Would it be better to have a halt to war topics ? (page 3)

Scarlet

Simon

I agree that there has been mud slinging but if you have noticed the mud slinging is comming from those who oppose the war. I feel the ones for the war have been quite civilized. If you can show me where they haven't I would appreciate it. I think you need to direct your comments to those who are throwing the mud but seems like because you agree with them you don't do that. You think that the ones for the war are evil simply because they do not support your views and you allow them to be harrassed.

I would also appreciate if you can PLEASE STOP imposing the old JW ways on people that are trying for the first time in their lives EXPRESS their ideas.

Simon

Scarlet

There has been plenty of mud slinging from both sides. Pro-war people have accused anti-war people of wanting to see children tortured and women raped. Does this class as 'mud'. Sure, it's not calling somone "idiot" but it is far more insulting and hardly civilised. You then accuse me of thinking that people who support the war are evil ... this is the sort of mis-representation of people's opinions that is plain annoying and insulting. I do not allow anyone to be harrassed and people are able to express their ideas as long as they do it in the proper manner.

RandomTask

Gee this isn't a discussion forum or anything, is it? I'm sorry, I didn't know that people were forced to click on threads where the subject is clearly defined. I'm also sorry that talking about current events with friends and people familiar to us has grown so passe. What's next, a moratorium on pudding topics if that is deemed tiresome?

90% of the people debating the war have kept it civil, and its not exactly yesterdays news, so I don't see why discussion on it should be censured. It just seems to me that we have a great tool here for discussing subjects like these in an open "forum", but now I'm going to have to limit myself to subjects such as "Jehovah has surely blessed us all" and "how to raise the number of posts I make per month".

ring

For me personally, this has been the first time in my life (raised a jw) that i have been able to express my political view points, the war topics have been interesting to me. I think this is true for alot of people here.

Simon

No one seemed to be paying any notice to the post I made a couple of days previously

Some important rules for "war" topics

I am not saying that people cannot debate and discuss, this is exaclty what people are supposed to do as long as they do it civily.

What I object to are the type of "shouted through a megaphone" posts which are no attempt at discussing things but just to announce one point of view with no commentary or interpretation. As I've said, this is not a news-feed wlthough the current news does come up. People can watch the news for that or go to news sites !!

It would not be so bad if people posted on the topics that were already there and didn't start new ones in friends (which is a personal bug-bear)

Gollum

Simon,

It's a hard call, and if I were in your shoes I'd be pretty tempted to try and do something about it,but I don't think it would work. I honestly feel that these things are somewhat self regulating and will either die down, or just be contained.

I know in my own case, while I have a strong anti-war bias, I'm certainly willing to try and have an intellegent discussion with someone that feels the other way. If we can both make our points in a reasonable, rational way, then we both might learn something. Of course, when has that ever happened on any online forum? It tends to be the nature of the beast that it slides down to mudslinging. It's one reason that I haven't posted much on any of the war threads. I think others feel the same, so soon it just becomes the same old people shouting at each other and going "Nah,Nah,Nah, I can't hear you". This gets old even for even them after awhile and it will die out. Or at worse it contains those individuals ranting in a thread that the rest of us can ignore.

I wish it would be possible to have a calm discussion, but it's impossible to make that happen by rulemaking.

Just my two cents worth,

Gollum

Simon

There are certain people that I will debate with on the topic because it is possible to have a sensible debate. ie. both sides make points, you counter arguments etc... whether you agree or accept them or not. This is good, you learn about other people and other viewpoints.

For others, it is a waste of time and I try not to respond to them as all they are interested in is hearing themselves talk and hearing other people say things that reinforce their own opinions. This is useless.

I think we just need to be stricter on people making rediculous assertions and being insulting.

Gollum

I definitely agree their are certain people that you can have a reasoned discussion with. Being a newbie however, I'm still trying to figure out who that is, and it's tough to jump in on such a hugely emotional subject and figure it out. And it is really, really irritating to be having such a discussion and have someone else jump in (on either side of the issue) and try and inflame it. I would like to have a club to hit those people with. Could you whittle me one?

safe4kids

It's just that the subject is so emotive that perwsons who have difficulty in being polite under normal conditions are tending to run amok

Oh gawd, Eman...I know you're talking about me! I'm so embarrassed and I apologize profusely. I want you to know that I am RIGHT NOW getting rid of my mok, and will never, ever run one again. (Sorry, stupid humor is a character defect I just can't seem to control.)

That said, I understand where Simon and others are coming from but I don't think instituting too many new rules would be the route to take. Heavier moderation, perhaps a temporary decrease in posting limits/new threads...dunno. I do know that I wouldn't have your job, Simon and Harry, even if it paid the big bucks! I appreciate what you're both doing.

Dana

jgnat

I had my fill of war news already before I sign on the site, and I have avoided the war threads. All of them. What has been going on? Oops, scratch that. Don't tell me. I can guess. Now I am glad I did not visit those posts, because I don't want to hurt my opinion of some of my friends here.

Sorry, Simon. I don't have an opinion either way.

Would it be better to have a halt to war topics ?

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