What do you feel the quality of discussion on these forums usually is on a scale from one to ten? Ten is the best imaginable One means that four-year-olds could generally have a more coherent discussion.
I come here to engage people I disagree with. Unfortunately, 95% of those aren't worth a bucket of warm spit, and I wouldn't be surprised if half of 'em are posting from a rubber room.
I generally agree. Some of the conservatives around here have the most frightening worldviews I've ever encountered... And I usually prefer conservatives to liberals... I honestly think that these forums make people stupider. The intelligent have to dumb down their argument so that they lose sight of the real issues and are robbed of possible development. The less intelligent find fuel to add to their own audacity in the form of others like them who either agree or disagree.
Quality of discussion is not always the objective of people who participate in political chat boards. It's more like a tug of war.
An 8. I'm actually very surprised by the answers. Once you ignore the left and right wing reactionaries, the discussion is actually pretty good.
4/10: Meh There are some good folks here and even more who are probably well-intentioned. Trolling, rampant prejudice, sub-par diversity of political ideas, and forum overpopulation seem to be problems. But to be fair, most places on the web where people discuss politics downright suck; I reckon "Average" is two or three. "People here generally know more than the guy on the street," is four in my opinion, and if that description was swapped with "Meh" I'd have voted 6/10 in evaluating the overall quality of discussion on this forum.
I think you're trying to look at the forest for the squirrels... I'm actually very surprised to see that the mean appears to be slowly moving upwards...
When it comes to politics at the moment the divide is far too great for good conversation, and in most forums the squeaky wheel gets the grease, or attention in this case. For the last decade or so the polarization has only gotten worse, so moderate views are ignored, rational discussion is too bland, and if it even hints at becoming a reality some troll from one side or the other derails it with outrageousness. Its just a sign of the times...
Oh! I would be happy to find a few more who could tell a blog from a research article, could understand numbers higher than 10 without taking off their shoes and to whom the word "scientist" does not mean "evil mad idiot owned by Al gore"
Unfortunately there is all too often that a thread starts and the same old same old group log on to participate making the result come out something like this
to differentiate between a blog, which doesn't have any credibility, and from a peer reviewed research article. I presume. Discussions can be of very high quality and very giving, but also the very opposite. I wouldn't still be here if everyone was immature idiots incapable of a sane discussion. As for the diversity of this site, I think that's the best thing about it. Sure, it might scare away people who are too insecure and only want like minded people, but the bloody goal is to discuss! I like that we have cenydd, a lefty liberal who'll write well written posts to argue for his things, but also that we have that guy who came over from stormfront to argue here. As long as everyone's civilized and mature it's wonderful.
there are some decent people here which is always a joy to encounter - that in itself is always good but the disagreements aren't even remotely interesting, which seems to be the case everywhere. I think text debates are mostly a complete bllsht waste of time and I've wasted plenty of it so I know. There isn't one discussion I've ever had online that I didn't regret the time I lost. For myself, the only kind of debate commitment I'd make online would be by video or what can be as close to being in person as possible. I like this place because there's not much of a sense of community here (still some good people though) so you can just post to toss it out there and nobody cares. I dont expect that to last because I mentioned it and Im kind of getting really bored but I'll enjoy it while it works
Credibility happens when people agree that their conversation is like a transaction that is an equal exchange of ideals. The institutions of society where there are peer-review methods, those tend to have no such credibility, instead they have something more akin to debt-ability, as they wish not for an equal exchange of ideals, but an ownership of ideals between masters and debtors.
The forum is lively, racy at times and has a lot of variety. It's also informative and entertaining as well. Has some good writers too. All things considered, it rates about a 10. It's popular and has a lot of traffic. Politicians and their staffs peruse it to see what's happening. The moderators (monitors) do a nice job maintaining the dignity and integrity of the forum -- but there's always gonna be a few potty mouths whose vocabulary is so limited they cannot express themselves in any other way. Last month it appears the forum only got about half of its goal for operating expenses. Judging from what it got, I guess its goal was $400. Advertising and sponsors should be encouraged and welcomed by the forum owners. Nothing wrong with some advertising. Got a lot of members on the forum who are repetitive and are just preaching to the choir. They are set in their ways and don't like different opinions -- if that's all this forum had, it would be excruciatingly dull and boring. But alas! There's many on here (who at the risk of being accused of "flame baiting") keep the forum pretty lively. And yes, there are some obvious trolls and members who enjoy provoking and riling people up to get a response. But even they unwittingly help to contribute to the forum's variety, entertainment and informative platform. It's all good folks. Soldier on! Continue to march! and give it a 10!
One thing about this forum that annoys me is the tendency to blame Liberals or Conservatives in the title of their thread. What's so hard about reporting the news and then adding your opinion in the first post?
Myself, I find my experience here to be a mixed bag. I have found a great many people on both sides politically, who stick to facts and discuss only the subject at hand. And also a lot will recognize when they were mistaken/wrong, and simply move on. Then you have the idiots, who come in with political axes to grind and try to blame everything on the target of their hate. Gays dying? Why that is the fault of Reagan. Military dying? Why that is the fault of Obama. Anybody is dying? Why, that is why you need to vote Libertarian. Myself, I absolutely despise it when the idiots move into some thread that has little or nothing to do with politics, then hijacks it in order to push their own biased worldview. Best tank in the world? Why, it does not matter because the Neocons and MIC run everything! Most powerful empire in history? That is nothing, because Obama is not an American! I often times wish there was an IQ test associated with being allowed to use the Internet.
Lao Peng, There are three reasons to come to Political Forum. To learn, to exchange information, and for amusement. Within this context Political Forum is what you make of it.
It pretty much sucks. At the last forum where I was a regular, there was a broad range of posters. You could almost always find a decent discussion, even if you completely disagreed with the other person. There were still relatively intelligent and enjoyable people you could disagree with on some subjects. I've almost resigned to not make more threads here because they are almost completely avoided (because they aren't easy targets) or contain basically nothing but irrelevant and/or incoherent posts. And the level of crazy here as far as fringe elements goes is frighteningly high. The only reason I'm here and not there is because the mods over there are completely biased scum who do a terrible job of moderating. The mods here tend to keep a fairly tight reign on things instead of letting it be completely lopsided. This place is like a playground (ok, maybe a mental ward, but with people kept on short leashes), whereas, the other place was like a brutal prison yard with prison guards who were on the take.
Trying to have civil discussion with some in here is like having root canal without anesthesia. Those who make it personal get a free ticket to my ignore list.
Well, don't tell Rock this but it's not that good here. It's mostly a dumping ground for the right wing talking points. Occasionally though a good discussion arises. So I would rate it a 3-4.
