Fair enough, however some days the GD posts can occupy half of the "new posts".
I have no metrics to back up the following... but, I suspect most/nearly all of the traffic to this site is DIY/building related and not conversations about politics. I, in principle, like the fact that there is a section where one can ask for advice not covered in other sub forums, be that the best way to burn a turkey or ask about advice about applying for a dropped curb . Perhaps, there should be a politics sub forum where people can bat for their prefered political ideology.
Regrettably, I suspect that the backbiting would transcend any political subforum back to the GD.
I value this site. I have spent much time offering my professional advice, but more importantly, I have relied upon fellow contributors to help me when I am outside of my comfort zone.
I hope that this site continues to exist.
Looking at the GD atm, i see two threads about illegal migrants, three on the subject of politics and one regarding Trump suing the Beeb. The rest are a mix of talking points and regular threads where discussion can be found among people who tend to agree about political issues and ignore those who disagree with them. Some people are unable to put aside those differences outside the political divide and make highly discriminatory posts, inflaming a discussion into little more than trolling and slander.
The 'ignore button' is a last resort which i try to avoid since one of the reasons i stayed in the GD was to avoid living in a bubble at The Grauniad where i tended to hang out during the Brexit years. It was beginning to simmer down when the deal was done to take the UK out of the EU - but then the war in Gaza began and everything got out of hand over time.
Even before that, i'd notice threads started by a few people would be flooded with replies while others would be ignored, making it obvious who the members of a central clique were and how they regarded control of the board paramount in the forum. It became toxic when they felt that control was being challenged and their attempts to maintain their status as they saw it overcame regard for forum etiquette, leaving anyone privy to the circumstances of this dispute with a choice to pick a side or stay away altogether.
I sympathise with this position as many people do not come onto the GD to entangle themselves with 'forum politics', while a clique of individuals do so simply to stir up trouble using fake accounts (sockpuppets), even using several accounts to inflame an argument and draw people in one way or the other.
I wondered if they'd ever temporise their posting styles but have come to realise it's how they operate online, enjoying a freedom otherwise denied in their everyday lives, trolling other viewpoints and shutting down reasonable discussion to the point where a thread is locked or deleted then kicking off again when the mood takes them.
Moderators can take punitive action but only through a small window where they see the reported complaint, sometimes without an overview of a broader context in which the exchange took place, leaving one side vindicated and the other aggrieved, resolving nothing in the long term and leaving space for grievances to develop into a long running feud.
It's unfair on site users who simply want to shoot the breeze, share a joke or two and try to relax after working long hours but after hanging out around here for the past few years i can't say what the answer is, and only hope their actions don't deter good folk like yourself from stopping by to share professional advice and personal views without fear of reprisal or judgement.
