Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ?

I remember when the idea for the political forum in the lounge was raised, I was totally against the idea because I'd seen the kind of sh*tstorms that came with them at other places.

I've seen a few forums with a much older demographic than this one totally ban political discussions because of all the resulting fall out that came from them. If mature adults can't handle those types of discussions I'm hardly surprised they affect this forum so much.

Criticising someones favourite band is one thing, but when you start criticising peoples lifestyles, political leanings & start labelling people without actually directly insulting them it's difficult for us mods to know where to draw the line.

Originally Posted by Burning Down

We're not anti-conversation, we're anti-arguments, drama, name calling, and insults that happen in the Lounge, more specifically in the Current Events section.

Originally Posted by Trollheart

I think DJ's last post is probably one of the most honest and actually bravest in this thread, and I think we should all --- me included goes without saying --- undertake to follow his example. We've all --- all --- been guilty of contributing to or in some cases starting, maybe maintaining the fires and I think now is a good time for us all to throw down the gasoline cans and try to join the fire brigade. If we all recognise that, rather than blame others --- or "everyone but me" --- on these incidents, and accept that we all have had a role to play in every situation --- unless we actually weren't involved in the discussion at all --- this could have been something as simple or esoteric as calming someone down rather than bait them, be the voice of reason --- (yes there are a lot of triple hyphens in this sentence, aren't there?) we can all do our bit to help, then perhaps, just perhaps, we can turn this thing around.

Remember, although there's no smoke without fire, fire can't exist in a vacuum and if we provide that vacuum by refusing to be drawn into petty arguments --- a drama vacuum, if you like (yeah I'm aware I just used another triple hyphen!) then maybe the drama, like a fire without oxygen, might just gutter and go out.