Or worse, bug Ageless on the Boinc boards :-)

Come on over. Love to have more posters!

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=9707

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=8105

Moderation there is more about free speech as long as you aren't spamvertising or using 7 dirty words.

I actually wonder if the topicality policing here actually creates strife? Too many people each with a slightly different idea of what is acceptable?

Anyway, see you on the Dev Board!

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Moderation there is more about free speech as long as you aren't spamvertising or using 7 dirty words.

It so easy to solve the problem with profane language.
In all computer languages there is already ways to replace Words to Another Word.
Pseudo code

For every obscene Words in Message
   Replace Word to "******"
Next

Or mis-spell it like the O/P does often enough, for example: -

"Bollix"

At least here in Britain on this board we can actually use the correct term as we have a politician of that name...

...poor devil :-)

Can I add my two pennies worth?

I haven't posted in the politics forum for a very very long time.

From a quick look around I can see that there are more than political opinions. There are often personal emotions.

From a pragmatists point of view. If the political forum was to close all you people with a lot to say might just end up in the cafe thread and I suspect that would be overload.

I often look in this forum but don't always know where to fit in to the general melay.

As a kind of outsider (SETI.. but cafe neighbour) I would like the oppourtunity to get involved once in a while.

I would not like to see the politics forum disappear but I wonder if the forum could do with taking a step back:

What about the idea that all new threads must have a title and purpose matching their intent and subject?

It's OK for the cafe to be fluffy as it's about generalities and sociability but because of passion of belief it might be better that threads in the political forum by agreement or rule were titled more specifically.

Obviously some people are unhappy in this political place but given it's a "political forum" shouldn't you all be able to come together and find consensus?

For my two cents and to be realistic a SETI forum doesn't have enough people to run a "political forum" in any open true sense. It does have a space in which opinions can be shared and aired.. but then if the opinions become too strong it stops being a forum (an Agora) and just becomes a voice for the opinionated.

Can I suggest a separate thread name "Politics Forum - Our Hopes And Directions For It's Future" in which nobody can post more than once a week and nobody can argue against another and no post is to include outside sources or more than 2 paragraphs (50 words).

Set the target for 1 month.

In this way each has time to consider and can only promote their hopes, aspirations and limitations equally.

At the end of this SETI can decide on the worth of it's resources.

Truth is. It's either a political forum to discover or a place to shout out opinions.

Am I out of order?

I'm just trying to avoid you nut bags ending up in the cafe with nowhere else to go.

:o)~

Minor point but can you reduce this post to 50 words? I thought so. Some post on politics are hard work. I open up the text editor and spend several days on a single post before posting sometimes.

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Or mis-spell it like the O/P does often enough, for example: -
"Bollix"
At least here in Britain on this board we can actually use the correct term as we have a politician of that name...
...poor devil :-)

Yes typos can be dangerous:)

The best way to read foul and obscene text in English is to let Goggle translate it into Swedish, danish, norweigian and Icelandic:) All obscene text are subsituted to religous foul Words:):):))

Or mis-spell it like the O/P does often enough, for example: -

"Bollix"

Sigh .......

All of us educated people know full well what the correct English spelling of that word is. I am not sure if that is allowable here in this forum or not. The variant bollix is allowed as an official Scrabble word which I have first used not more than a few days ago. I would think that "often enough" is yet again an exaggeration for theatrical effect.

Minor point but can you reduce this post to 50 words? I thought so. Some post on politics are hard work. I open up the text editor and spend several days on a single post before posting sometimes.

Dena makes a valid point, but I was pleased to see someone not so resolutely "in" to this politics forum, making their views known. So I think we could excuse the verbosity on that occasion.

DROP IT CHRIS S!!!!
Its Sunday afternoon for heavens sake!

.. An unintended but neverthe less interesting psychological exercise :-)

yes. It certainly was.

Do you feel better now?

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Reality Internet Personality

Minor point but can you reduce this post to 50 words? I thought so. Some post on politics are hard work. I open up the text editor and spend several days on a single post before posting sometimes.

Dena makes a valid point, but I was pleased to see someone not so resolutely "in" to this politics forum, making their views known. So I think we could excuse the verbosity on that occasion.

I am not complaining but having worked tech support I have gripes with short messages. The shorter the message the more likely you are to be misunderstood. Text messages are the worst followed by chat messages. Email is better but still subject to problems. Phone calls work most of the time and give you the real time feed back so you know when you lost the customer. Face to face is best but I was only able to do that with very few customers. Any idea takes a certain number of words to express it. The more complex the idea, the more words that are required. For some ideas, 50 words would be overkill and others may require many more. Express any of Shakespeare's works in 50 words. You now see the problem.

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No, do you? You've certainly been active this weekend.

Do you have a particular question that you would like to ask?

I'm going to assume this was aimed at me, because I cannot see the connection with Dena's post.

What I see is someone who wasn't doing very well in the politics forum and decided not only to pick up the ball and go home, but to burn down the pitch on their way out as well.

Considering how many bun fights and petty name calling you have got yourself involved in here I am baffled that you are pointing the finger outside yourself.

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Reality Internet Personality

There's one thing I know for sure: for every opinion I have, there is at least one other. It's one thing to have a discussion on opinions or ideas as long as it's done in a civilized manor, possibly even conducive to concord (although, not always achievable). Disagreement is one thing, and it's a natural thing. It's another thing to retort on someone's opinions or ideas in the form of a personal verbal attack. I said it earlier, but I don't think it's good seeing people here fight and argue over things when we're all in this project for the same purposes.

It is HARD to discuss/debate on some things that you have a personal attachment to and dislike seeing others not "get it" or agree with it; I certainly am not impervious to this at all, and I don't think there's many out there that has something they wouldn't get mad about at some point or another during discussions. But devoting an entire forum that is a place to vent has it's merits...it does keep it out of the other forums like some pointed out earlier on this thread. But it's also a specifically set-up location devoted to allow people to argue over things. It may start out healthy, but a lot of times it turns into negative comments and anger between posters in threads.

In the end, I don't really know what the ramifications would be in the forums if the Political Forum was shut down. But I really don't like seeing Seti@HOME people fighting with each other. We're all in this together, and we all have our differences in life and differences in opinion.

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And that is the most opportune moment to lock it down - for another year at least :-)

No, do you? You've certainly been active this weekend.

Do you have a particular question that you would like to ask?

I'm going to assume this was aimed at me, because I cannot see the connection with Dena's post.

What I see is someone who wasn't doing very well in the politics forum and decided not only to pick up the ball and go home, but to burn down the pitch on their way out as well.

Considering how many bun fights and petty name calling you have got yourself involved in here I am baffled that you are pointing the finger outside yourself.

+1

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All views are welcome.

Does that apply to the politics board as well?

All views are welcome.

No.

Politics Reflect Life.

We are NOT All in 'This' Together.

We Do NOT All, Like Each Other.

'Crunching' S E T I at Home, Work or In A Parallel Universe does NOT make us, United In Spirit.

I Like Seeing People Lose Control. Why? Because People Lose Control.

The One Poster stating All These 'Rules' To Post By, 'is' Not Politics.

Politics in US of A, UK, EU, and Anywhere Else, runs Under The Sham of Rules and Procedures and 'is' Anything But.

So, Let's Get a Stick About.

Huh?

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

Even better, turn it into a 5000 piece jigsaw - should keep you busy for a while :-)

Ain't gonna happen.
I have it on good authority that nobody is gonna be messing with the forums or much else anytime soon.

You can quote the kittyman on that one.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

To limit the channels available to the 'airing' of political views will inevitably result in their appearance in other threads. To shut it down would be a mistake and possibly an act of censorship. Freedom of thought and expression is a basic tenet of science and one of the foundations of SETI.

I am guilty of allowing my conservative views to creep into other threads and in future will express them in the more appropriate venue. I have said before that sometimes the Politics thread is like wading through a sewer to find a pearl, but the reason for doing it is you do find some.

As to resources, is there a way to enlarge the moderator staff by asking for QUALIFIED and VETTED volunteers?

For these reasons I have voted no.

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"Sour Grapes make a bitter Whine." <(0)>

..
As to resources, is there a way to enlarge the moderator staff by asking for QUALIFIED and VETTED volunteers?
..

as far as I am aware, Fred is happy with the current team.

I am not sure what qualifications there are for moderators, so you will have to explain what that would look like.

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Reality Internet Personality

..
As to resources, is there a way to enlarge the moderator staff by asking for QUALIFIED and VETTED volunteers?
..

as far as I am aware, Fred is happy with the current team.

I am not sure what qualifications there are for moderators, so you will have to explain what that would look like.

I was a mod once...
Imagine that again in this day and age...

Oh, boy.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster