Quote Originally Posted by Photo-John
Because of a recent thread, I decided to post a poll about whether to create a new forum for religious and political discussions. A bunch of people told me that they didn't have any problem with the thread and we should keep things loose, and generaly, I agree. However, I have had some people make private comments about this type of discussion and I have a feeling that that might be a lot of people who aren't saying anything. I wouldn't want to be making quieter people uncomfortable.

So please vote in the poll and feel free to discuss this subject here.

Just to make it clear, I'm considering creating a new forum where we could move discussions when and if they start to become all about politics or religion. That way, we can keep the forum open to friendly discussion on things other than photography, but if a thread starts to go on and on, we can move it. One issue I've noticed is the busy thread post to the forums index and at the top of the foru page. First-time visitors who find the first and busiest thread is about religion or politics might be put off. I don't want that to happen. Even though I want ViewFinder to be open. I want to keep it cleaer that it's a photography forum - especially to new users. I think this is a good compromise.

And just so you know, my vote was that we should create a new forum.

Thanks!
Hey Photo John,

Personnally, I don't think we need a seperate forum per se'. but I do like the idea of having a place to move a discussion when it takes on a life of it's own. Some of them get rather large, which is OK, and some of them get rather acromonious, which then needs to be moved IMHO.

Viewfinder is our living room, where we discuss different topics. Granted, they are mostly photography related (as it should be) but we do digress into other areas, which I also think is a good thing. I like knowing what others think, what catches their attention, what inspires them. As long as it's civil, I have no problem with non-photography topics being discussed here.