Moderation polls

[The White Coat Investor]

Two polls about forum moderation. Also, if you're interested in being a moderator we're always interested in more volunteers.

[poll id="78"]

 

[poll id="79"]

[White.Beard.Doc]

Bogleheads moderates quite tightly.  The nice thing about Bogleheads moderation is that people know they need to express their opinions politely.

It is great when people disagree on topics and have an impassioned discussion. It is not so great when things get personal and people start getting attacked.  If folks can question their financial decisions based upon a heated forum debate, great.  If folks start to feel bad because they have been personally attacked, not so great.  Political discussions likely get things off track pretty quickly, but as long as things remain civil, you can be a bit more permissive than Bogleheads and still maintain respect.

[VagabondMD]

I am not a political person, and while I enjoy a spirited debate, political back and forth gets tedious rather quickly. Additionally, if you want to witness or battle R vs. D, there are an infinite number of places on the Internet to do so, just as there are if you want to be among those who fervently share your political views.

If I had my druthers, I would keep the discussion here centered on physician financial issues, lifestyle issues, non-clinical career issues, etc.

[G]

Vagabond MD wrote:

I am not a political person, and while I enjoy a spirited debate, political back and forth gets tedious rather quickly. Additionally, if you want to witness or battle R vs. D, there are an infinite number of places on the Internet to do so, just as there are if you want to be among those who fervently share your political views.

If I had my druthers, I would keep the discussion here centered on physician financial issues, lifestyle issues, non-clinical career issues, etc.

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Agreed.

And it has nothing to do with the fact my last vote for a winning presidential candidate was Reagan....

[CM]

I'd prefer a politics-free forum.

[Medikit]

As an aside I really liked the way you handled the issue of politics during your recent podcast on tax policy.

[Kamban]

There will always be some politics when the issue is finance, taxes and high net worth individuals.

What would benefit would be posters who don't attack the other candidate, party or supporters when they espouse their views on financial related matter. An example would be free 4 year college. We can discuss whether this is good or bad without demonizing either Bernie Sanders or the GOP for their views on this matter. But if it becomes a problem then we can shut down all political discussion.

[CM]

Kamban wrote:

There will always be some politics when the issue is finance, taxes and high net worth individuals.

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These are all popular subjects on the bogleheads forum, but political discussions are verboten there.

[AR]

CM wrote:

Kamban wrote:

There will always be some politics when the issue is finance, taxes and high net worth individuals. 

Click to expand…

These are all popular subjects on the bogleheads forum, but political discussions are verboten there.

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And sometimes that cuts off useful discussion.

[AR]

One thing to consider would be to try to separate it. Like the lounge just create a political issues forum and if something gets too political just move it over there.   That way anyone who doesn't like it can just avoid it and those who are interested can read and/or participate in it.

[Zaphod]

I really like talking about stuff like the tax plan, etc...its however extremely annoying that people cant seem to do it without throwing in their personal political leaning, attacking politicians, or other posters, etc...or assuming that just because one thinks a tax cut/increase/deduction is good/bad means they are from x reviled class. It'd be great to discuss without that stuff.

Might be impossible though given how interwoven they are.

[q-school]

AR wrote:

One thing to consider would be to try to separate it. Like the lounge just create a political issues forum and if something gets too political just move it over there.   That way anyone who doesn’t like it can just avoid it and those who are interested can read and/or participate in it.

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if they do that, i would favor moving the category heading directly to the right of the post title, so that you can clearly see where thread is located on mobile devices.  currently i cannot as 'started by' and 'posts' are between thread title and category.

plus it requires the moderators to be much more active in policing the threads to move them.

but certainly that is one reasonable solution.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Bumping for a few more votes in the poll.

[Craigy]

Dear editor:

Why can't I say [profanity removed.]

Are there children reading WCI?

I feel like if there was a kid reading WCI, he or she would be able to handle the word [profanity removed]  And misc other light profanities.  As long as nobody is being cruel, I personally don't see the harm.

Of course though, it's your site, I enjoy visiting and posting, so I will abide by the rules you enforce, regardless.  Not a big deal, but thought it was worth an ask.

At the very least, it would be one less thing to moderate.  Also, FWIW, many of these webforum apps can be set to auto sensor, might be worth looking into.

[Craigy- I'm getting sick of moderating your profanity. The time I spend moderating this forum is time taken away from helping another high income professional with their financial issues and otherwise fulfilling the mission of this site. Consider this your formal warning. The next time you do so will be a one week ban on posting as per forum policy. I would suggest re-reading the policy again. They can be found here: 

https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/forums/topic/forum-policies-and-frequently-asked-questions-read-before-posting/

This one seems particularly relevant:

1. 
   

   Forum participants are expected to behave appropriately as though you were speaking with others on the forum face to face in polite company with small children present. If you wouldn’t say it in my living room with my kids playing on the floor, you shouldn’t type it here. Pornography, profanity, belittling, ad hominem attacks, trolling, spamming, sock puppeting and other rude behavior is not permitted. It is okay to disagree, but focus your disagreement on the ideas presented, not the person presenting them. If it is obvious you will never convince someone with whom you are arguing, agree to disagree before the argument becomes personal.

   
   

I'm not sure how you talk around my kids, but I don't use profanity around mine and I don't tolerate others who do in my living room. Your kids might not read this site, but mine do. In addition, there are plenty of adults who also find profanity offensive. If you are unable to communicate effectively without using those kinds of words, there are forums that will allow you to do so. This is not one of them.]

[Donnie]

Craigy wrote:

Dear editor:

Why can’t I say [profanity removed]

Are there children reading WCI?

I feel like if there was a kid reading WCI, he or she would be able to handle the word[profanity removed] And misc other light profanities.  As long as nobody is being cruel, I personally don’t see the harm.

Of course though, it’s your site, I enjoy visiting and posting, so I will abide by the rules you enforce, regardless.  Not a big deal, but thought it was worth an ask.

At the very least, it would be one less thing to moderate.  Also, FWIW, many of these webforum apps can be set to auto sensor, might be worth looking into.

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Personally I don't want to read that kind of thing, and I don't find it to be additive to any discussions.  That's one of the reasons I don't read MMM.  Shock us with your ideas and insight, not your language.