Politics forum closing

[Asknoone]

A final decision has been made regarding the politics forum. All staff members voted, and the final vote was unanimous.
Enjoy your last few posts within the soon to be gone section.

No riots please.

Dear Halflife2.net users,
As some of you may notice, the politics forum will be removed.

Over the last while, it's been a matter of public knowledge that pretty much all of the agression, fighting, and malicious behaviour with regards to this site has originated from that section of the forums.
Clone accounts, harassment, inter-site war, spam & abuse... the list goes on.

At the present time, the fever over the section has reached a lull and the section has quite visibly deteriorated to the same circular arguments and the same never-changing discussions, back and forth baiting and one-upmanship that has been festering away. Talk is based on polarised issues that noone is willing to contribute to in any degree besides simply finding ways to attack each other.

Halflife2.net is not willing to support this type of discussion for several reasons.
1) It has little to do with the HL series of computer games and has, over its lifetime, attracted people who never posted a thing about computer games.
2) It is becoming increasingly unpopular, both for discussion and amongst users.
3) It is a waste of bandwidth and time on behalf of site staff.
4) It lowers the overall atmosphere and community quality of the site

As a result of its removal there will be some changes. If you are not a regular participant in the discusson in the politics section you will probably not notice these:
1) The politics section is gone. We will not allow users to transplant it into off-topic.
2) Off-topic can be used to discuss broad-spectrum issue that include politics, of course. The kind of thing that was posted in there back in '04/'03 is fine. The odd subject about religion, society, humanity etc is fine. Essentially, threads that could have gone either in off topic OR politics are ok. This is not the rule on the matter though, only a guide. Moderators have final say.
3) Any subject that would have been posted in politics without hesitation are not to be posted in OT. The politics section is gone. It is not merged with off topic.

Here is an example of what are completely political threads:
-Patriotism tests
-Bush spends 114 billion
-Kennedy quits
-Plans to invade x
-Social security, stock market
-Rebuilding iraq
-Iraq in general
-Saudi arabia
-Anything with "Conservative" or "Liberal" or "Bush" in the heading etc

etc etc. I'm not saying those topics are banned per se, but those types of topics.

If you visited the politics forum and saw what was in there, then THAT is the best guide for you. Otherwise, dont worry too much.

Summary notes

-No more politics section
-No migrating the politics discussion to Off topic. We must do this now to prevent it happening for a prolonged time. If we are not tough to begin with, Off topic will be even more ruined.
-Ask any questions in this thread.


-Samon

 

[Cormeh]

Wow. Fare-thee-well politics.

 

[$kelet0r]

NOOOOOOOOOOO
what a stupid decision
but but it was there for a reason - now all of those topics will be in off topic
and damnit i loved a passionate argument

i petition to bring it back

 

[RoyaleWithCheese]

poor CptStern ;(

 

[Danimal]

You were supposed to post the god damn reasons! You fail, Samon. You fail big time! D:

 

[CptStern]

reasons as to why it's closing would be nice ..this is a bad move imho

 

[Danimal]

Dear Halflife2.net users,
As some of you may notice, the politics forum will be removed.

Over the last while, it's been a matter of public knowledge that pretty much all of the agression, fighting, and malicious behaviour with regards to this site has originated from that section of the forums.
Clone accounts, harassment, inter-site war, spam & abuse... the list goes on.

At the present time, the fever over the section has reached a lull and the section has quite visibly deteriorated to the same circular arguments and the same never-changing discussions, back and forth baiting and one-upmanship that has been festering away. Talk is based on polarised issues that noone is willing to contribute to in any degree besides simply finding ways to attack each other.

Halflife2.net is not willing to support this type of discussion for several reasons.
1) It has little to do with the HL series of computer games and has, over its lifetime, attracted people who never posted a thing about computer games.
2) It is becoming increasingly unpopular, both for discussion and amongst users.
3) It is a waste of bandwidth and time on behalf of site staff.
4) It lowers the overall atmosphere and community quality of the site

As a result of its removal there will be some changes. If you are not a regular participant in the discusson in the politics section you will probably not notice these:
1) The politics section is gone. We will not allow users to transplant it into off-topic.
2) Off-topic can be used to discuss broad-spectrum issue that include politics, of course. The kind of thing that was posted in there back in '04/'03 is fine. The odd subject about religion, society, humanity etc is fine. Essentially, threads that could have gone either in off topic OR politics are ok. This is not the rule on the matter though, only a guide. Moderators have final say.
3) Any subject that would have been posted in politics without hesitation are not to be posted in OT. The politics section is gone. It is not merged with off topic.

Here is an example of what are completely political threads:
-Patriotism tests
-Bush spends 114 billion
-Kennedy quits
-Plans to invade x
-Social security, stock market
-Rebuilding iraq
-Iraq in general
-Saudi arabia
-Anything with "Conservative" or "Liberal" or "Bush" in the heading etc

etc etc. I'm not saying those topics are banned per se, but those types of topics.

If you visited the politics forum and saw what was in there, then THAT is the best guide for you. Otherwise, dont worry too much.

Summary notes

-No more politics section
-No migrating the politics discussion to Off topic. We must do this now to prevent it happening for a prolonged time. If we are not tough to begin with, Off topic will be even more ruined.
-Ask any questions in this thread.

 

[Lemonking]

I think its great

 

[OCybrManO]

At least before people could filter out all the political crap by never visiting that section. Now, either it will clutter up the off-topic section or it will have to be outlawed. A half-way option would cause a lot of bickering when posts get deleted or threads closed. What is the cut-off point of how political a thread can be? Then, if you go the strict route what would happen to Jack Thompson threads (and other game legislation topics)? They're gaming-related politics. It's just generally a tricky implementation. I don't think either route would be a good thing. If you don't keep the politics section... I'll... I'll write a strongly-worded yet polite letter telling you how disappointed I am with your decision, but also that I respect your right to go through with it as this is a privately-owned web site.

 

[Llama]

Wow. Way to encourage my rampage in off-topic

Ill miss this section though, it nurtured a lot of my inner hatred :E

 

[Absinthe]

What? The Politics section is no shining star, but it is contained. I'm not aware of any rivalries that have migrated to other sections, at least not seriously. And if the user doesn't want anything to do with it... well, it's not that difficult to simply not click the link.

I'm with CybrMan.

 

[CptStern]

while I can understand some of the reasoning I still think it's a bad move ..censoring topics related to politics is contrary to what I want out of a forum: a place to discuss issues/info/opinions etc ..while I can probably easily adapt myself to the new rules it just doesnt seem fair to be unilaterally censoring specific topics without having judged it for it's content ..as per usual a few bad apples (I'm looking at you right wingers who keep recruiting people to attack the politics section) ruined it for everyone else (I too am guilty of some of the behaviour listed above)

 

[Absinthe]

Nobody in the Politics forum has a clean conscience. But moderation here always seemed slipshod, loose, and inconsistent.

 

[Asknoone]

You were supposed to post the god damn reasons! You fail, Samon. You fail big time! D:

I was saving the honour for you :O

 

[CptStern]

we've gotten rid of the few disruptive elements that made politics forum a living hell ..it just seems to me that punative measures are being taken against the remaining few who actually contributed in a non disruptive way (I'm excluding myself here)


this is what we're left with: a sampling of off-topic threads:

"Zombie OvA eats you"
"Bmw!"
"Borgasm Industries"
"We like the mooooon!"
"omg are u ghey 2?"
"I'm a Junior-Member now, Yeay!"
"Gordon's Crowbar..."
"Master P on Dancing with the Stars"
"Pum(p)kin?"
"A bitch, will allways be a bitch."


no offense to the people who created these threads

half the threads are spam, the other half is fluff ..not very inviting to someone who after a long day at work just wants to discuss issues that matter

 

[Polaris]

I have been waiting a long time for this. Thanks!
Down with the commies!

 

[Solaris]

No.
Its a great area, its enjoyed by many of us.
I don't think its fair for the moderators to do something as major as this without consulting the members of the forum.

Have a global poll, thats the only fair way imo.
A lot of people enjoy a sensible debate, and alot of them occur, sure its ruined the odd time, but its still enjoyable.

Politics affects everyone, its very important and its a good idea to contain it to its own place

Please keep it, or at least do a poll. You'll make alot of people angry if you take such an decision without having the majority of the forum behind you.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Good...i never went in there, but when i did, it wasn't nice at all...especially with Gh0st and Lemonking on this site.

 

[Crushenator 500]

There was already a vote, it was in the mod forum

9-0 in favour of deletion

farewall politics forum, you shall not be missed.

 

[Absinthe]

n00bs.

 

[15357]

Damn, I can't spread the enlightment of social nessecities anymore...

 

[$kelet0r]

thats ridiculous - the mods run the site for the members not in their own interests or because they cannot be arsed moderating a thread properly
this is a dark day for hl2net all because of what is essentially a bad decision
what you guys are saying is that Danimal, SHIPPI, KagePrototype and Ennui cannot handle the responsibility that was given to them and are washing their hands of it

 

[15357]

thats ridiculous - the mods run the site for the members not in their own interests or because they cannot be arsed moderating a thread properly
this is a dark day for hl2net all because of what is essentially a bad decision
what you guys are saying is that Danimal, SHIPPI, KagePrototype and Ennui cannot handle the responsibility that was given to them and are washing their hands of it

They own the site.... We are the majority, but it all doesn't matter.

 

[Solaris]

The mods had a vote?
Unacceptable.

 

[15357]

The mods had a vote?
Unacceptable.

Yes, because 9 people aren't the hundreds of regular members...

 

[Javert]

I wouldn't say that moderators aren't doing their jobs, they just find it easier to close down a forum.

I, for one, would argue that the Politics forum was the most ACTIVE, IMPORTANT, and RELATIVE forum on hl2.net following Half-Life 2's release.

 

[Asknoone]

The mods had a vote?
Unacceptable.

Unacceptable?
I agree, how dare the staff members make such a decision.

 

[Cormeh]

No riots please.

I know a lot of you guy's are disappointed with this move, but on the bright side it could create more threads in the OT section that are more debate/discussion orientated rather than the usual, be it funny vids or ytmnd's and all of that lark.

And without having the whole thing "migrated" too.

 

[15357]

Unacceptable?
I agree, how dare the staff members make such a decision.

I think he just used the wrong word there.

 

[Solaris]

No it is unacceptable.
I will continue to be a member, but I've lost alot of respect for the moderators on this bored.

Did Bliink vote?

 

[15357]

Yeah, did all the mods vote or just 9 of you?

 

[Asknoone]

Yes, Bliink did. And she was wholeheartedly against the politics forum.
Yawn, my respect metre has gone down.

 

[Solaris]

The others who didn't vote to close it wern't counted.
Edit: Bliink how could you

 

[gick]

That really really sucks.

*makes distinctly unimpressed face*

 

[CrazyHarij]

No it is unacceptable.
I will continue to be a member, but I've lost alot of respect for the moderators on this bored.

There's the door. *points*

 

[Asknoone]

There's the door. *points*

*Shoves*

 

[Laivasse]

we've gotten rid of the few disruptive elements that made politics forum a living hell ..it just seems to me that punative measures are being taken against the remaining few who actually contributed in a non disruptive way (I'm excluding myself here)


this is what we're left with: a sampling of off-topic threads:

"Zombie OvA eats you"
"Bmw!"
"Borgasm Industries"
"We like the mooooon!"
"omg are u ghey 2?"
"I'm a Junior-Member now, Yeay!"
"Gordon's Crowbar..."
"Master P on Dancing with the Stars"
"Pum(p)kin?"
"A bitch, will allways be a bitch."


no offense to the people who created these threads

half the threads are spam, the other half is fluff ..not very inviting to someone who after a long day at work just wants to discuss issues that matter

QFT.

This is a terrible move. It would have been one thing to bring up this subject back when we were being invaded by a bunch of wacky right-wingers, but to propose it when the Politics section seems to have settled into a comfortable simmer doesn't make any sense to me.

As the mods themselves said:

It is becoming increasingly unpopular, both for discussion and amongst users.

...so why worry about it? Those who feel like avoiding it can do so easily. There is no reason why you would be affected by what goes on in the politics forum if you choose to stay out of it.

You might think that it engenders animosity among users whose opinions differ, which then spreads to other parts of the site - well believe it or not that happens in every forum. If someone posts irrelevant spam in Off Topic I secretly think to myself "nob" and wont feel easily inclined to participate with that person in a discussion about anything. Then you have (had) people like poseyjmac who make enemies of everyone and everything wherever they post.

The only way you're going to stop animosity among users is to remove all opinion from the site, and tbh this decision looks like a move along that road. Whereas in the past you guys (mods) seemed happier to be diligent and clamp down on disruptive elements and spam in equal measure, nowadays it seems like you're happy to let the spam flourish because it's not directly harmful, while cutting out legitimate (if sensitive) debate as well because it arouses strong feelings. Believe it or not, the spam will come back to bite this place in the end, when all the valued users float off because they're tired of seeing threads titled "OMGWTFPWNED1111" with a link to a pic of some guy falling over. And anyway, how hard is it really to kill the accounts of these guys who come to the site solely to spread political propaganda?

Anyway, bad idea.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

No it is unacceptable.
I will continue to be a member, but I've lost alot of respect for the moderators on this bored (sic) .

You'll just have to pretend that I'm bothered because...well, I'm not.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

So when do we have the party?

 

[15357]

I have a question: Will the entre forum be deleted?

I want to browse even after the forum gets closed....