Religious and Political Discussion

[walterick]

I voted "yes."

Though I fear a few things might happen:

The forum might lose its civility and attract people who just come to the website to flame in the political/religious forum.

The opposte may happen where the forum just sits for a long time with no activity because we're really just civilized people with deep passions moving beyond photography, and no one would want to hang out in the poly/rel forum all the time.

I agree with the thought of a first-time visitor seeing a thread like that and running. I hate to lose the attention of those that post in the Viewfinder because I respect all of their opinions but I respect the site too much to let threads like that detract from its sucess.

I guess it'll be me, Ray and Paul duking it out in the new forum ;)

Rick

[walterick]

Another thought:

If it gets labeled as an "off-topic" forum I fear that threads like "Nikon Samurais" or "it's snowing in Chicago!" will dumped in with all the religious/political stuff and we'll lose part of the character that makes up who we are. It seems rather narrow-minded to call it the "religious/political forum" but maybe that's best?

[Photo-John]

I am thinking of calling it, "OT: Religion, Politics, etc." It's intended for potentially contentious subjects. Nikon Samurai, and Canon Clan posts belong on ViewFinder. Even a little religion and politics belong. At least until they start to monopolize the forum.