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Political Discussion


Eric

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As you no doubt have noticed, I've updated the forum rules to include a couple lines about political discussions.  Agreeing to the updated terms is necessary to continue participating on the forum.

The internet is a big place, and there are endless forums and message boards to discuss politics.  If you are interested in having a good argument over these things, please seek those places out.  Or just continue to make family and friends uncomfortable with unending rants on Facebook.  If you're no longer getting the response you crave on Facebook (perhaps you've finally alienated everyone who disagrees with you), this forum will not be a new audience for you to antagonize.  All political posts will be hidden, no exceptions, so do the mods a favor and don't waste your time or theirs.

To those who disagree with my assertion that it's possible to separate the discussion of tax law itself from the political ideals/ideologies that surround the implementation of those laws, then this thread is for you. Let's talk about it.

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33 minutes ago, Evan S. Golar said:

What specific discussion thread prompted you to update the board rules?

Was there a poster who violated the rules?

It's a recurring thing, but the posts are hidden from view.  Judy is an efficient mod, so it's likely that she hid the posts before many (if any) members saw them.

It happens often enough that it has become tiring to have to keep explaining the rules to people who disagree with them.

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Thank you, Eric, for everything.

The postings also occur with new people using ATX that find us each season and that may not notice the small subtitles that were under the headings of General Chat and the Off-Topic that said "no politics" or political threads will be locked or removed. This is better than having to try to explain with each occurrence separately in PMs, and it is fair to all without me using any judgement that could be construed as showing bias or favoritism for or against a particular view, party, or individual member here.

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21 minutes ago, jklcpa said:

Eric, I do have a question about the TOU page.  Will it be possible to view that page again after acceptance, or could that text also be posted in the help section?

I've added links in the first post to the terms.  You can also use this URL to link directly to the page without the popup: http://www.atxcommunity.com/terms/

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2 hours ago, Evan S. Golar said:

What specific discussion thread prompted you to update the board rules?

Was there a poster who violated the rules?

Evan, I am certain it was I.  In recent days I had a discussion thread removed for political content.  There ensued a lengthy discussion with one of the moderators about my posture and theirs on subject.  All anyone else needs to know is that my post included too many references that made the post blatantly more political than focused on subject matter.  Simple is that.  The moderators are probably too professional to tell the forum who prompted the update, but I'll own up to it.

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Aw, com'on, you're spoiling all the fun.  Even those who don't follow politics very closely have to admit that there has never been so much entertainment coming out of Washington DC before.  I find myself anxious to get the news every morning just to discover what quirky things transpired overnight.  Both parties are contributing their share of entertainment value, so it isn't even a political thing.  Seriously, though, banning political discussion is the right thing to do.  In almost every blog I follow, as soon as someone makes a political comment things gets nasty pretty quickly.  We have plenty of other ways to have fun on this board.

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I love discussing politics, but especially on the internet it seems to quickly degenerate into personal attacks and sometimes downright mean comments.  When political discussions were allowed on this board (briefly!) it permanently colored my opinion of some of the long time posters.  Not because of their views, but because of how they expressed them.  I am glad that the policy was changed, and that the moderators are so diligent in monitoring these remarks and pulling them quickly.  I would prefer they err on the side of caution - I really want to maintain my respect for the people on this board.  If I want to get angry at people over politics, there are plenty of other sites for that.

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I should apologize for the tone of my initial post. I was in a bad mood yesterday after finally giving in and allowing my kids to bring home a cat from the shelter.  He hasn't been neutered yet, and I have been regretting my decision ever since.

13 hours ago, Catherine said:

I was gonna add a snarky comment about the new rule being "deplorable" but now am afraid it will get banned and the moderators will spank me...  but it was *just* going to be for snark value, I promise!

^_^

Spanking as a form of punishment on the forum might also be against the rules?  I'm not sure, I'll have to give that some thought.

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Tone is a tricky thing on the internet - which is one reason it is difficult sometimes to discuss things people are passionate about.  I did not notice a problem with your tone.  You have been very patient with all of us!  Thank you so much for everything that you do to keep this running smoothly and for giving us a virtual hang-out.

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Edsel, it wasn't your post or our discussion specifically that caused the TOU to be spelled out, only that it was the latest in a series.  The moderating team had talked a few times before about whether to have a more formal statement, and I asked again because the initial PM I'd sent to you was almost an exact copy of a cut & paste I'd used in the past when a post or topic was hidden, but that gets kind of old to have to continue to contact people. I asked Eric if we could have a statement in the help section that would eliminate this repetitive task, but I like the TOU better because it is required reading and includes the statement that this site is not the officical ATX forum too.

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51 minutes ago, Eric said:

I should apologize for the tone of my initial post. I was in a bad mood yesterday after finally giving in and allowing my kids to bring home a cat from the shelter.  He hasn't been neutered yet, and I have been regretting my decision ever since.

Spanking as a form of punishment on the forum might also be against the rules?  I'm not sure, I'll have to give that some thought.

Eric, I thought your tone was fine and was amused at your descriptions of interactions on Facebook.  It's funny because it's true a lot of the time. 

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2 minutes ago, jklcpa said:

Eric, I thought your tone was fine and was amused at your descriptions of interactions on Facebook.  It's funny because it's true a lot of the time. 

Upon re-reading it this morning, I felt like it came off a little angrier than I meant at the time.  And I know it's true--My wife has family who are quite outspoken on the left and the right. It's a real :poop:show.

11 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

But Catherine seems to like spanking. :lol:

Even so, that might be considered obscene, haha

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Eric,

As a life-long cat owner and lover, I hope that the cat behaves better after he is neutered. I'm really surprised that the shelter let him go before he was neutered, unless he was too young. I hope that you learn to love or at least tolerate him. My husband and my son's fiancee were 100% dog people until they were around my cats and now they both love them. 

Good luck!

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4 hours ago, NECPA in NEBRASKA said:

Eric,

As a life-long cat owner and lover, I hope that the cat behaves better after he is neutered. I'm really surprised that the shelter let him go before he was neutered, unless he was too young. I hope that you learn to love or at least tolerate him. My husband and my son's fiancee were 100% dog people until they were around my cats and now they both love them. 

Good luck!

Prepare for thread derailment!

I have cats and dogs and don't have a strong preference either way.  

Soon after I moved into my first apartment, my girlfriend (now, wife) brought me a cat that we named Jack--black and white like the label on a bottle of Jack Daniels.  She smuggled him across the Canadian border with her friend 16 years ago.  He never did learn to bury his poop in the litter box, and we always joked that it must be an American cat custom.  Jack was a naughty cat, constantly eating ribbon and plastic and either barfing it up or pooping it out, and had a serious addiction to carbs.  We couldn't leave out a loaf of bread or a box of donut holes in the open without him tearing into it--he once ate a good portion of my roomate's banana bread, baked with love by his mother.  Anyway, Jack passed away this past spring.  He used to sleep in the bed with my son, who took his passing especially hard.

We have another cat, Marty, and he's a great hunter, but he's never been comfortable around our kids (6 year old twins).  He'll spend all day sleeping in our bedroom closet, and only comes downstairs to eat and visit with my wife and I after the kids are in bed. 

Anyway, my wife will sometimes take the kids to the local "petting zoo" (animal shelter) just to see and play with the animals, and make a donation... but the last trip was different.  There was a cat there that looked very Maine Coon-ish, and he loved the kids.  He was happy to let them pick him up.  He was very playful yet gentle.  I got about a dozen texts with photos of kids, bottom lips protruding while they took turns holding this cat.  I refused all day long, trying to explain the beautiful mathematical symmetry of being a 2 adult, 2 kid, 2 pet household, but eventually gave in to the pressure the next morning.  

My wife and kids picked him up early that same morning as soon as the shelter opened.  He'd only been there about a week, and hadn't been neutered yet.  At this particular shelter, they handle these situations by requesting a check for $100 that they will hold on to, and won't cash unless the pet isn't spayed/neutered within a certain period of time. We figured we could get him into the vet quickly, but unfortunately it's going to be about a month.  We called every vet in the area, and nobody can do any better, so we put ourselves on the cancellation list at our regular vet and will hope for an opening soon.

We set up an unused dog crate in our sun room, with a littler box, food, and water, and we let him out when we can pay very close attention to him, to make sure he doesn't spray.  It's not ideal, but the crate does give our other cat and dog some time to slowly get used to the new arrival on their own terms as well. Hopefully we'll get a call from the vet soon, and he can finally make himself at home.

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Eric, I'm sorry that I assumed that you were not a cat lover. I totally understand your feelings. My son has spent the last several days checking his rescue's litter box, because they thought that Hobbes had managed to eat a 4 foot piece of yarn and the vet said to wait. Four days later, the yarn started showing up, so hopefully they have avoided a large vet bill. 

I also think that Borg would be an amazing name. 

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1 hour ago, Catherine said:

And I also like the name "Borg" for the new cat.  Plus, his resistance to behaving will also eventually prove futile - won't it?

 

Haha, it does fit for a cat for a variety of reasons. Cats rule their world,  and they decide on who will be their person or people, so naming one 'Borg' does seem appropriate.  

 

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