Political Forum Closed /Political threads are out

[GuitarBilly]

When I opened the Political Forum I said that would be a tryout to see if it would go smoothly. Well, it's not going smoothly. Not only it's dividing the forum and putting people against each other, but also 90% of the issues and threads reported to me comes from that forum. This being election year, it's getting to the point where everyday I have to stop other things I am doing (work, music, family and even just posting and enjoying the forums) to put out a fire that started there or PM full grown adults and ask them to behave etc etc... and now it's getting to the point where people are stalking on other social media because they feel wronged etc... that is unacceptable and crosses a line I am not comfortable with.

I've also notice members with little to none participation in any other forums or topics at GAB, posting on the Political Forum almost exclusively. Please remember this forum is a music/gear forum first and foremost. The political side was an added bonus to the other categories and not meant to bring people here exclusively to post political stuff and start trouble.



UPDATE: as of 03-26-17, political/religious threads are no longer allowed in the Off-Topic forum or any other forum for that matter. Likewise, political content in avatars and signatures will not be allowed either.
It's not a matter of this being a "safe place" for those who don't like politics. The truth is the vast majority of users already ignores these threads. Our gear/political post ratio is something like 50:1. The complaint ratio is reversed though. Oddly enough.

So the non-political folks are fine. The issue are those who ARE into political discussions but lack the people skills/patience/self-control to participate in them without resorting to name calling, trolling etc etc. Please take that to FB or join a political forum.

I am very laid back as a mod here and think the forum is better served when self-moderated. That is still true, but it seems that political/religious threads are the unfortunate exception.


Thank you,


Billy