As I’m sure you’ve already memorized the community rules as if it was your moms birthday, I probably need not post it, but here is rule 6 anyway:
- No US Politics.
Please don’t post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
I am writing this post in an effort to gather feedback on how the community feels about this rule. In short, keep it as it is, or revise it.
It is my personal belief that the main purpose it serves is to avoid the community from mainly revolving around whatever daft thing the orange lardsack last said or did. And while it serves that purpose well, I think it also inhibits some potentially interesting discussions.
For example, one possible revision could be to allow for questions regarding US politics, but with a requirement that the topic has to be regarding issues 25 years ago (that may or may not be relevant today).
Alternatively, would it be useful/entertaining to occasionally have a “Contemporary US politics question megathread” as a contained outlet?
Please let me hear your thunks. This post will stay stickied for “a while”.
For the love of god, keep it as it is!
100% keen on keeping it. Expanding it to keep all political discussions out would be nice but I know that won’t happen.
I’d like to add this:
If you are a chronic political poster, please think of yourself as someone who crates ads. We currently live in a world where ad creators think they have a god given right to shove ads into every square inch of our existence. And naturally, this is universally hated and people go to great lengths to block as many ads as they can because the ad makers won’t stop and think they have to do this.
That’s you. You’re the ad maker. And that’s how you’re perceived.
I know where I stand politically. I’ve known my entire adult life and I won’t be changing. I also know where to go to update myself on what’s going on politically, both locally and globally. I like having the option of going to it voluntarily and not having it imposed on me involuntarily. I like having the option of turning it off when I want/need to. I have never in my entire existence had a positive or productive or enlightening political discussion with anyone on the internet, ever. I just end up wrestling pigs and I’d rather channel my energy elsewhere. I’d imagine a lot of people agree with that sentiment.
That all being said, keep the rule. There are people who will still post political shit here because they can’t help themselves, regardless of what gets said in this thread.
!AskUSA@discuss.online exists so I say this rule should stay. I feel bad enough about the deluge of US news our non-yank co users deal with as it is.
but that also doesn’t exactly like “overt politics”… whatever that means
Ah yeah my mistake. Whatever politics comms they link to in the sidebar is what I meant. I want to say askpolitics? Yup.
I’ll put it this way. I would prefer zero politics. If you allow them I’m gone.
People who want to talk politics can easily create their own place to do so and nothing is preventing them from joining other places that are political discussion havens.
It’s possible to imagine people having good questions about US politics, e.g. something like “I’m considering running for this public office in this state, what do I need to know about x?” but good luck crafting a rule that allows that and not the worthless noise.
Please keep it and I would even say to enforce it more strictly because I see so many question that I would categorize as US politics that are still allowed.
25 years is pretty extreme, it’s not like we need to wait decades for whole fields of research to occur before we have our own opinions–we’re not academics with a responsibility to not spout random bullshit. Being randos on the internet, spouting bullshit is actually one of our primary activities.
4 years is probably sufficient to keep the volume reasonably balanced.
I’d say 8 would be better, just because they can have a second term. Usually those are consecutive, but still
Keep the rule and LOL @ “orange lardsack”
It already gets political ?s even though it’s not supposed to. Taking out the rule just encourages even MORE of them.
So. In my experience, places with a generic “No politics” rule tend to become Nazi bars very quickly. That’s not the case here, partly (I think) because it specifies US politics. Makes it more clear that this isn’t a place where the only genders are “Male” and “Political,” even if that kind of is the case here.
I think something akin to “Nothing about any current or former politician, or government entity” could be a way to allow discussions about certain parts of politics without others. In the communities (non-lemmy) I’ve run that’s the usual rule I have alongside some others that aren’t relevant here.
I would mention that word filters exist, but this post is a great example of why those don’t work very well in a lot of cases. “The daft orange lardsack” is a case where self-censorship ends up leading to word filters being less effective. It’s also a great way to showcase that you think body shaming is fine in certain circumstances. I, personally, disagree, and think that we can talk about his actions without mentioning his weight, but y’know. What do I know
eyyyyy, shameless self-promo, but i made a community a couple days ago called !politicaloptimism@piefed.social
i’m a little nervous about bringing this up since i’m the one of the only people active there right now, but we have a “Seeking Optimism” flair for people who are concerned about things and want assurance for the most sensational narratives over what’s happening.
Maybe you could have one day a week where it’s allowed? The constant barrage of US politics can be exhausting, but there can definitely be some interesting questions about it.
I like the principle, but I think posts from that day would crowd the front page or the top section for too long after the day is over.
I guess you could close the threads after the day is over. For me personally, it wouldn’t matter either way, as I never use the active/top feeds to browse. They don’t seem too useful on a “small” platform like Lemmy, where they’ll remain static for quite a long time.
There are other communities to discuss politics, usa or any country. I say keep politics out.
What do you mean “orange lardsack?” Sounds like body shaming. Let’s debate about that here in the comments.
