Originally Posted by
Wondering Beard
I'm ambivalent about this and tending towards no.
Those types of specific discussions tend to, after a while, only pull in those who want to argue and whose minds won't be changed. Those who have an interest, a more nuanced view or just questions would rapidly be turned off and never come back. Only the loudest will post after a while.
You might be herding all the cats in one place but I figure that most of the moderating (and ensuing butt hurt, rage quit, baseless accusations and general acting out etc ..) will be there and thus that most of the tension created there will migrate to other threads/sub forums. In other words, you may think you're containing all the bad/stupid political stuff in one place but you're actually putting it all in a high pressure cooker ready to blow over everything else. The way it is now, it is mostly spread out over a large bunch of threads where people who normally won't engage (or would in a mild manner) will apply pressure for the stupid political parts to stop (the less stupid political parts would continue). If you keep things spread out, I think it will be smoother overall than if you try and keep the tempest in one place only.
Of course, I don't know all that you moderators have to deal with and how you deal with it, so I could be wrong.
If the membership decides on a political sub forum, I'd rather it be for site supporters only.
As to a political meme thread, I might support that only if memes are all that's posted, no commentary on memes posted. Let the memes fight it out without people needing to argue.