As much as i am very aware and very keen on politics, i voted NO. Because it usually does not go anywhere that is good. Generally it gets nasty and even insulting and who needs any of that nonsense. It looks like the NO's are winning here and i say good to that. Cheers.

73SC wrote:

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Freedom of Speech has been a cornerstone of traditional Canadian democratic values, rights and freedoms for as long as Canada has been a country. For many people this forum represents a significant part of their social network and friendships. It is certainly very common in this country to meet friends for a coffee or beer and chew the fat about a lot of things, politics and the state of our country and world affairs most often being a topic of conversation. It is certainly possible and encouraged to have friends and associates that share differing views and open our minds to different points of view and academia without taking personal offense and reacting with fits of rage and vitriol.

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if that is the case, why stop at discussing politics,let's discuss religions as well. 

To be honest, I'm not totally against discussing politics as I like to keep an open mind and consider others' points of view.  Sometimes I find the conversations quite enlightening, actually.

But... I observed a political thread on another automotive forum... American, mind you, the tread was created to discuss the upcoming 2016 election... and I learned that some people became deeply emotional when talking politics.  A lot of the conversations started out well enough, but it didn't take long for them to devolve into name-calling, insulting, closed-minded vitriol.  Then there was a lot of bullying when members of one side outnumbered members of another side.  One person I know PM'ed me that he actually had physical threats from some members.

I saw people who seemed to get along online beforehand, not engage afterwards.  I observed that a lot of people stopped visiting the forum and was told it was because of the political conversations - and the other conversations that had spawned from them.

I even recall changing my opinions of posters that I previously had thought were 'good guys' after reading some of the venomous posts that they directed towards other members.  Some members seemed to take on the attitude that, since it was OK to berate other members in the political threads, they should be able to do the same in the regular 'car' threads - that if you couldn't take what they were saying, then somehow you weren't 'manly' enough, or whatever.  It made me less likely to visit the forum, because it seemed like it was less fun after that (if it's no longer fun, then why waste your time?).  The world is full conflict and anger these days, all you have to do is tune into the news, or twitter, or whatever, and it's easy to find.  I come here to get away from that, and to talk cars, which is my escape from the 'real world'...

So, especially in these days of divisiveness and more extreme left vs right divides, I can say from observation of an actual forum that it did have an effect on relationships on that forum, and this is why I think it's not a good idea to introduce the topic on this forum.  Just my opinion, of course.

The most voluminous area of this forum is  "The Lounge" over 15,000 subjects and over 200,000 views and it is specifically designated for "off topic" meaning non-car related discussions so the evidence does suggest that the more often than not discussions are not car related.

MC wrote:

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So, especially in these days of divisiveness and more extreme left vs right divides, I can say from observation of an actual forum that it did have an effect on relationships on that forum, and this is why I think it's not a good idea to introduce the topic on this forum.  Just my opinion, of course.

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This paragraph here.. I agree with Mark. I voted No because of that as well...

The only way I see it would be beneficial is if it would affect us all, and then I would agree. For example, I am on another forum, and it affected everyone on that forum(forum with over 200,000 members) so 99.5% were on the same page with political views. But even then... there would be arguments with the .5% that disagreed... 

hawkeye5766 wrote:

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If Jerel would run for Prime Minister I would say yes  otherwise no.....

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 Troublemaker.  Looks like I may have a campaign manager out on the Island near Sooke.

Canadian Poncho wrote:

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Some folks have asked about having a forum to have mature conversations (if that is possible) about politics. I decided to hold a vote on this. If it's a "Yes" it will be a forum only accessible by a password and hidden from everyone else who chose not to participate. I'll let the poll run for the rest of the week.

 

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 Unless the political issue relates directly to an issue in the car hobby over which government and/or politicians have control, I would say no. For an exception such as a car hobby issue, the Lounge remains the right place IMO. 

They wrestled with the idea at Team Chevelle. They ended up offering it to members, who would then sign up to get access. That way nobody would venture into that area accidentally.

Personally I like hearing differing political viewpoints, whether or not I agree with them. It is far too easy to ruin a relationship over politics (or religion) however. It can drag  outside of the specified forum as well.

I'd like to allow political discussions, but if the verdict is NO, I am good with it.

One of the pieces of advice may parents instilled me in the 50's & 60's was there were 2 things you didn't discuss with friends namely, religion and politics.  There is no way to win the discussion and the only thing that can come out of it is to ruin a friendship.  The world today is way to polarized, possibly even more so than it was back then.  Let's keep our discussion positive with the very thing that brings us all together, our love of cars.  That's my 2 cents.