Future of political debate in OT

[Placebo 29]

Well vote then!

[turms 0]

I was hoping not only separate threats for europe and usa, but separate threads involving different countrys policies (when they are actual).

Why fix something that is not broke? The biggest thing I visit here, is politics. This forum has intelligent discussions about politics, and thats an advantage to any forum.

Voted for separate threads.

[Placebo 29]

but separate threads involving different countrys policies (when they are actual).

Sorry but no chance, I'm willing to acquiesce to seperate Euro & USA but that's it

[turms 0]

Quote[/b] ]Sorry but no chance, I'm willing to acquiesce to seperate Euro & USA but that's it

Why is that?

What will happen to middle-east thread?

[billybob2002 0]

Seperate!!!!! SKEET SKEET

[Pathy 0]

Seperate, youve seen how the Europeans and Americans go for each other, combining both thier politics....well.....

The way i see it it will inevitably end up as a US politics thread if its combined.

And errr Terms....there are alot of individual countries in the world. I think groupings (America, EU, Middle East) are more sensible......

[Placebo 29]

Quote[/b] ]Sorry but no chance, I'm willing to acquiesce to seperate Euro & USA but that's it

Why is that?

What will happen to middle-east thread?

It will stay the same, I see that more as a "war thread" in a way same as the Iraq & War on terror ones, so if things go as the poll indicates we will have 3 active "political" threads, USA, ME & Europe, 5 if you include Iraq and War on Terror as political

[IsthatyouJohnWayne 0]

Whilst i think combining the two could possibly lead to some interesting arguments it will inevitably mean lots of people having to read through a lot of posts they are not at all interested in (perhaps regrettably) an perhaps being put off.

How many americans looking at how Bush will use his new found power are really also equally interested in reform of the common agricultural policy or the relationship between the EU council of ministers and the european parliament (admittedly it may also be asked how many europeans are interested)?

[shadow 6]

Consider political topics a bonus to this community. In case you have'nt noticed, this is a game-forum.

It is not meant to be bogged down with political topics.

[denoir 0]

I was hoping not only separate threats for europe and usa, but separate threads involving different countrys policies (when they are actual).

These are so rare that I doubt we need some formal declaration of them. The current system works pretty well.

When something really specific pops up relating to one that doesn't fall into the two threads, then a new is made that lives for a while during the time the topic is newsworthy.

As for the Mid East thread, it's IMO more of a "conflict" thread, similar to the Iraq one. Sure it includes politics, but a very narrow band of it. We havn't exactly been discussing Egyptian social security in it

[Akira 0]

Well I for one would like to thank our Moderator Overlords for allowing us to vote and have our voice heard.

[Placebo 29]

We havn't exactly been discussing Egyptian social security in it

Well we should, Egyptian pension projections are very worrying

[CounterForce 0]

I voted for seperate threads because I think it would be too much to discuss US and European politics in one thread.

It is better to have seperate threads because discussing all in one thread will lead in complete chaos

[denoir 0]

Consider political topics a bonus to this community. In case you have'nt noticed, this is a game-forum.

It is not meant to be bogged down with political topics.  

That is correct, but you have to look at a wider picture as well. OFP is rather old now, OFP2 is a long way from being completed. The community is slowly bleeding away.

OT is however a place where people through political discussions have gotten to know each other on a level that goes beyond downloading the latest addons. In short, it binds the community together and makes certain that people will still be here when OFP2 comes along.

[Acecombat 0]

We havn't exactly been discussing Egyptian social security in it

Well we should, Egyptian pension projections are very worrying

LoL I'll alert python

I voted separate thread too , i dont like a ALL-IN-ONE thread too jumbled up for me.

[Placebo 29]

Even though it's quite apparent what the result will be I'm going to leave this open at least until Monday as it also serves as a way to gague the interest in political discussion by the number of people who vote

[shadow 6]

Consider political topics a bonus to this community. In case you have'nt noticed, this is a game-forum.

It is not meant to be bogged down with political topics.  

That is correct, but you have to look at a wider picture as well. OFP is rather old now, OFP2 is a long way from being completed. The community is slowly bleeding away.

OT is however a place where people through political discussions have gotten to know each other on a level that goes beyond downloading the latest addons. In short, it binds the community together and makes certain that people will still be here when OFP2 comes along.

Yead, but still, not everyone is interested in politics. I know (and I bet you know too) if we let loose in O-T 3 out of 4 topics would be minor or bigger political subjects which would scare away alot of people.

Discussin politics in itself does'nt really do much for the community either, except for venting maybe. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I like to feel we have a good mix of everything here.

[Akira 0]

I just say better politics than "how to make a bowl of cereal"

Ya know what I'm talkin' 'bout!

[denoir 0]

Yead, but still, not everyone is interested in politics.

Yeah, not everyone but there is a very big interest for it. OT is the most popular forum - it has almost twice as many posts as the second most popular one. And it's dominated by political discussions.

Quote[/b] ]I know (and I bet you know too) if we let loose in O-T 3 out of 4 topics would be minor or bigger political subjects which would scare away alot of people.

I fully agree that it should be regulated for the sake of good organization. The fact is however that in OT some 80-90% of the posts are in the political threads and dumping it all into one would really be suboptimal usage of the forum.

Quote[/b] ]Discussin politics in itself does'nt really do much for the community either, except for venting maybe. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I like to feel we have a good mix of everything here.

Politics covers universal issues that in principle concern everybody. While the specifics can be uninteresting, the issues are most of the time universal and people have opinions on them. That in turn connects people through discussion and debate and makes the community stronger.

I think that now more than ever we need people to stay in the community - for the sake of it's survival.

One other thing, which is probably not relevant specifically to the community, but more a general thing is the quality of the discussions we have. People are forced to critical thinking, to backing up their claims with references, to actually get informed. This is in part of very good no-nonsense moderating, but also because of the maturity of the people posting.

Now while it's certainly isn't BIS duty to subsidize these things, but it is nevertheless something we can be proud of

[Monkey Lib Front 10]

Consider political topics a bonus to this community. In case you have'nt noticed, this is a game-forum.

It is not meant to be bogged down with political topics.  

Quote[/b] ]about military, politics, science, other military games and similiar topics loosely related to the game)

That is the description of the OT forum.

Me i'm all for seperate political threads, maybe even a seperate subforum in OT.

[kerosene 0]

I think a combined thread would become to jumbled too. Definatley though a politics thread should stay, if anything its a good source of links to news I might otherwise miss out on, aside from that its lets people debate and hear perspectives from people they'd never get to hear from otherwise. (i know there are plenty of strictly political foruims, but i like this one, so there.)

[Goeth 0]

Can i vote for closing down the whole OT section?

[joltan 0]

Jupp, definitely seperate threads. While there will be a few topics affecting both threads that are not covered by their own thread already (e.g. the trade wars between EU and US) the majority of 'local' issues (like the discussion about the european constitution) will fall clearly into one of the two threads. A seperation will help keeping the discussions on topic without people mixing too many different issues into one.

Also I must say that usually the offtopic section and the political threads are about the only thing I read in this forum (apart from a few occasional glances at new posts in the mp or editing sections). I second the statements that these really keep the community together. I wouldn't read these forums on such a regular base without these threads.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Okay, since this appears to be a transitional thread I may post news here

Quote[/b] ]Frankfurt am Main - Der Euro kostete am Devisenmarkt zeitweise 1,2937 Dollar. Seinen bisherigen Höchststand hatte der Euro Mitte Februar bei 1,2930 Dollar erreicht.

In english this means that the reelection of George W Bush has triggered the Euro to climb to a record level of 1.2937 dollars.

This has advantages and disadvantages but it definetly means a lower trust in the future of the US economy. Currently experts suggest that the Euro may even climb up to 1.80 in future years. Sad for the german export industry!

[Akira 0]

This has advantages and disadvantages but it definetly means a lower trust in the future of the US economy.

And a higher probability of me movin' to Europe instead of Japan.