[BostonCard]

Regarding the point that political discussions may be part of this thread,
I note there has been a long standing thread on Ukraine that is largely political discussion in nature.
And that has been OK because it is labeled as Outside Topic.
So our cardboard readers/posters are aware beforehand that politics may be part of the discussion and can choose to participate or not.
As this thread is also labeled Outside Topic I have no complaint nor surprise that discussion might include politically related thoughts.

The Ukraine thread is a different beast and a special exception because it is a necessarily political issue. Many of us have friends and family directed affected by these fires, and we're here to share information, lend support, and emote. I, for one, have no desire to have to wade through politically motivated hot takes that may or may not have any basis in reality and only exist to stir things up, nor deal with users who complain to us mods about it. If it keeps happening, we'll close this, so let's stay civil.

Early on in the Ukraine thread, someone (maybe the OP) acknowledged that the thread could get political and said something to the effect of "feel free to lock the thread", and after some deliberation, the mods agreed to keep it open despite the risk, just given the global implications.  There have been periodic discussions about closing it since then, especially when a political/controversial post comes up.  At the end of the day, I think there are a couple of very high value posters on that thread (I'm thinking specifically of Goose, but some of the other regulars on that thread) that provide expertise that would be hard to find elsewhere.  I've looked, and where I've seen forums with similar depth, they are nowhere near as accessible.

My own feeling is that as long as the overall thread's content value exceeds the risk of it descending into political chaos, it is worth keeping up.  Some political content must necessarily be tolerated there to achieve that, but I acknowledge that there is a possibility that things will worsen.

In this thread, it is entirely possible to provide support for the people affected and information about the fires themselves without devolving into finger-pointing.

BC

[BostonCard]

Regarding the point that political discussions may be part of this thread,
I note there has been a long standing thread on Ukraine that is largely political discussion in nature.
And that has been OK because it is labeled as Outside Topic.
So our cardboard readers/posters are aware beforehand that politics may be part of the discussion and can choose to participate or not.
As this thread is also labeled Outside Topic I have no complaint nor surprise that discussion might include politically related thoughts.

The Ukraine thread is a different beast and a special exception because it is a necessarily political issue. Many of us have friends and family directed affected by these fires, and we're here to share information, lend support, and emote. I, for one, have no desire to have to wade through politically motivated hot takes that may or may not have any basis in reality and only exist to stir things up, nor deal with users who complain to us mods about it. If it keeps happening, we'll close this, so let's stay civil.

Early on in the Ukraine thread, someone (maybe the OP) acknowledged that the thread could get political and said something to the effect of "feel free to lock the thread", and after some deliberation, the mods agreed to keep it open despite the risk, just given the global implications.  There have been periodic discussions about closing it since then, especially when a political/controversial post comes up.  At the end of the day, I think there are a couple of very high value posters on that thread (I'm thinking specifically of Goose, but some of the other regulars on that thread) that provide expertise that would be hard to find elsewhere.  I've looked, and where I've seen forums with similar depth, they are nowhere near as accessible.

My own feeling is that as long as the overall thread's content value exceeds the risk of it descending into political chaos, it is worth keeping up.  Some political content must necessarily be tolerated there to achieve that, but I acknowledge that there is a possibility that things will worsen.

In this thread, it is entirely possible to provide support for the people affected and information about the fires themselves without devolving into finger-pointing.

BC