announcement Politics rule

indietalk

indietalk

IndieTalk Founder
Staff Member
Admin
We want everyone here to be happy, and not feel like they are being censored, but freedom of speech does not always apply in a private forum. The mods are here to protect you by weeding out nonsense comments and attacks.

This is our politics rule:

We are a group of filmmakers. Politics only serve to divide us. We do not allow political discussions unless they are related to film. If they turn into political bickering, they will be closed.

This rule is to keep the forum clean of party bashing and political candidate bashing because members take that personally. There are plenty of forums for that. I don't think you want that here, but you are free to express what you want here.

I received a few PMs from members that were concerned that posts were being censored for political comments that were related to film. I will take your suggestions on how to reword and enforce this rule, or any other suggestions related to this issue.

Please do not bring up previous mod actions here, they were enforcing the rule. Let's move forward on this issue.

Thanks!
 
As I have said before I agree but my comments were in context. However I will agree with whatever is decided!

How about the debate on censorship and that thread? Will it be returning so we can discuss it amoungst ourselves?
 
I've put your thread in The Lobby, minus the questions about mod actions. Those are not to be discussed in public, as we talked about. You are free to make any suggestions in this thread. Thanks
 
We are a group of filmmakers. Politics only serve to divide us. We do not allow political discussions unless they are related to film. If they turn into political bickering, they will be closed.
Click to expand...

Indie I don't have any easy answers, just opinions.

I think the problem with this rule as it stands is that essentially all filmmaking is politcal. Someone who is making a film purely for money is taking just as strong a politcal stance as someone who makes overtly politcal films.

I think that as adults we ought to be able to discuss politics, especially as it relates to film making. I think the real issue is whether we can do that without it decending into discent.

However, I also think as the moderating here is a voluntary activity that takes enough time as it is the last thing we should be doing is making it harder for those who do that job. If the forum decends into bickering it's bad for everyone.

So I guess i'd like to see a little more latitude for political discussion, but I'd like us as member to take personal responsibilty for keeping the discussions about the issuse and not about personalities.
 
Well said Clive. I think being able to take responsibility for what we say and how we act is key. These disussions can get out of hand (god damn I have had raging political debates in the past and being that I'm stunch anti War I'm sure there will be many to come) but as a groupof proffesionals and adults we have to be able to debate points that are relevant without the threat of censorship.

Indie you run a good ship. But giving people leeway and the ability to self censor and moderate can only make things better, more honest and in the long run more productive.
 
What about an option to have users set up a "Politics" or "No politics" option, in case they don't want to see any threads with politics (or other questionable material).

That way, the mods would only have to flag certain threads instead of individual posts, and users could set thier own account to thier own sensitivity level...

Might be difficult to implement, but what do you think?
 
I don't think it matters if they are in a separate forum or not, most people find new threads with the New Posts link or by looking at the homepage. They'd still be very visible. One other idea is to create a Politics/Controversial sub forum, and make it a hidden forum and members would send join requests if they wanted to see the threads. Then, members might complain that their thread was "hidden". You can never win. But is this needed? Seems like overkill to me. Can't we just all keep it civilized? :)
 
I think those can still be moderated without it being called censorship. If members are attacking or offending others, it needs to be dealt with anyway.
 
indietalk said:
I don't think it matters if they are in a separate forum or not, most people find new threads with the New Posts link or by looking at the homepage. They'd still be very visible. One other idea is to create a Politics/Controversial sub forum, and make it a hidden forum and members would send join requests if they wanted to see the threads. Then, members might complain that their thread was "hidden". You can never win. But is this needed? Seems like overkill to me. Can't we just all keep it civilized? :)
Click to expand...

Indie that is a great idea. It addresses the problem and levels free choice.
 
I think those can still be moderated without it being called censorship. If members are attacking or offending others, it needs to be dealt with anyway.
Click to expand...

I think this is the key really, if as a forum we're asking to have the freedom to have unmoderated politcal debates, then we have to take the responsibility for acting like civilised individuals. I think this means cautioning members who loose the plot and rage out, but I've noticed in the past that the group members themselves often calm the threads down. If someone persists then I guess it is a job for moderation.

I think the thing is if it all gets messy and starts to distrupt the forum then we can always go back to the "No Politics" rule, but then it will be by the group's consensus and anyone complaning about censorship can be told that the group decided that they didn't want politcs on this forum.

i think this will work for the moderators in the long run because they are just protecting the views of the group rather than imposing a rule.
 
indietalk
IndieTalk Founder

I don't think it matters if they are in a separate forum or not, most people find new threads with the New Posts link or by looking at the homepage. They'd still be very visible. One other idea is to create a Politics/Controversial sub forum, and make it a hidden forum and members would send join requests if they wanted to see the threads. Then, members might complain that their thread was "hidden". You can never win. But is this needed? Seems like overkill to me. Can't we just all keep it civilized?
Click to expand...


This was introduced not long ago on another site where I'm a member, as certain people felt they had been 'over-moderated' on controversial topics and hadn't quite finished what they wanted to say or wanted to go 'outside the square' of the regular rules.

The result was not one, but two forums that allowed members who had been thwarted by mods to continue their discussion. Members apply to join and must abide by the forum rules which are rather lax compared to the regular forums. The site put these forums under a 'group' banner meaning non-members could see what the forum was all about, but not read posts. Group members also have the option of checking a box in their profile to make their posts and group membership invisible to others if they so chose.

It has proven to be a huge success as heated topics often get locked in the regular forums. Prerequisties are a thick skin and the ability to take c**p as good as you give it. Funnily enough, most people are well-behaved and there's a strong level of tolerance regarding the opinions of others.


Now, if anyone knows of the site I'm talking about, then I'm well on my way upstream without a paddle in a barbed wire canoe.

---
 
As I have always said people are able to self moderate for the most part and should be given the oportunity to do so within certain boundries.

In short I think this idea is good and could work well.
 
As for me, I don't think we need a political forum. I am an active pol myself, but I have no reason to bring my views here. This is about filmmaking. I agree with Indie- overkill.
 
This is a filmmaking forum, but sometimes politics get into films- you can't talk about Micheal Moore, for example, without delving into personal politics.

I also think politics affect filmmaking- government grants, censorship, rating systems, copyright laws- these are things we should be discussing that involves personal politics in some way or another- as long as people don't fall down the bashing chain (which is very hard to avoid sometimes).

I for one don't mind being put in my place when I'm wrong- it happens all the time. Sometimes people get so caught up in thier own views they forget other people can be right sometimes- all we need is one person to say "Stop bickering" and I think it'll sort itself all out- the people here are that good, as a whole.

But to ban politics completely is like banning violence and excluding the entire Action genre from the forum- there are politics in filmmaking, and as long as we're talking about how those politics affect filmmaking, I don't see why it should be a problem with self-moderation. If all else fails and things get out of hand, maybe a hidden forum could be made with a disclaimer, but let's hope it doesnt come to that.
 
I've always tried to stay away from all political conversation. Indie is absolutely correct in saying "Politics only serve to divide us." He couldn't me more right.

I believe films should exist not to promote a political agenda, but to entertain. Films should make us laugh, cry, scare us or play babysitter to the kids when they're bad (Ooh, I'm a bad parent for doing this one, sticking the kid in front of a Hello Kitty video to shut her up). :D

Throwing politics into the mix gives us, the human race, yet another reason to hate each other. The human race will never survive if we hate one another. I promise to only release video that entertains.

* BUMP THIS *
 
mrde50 said:
Throwing politics into the mix gives us, the human race, yet another reason to hate each other. The human race will never survive if we hate one another. I promise to only release video that entertains.
Click to expand...

I agree but I'm afraid that the two are linked. Like Spatula says, whether it be the politics of making films, the politics that surround film or the politics that stop us getting films made...

Ive always believed that its naiveté to believe that these events DONT have a relevance to what we do. In fact more than just be relevant they should inform and drive what we do.

I believe that we this poltics forum is important.
 
I personally believe movies have many purposes, one of which is to cause people to delve into different viewpoints...often radically different from thier own.
 
S.M Tyler said:
This was introduced not long ago on another site where I'm a member, as certain people felt they had been 'over-moderated' on controversial topics and hadn't quite finished what they wanted to say or wanted to go 'outside the square' of the regular rules.

The result was not one, but two forums that allowed members who had been thwarted by mods to continue their discussion. Members apply to join and must abide by the forum rules which are rather lax compared to the regular forums. The site put these forums under a 'group' banner meaning non-members could see what the forum was all about, but not read posts. Group members also have the option of checking a box in their profile to make their posts and group membership invisible to others if they so chose.

It has proven to be a huge success as heated topics often get locked in the regular forums. Prerequisties are a thick skin and the ability to take c**p as good as you give it. Funnily enough, most people are well-behaved and there's a strong level of tolerance regarding the opinions of others.


Now, if anyone knows of the site I'm talking about, then I'm well on my way upstream without a paddle in a barbed wire canoe.

---
Click to expand...
Yes, I know what you mean, that's what I was describing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top