass way of saying it, such as calling the person a dumbass in an indirect way.

Are you implying that I'm a dumbass? Do I need to challenge you to a $2008 MXC lumberjack cage debate?

No, I was drawing a parallel between us. I'd be down for the debate if I had a $2008 entry.

Per Schroeder wrote: If we have 75% of the threads on the current page devolve into political arguments, how does that look for our newer viewers? You're not going to convince anyone anything over the intraweb when it comes to religion or politics or certainly choice of alcohol. Per

I agree 100% with everything you said. Its not just the newer viewers, though. Political threads have always been a pimple on the ass of this forum, IMO, but lately have made it unreadable. I recently recomended this forum to a friend looking for a real car forum, and took some real heat for it.

Salanis wrote:

captainzib wrote: I know, I was being a smartass, the only thing I truly excel at.

"Better to be a smartass than a dumbass," I always say.

The problem with that attitude is its easy to be both at the same time. I know I have done it.

suprf1y wrote: I agree 100% with everything you said. Its not just the newer viewers, though. Political threads have always been a pimple on the ass of this forum, IMO, but lately have made it unreadable. I recently recomended this forum to a friend looking for a real car forum, and took some real heat for it.

Did they get bad information on the Grassroots Motorsports forum?

Did they get bad information on the Classic Motorsports forum?

I think if you are reading the ON TOPIC forums that we offer the best mix of tech and ideas and that is the real reason that the powers consider this a way to get more readership.

I understand that the political issues CAN get heated, but I still attend to the idea that it IS the season for heated political debates and they ARE ramping up. The ability for us to agree on cars beyond the political debate shows that we are not mere knuckle dragging rhetoric spewing morons, we communicate as well as possible and try to assert our difference in opinion WITHOUT being truly offensive.

I like it the way it is.

aircooled wrote:

Per Schroeder wrote: I counted the current off topic page yesterday and a majority of the threads had moved towards politics. It's now backed off some, but you get my point

Well, you would have to admit, it is a very relevant current event.

It only shows that we are intelligent, thoughtful people who can string enough words together to make our point understood by all. I'm not as politically savvy as I should be, but on one of my threads I proved I'm not savvy about much...

Maybe the target GRM audience is "Ah, DUDE! It's a frikkin' VW, lets kick its azz. Flame 'em, yo!