Where went the politics section?

[analog_kidd]

I for one, really miss the politics section. It was usually the first forum I visited, followed by General Chat. I know this is a gun forum, but those are my two favorite forums. I think part of that is, because this is a gun forum, most of us are like-minded and share the same interests. I just like hanging out with a bunch of other guys that for the most part, think like I think, and like what I like.

Sure, there were some posts that I didn't like, or agree with, but I have thick skin and realize people have differing opinions, and I can respect that, as long as others can respect my opinions too. I actually like the discourse, as it gives me a peek into the way other people might think, and gives me a different perspective on an issue. It probably won't change my belief, but at least I can get an insight as to why someone might think that way.

One of the trends happening now all over America is, if someone doesn't like what you have to say, then they shut you down. In a way this feels a bit like that. That forum was a great place to vent. I am a conservative that lives in a world of liberals. My work is filled with them, my main hobby is filled with them, and my family is all liberal, so I generally just keep quiet around them all. For me, the forum was a good outlet.

I really like the idea of a politics section not showing up in the new posts feed, but think making it a paid members only section will limit differing points of view.

[Steelharp]

22 minutes ago, analog_kidd said:

 I am a conservative that lives in a world of liberals. My work is filled with them, my main hobby is filled with them, and my family is all liberal, so I generally just keep quiet around them all.

Man, do I feel your pain. I've lost more than one account because of my slant. Have we worked together?

[gregintenn]

I have an idea.....let's try a religion section!

[MacGyver]

16 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

I have an idea.....let's try a religion section!

We aren't nearly ready for that.  

[steamnsteel]

I liked the politics section as well, there were some funny things said and not so funny things being said but I did enjoy reading it. The political cartoons were a hoot! I don't care which side of the fence you sit on, there were some informative links scattered in the threads of discussion and there was enough of information to really make a person think.    

[mikegideon]

53 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

I have an idea.....let's try a religion section!

OK. But we can't talk about Muslims. It's a religion of peace and all.

[hipower]

54 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

I have an idea.....let's try a religion section!

[bud]

This may seem a bit OT at first, but please do bear with me. I've written and deleted this post at least 5 times in the last month,  so screw it, here goes...

My own classified ads aren't getting enough eyes on them, new ads don't make their way to my email inbox, and every time I check in (too frequently ) it's practically crickets in the unread content category. Is TGO pulling a Trump? How are you going to shock and disappoint me next?

Please tell the primadonna software developer that Craigslist already developed a user friendly classifieds platform, and to just copy it for the love of God ( I realize this is a ridiculous statement). And please bring back something for me to read when I check in. And raise the damn prices if necessary. I'd bet most benefactors subscribe because of your formerly very useful classifieds. This should be a priority.

I don't subscribe to many sites. I get almost all my news from TGO, from pbs, and npr almost exclusively- call me eclectic. Please bring back the politics/news/current events content.

Kill your darlings, TGO David.

[Steelharp]

9 minutes ago, bud said:

 I get almost all my news from TGO, from pbs, and npr almost exclusively- call me eclectic.

You're not eclectic. Just another liberal that likes guns. 

[MacGyver]

17 minutes ago, bud said:

This may seem a bit OT at first, but please do bear with me. I've written and deleted this post at least 5 times in the last month,  so screw it, here goes...

My own classified ads aren't getting enough eyes on them, new ads don't make their way to my email inbox, and every time I check in (too frequently ) it's practically crickets in the unread content category. Is TGO pulling a Trump? How are you going to shock and disappoint me next?

Please tell the primadonna software developer that Craigslist already developed a user friendly classifieds platform, and to just copy it for the love of God ( I realize this is a ridiculous statement). And please bring back something for me to read when I check in. And raise the damn prices if necessary. I'd bet most benefactors subscribe because of your formerly very useful classifieds. This should be a priority.

I don't subscribe to many sites. I get almost all my news from TGO, from pbs, and npr almost exclusively- call me eclectic. Please bring back the politics/news/current events content.

Kill your darlings, TGO David.

While I'm encouraged by the activity over the last week, I'm afraid substantial damage has been done over the last year. Put as bluntly as I can do it, blind partisan rhetoric ran a huge number of people off.  

I know I've said it a million times, but guns are an American thing - not simply a Republican thing.  

A few handfuls of voices so poisoned the air here that a lot of our members simply left.  They didn't protest.  They didn't whine in PM's or in threads.  They just logged out.

Heck, I'm the admin who likes to talk about big topics and there have been plenty of days lately where I've just not wanted to engage with some of these folks.  I love a good debate - but there wasn't really any debate in that politics subforum. 

So we were faced with a choice - to continue to let this slowly choke out any community here - or to find some other path.  

We chose the latter.  

I'm not sure what the future will hold.  I know that I can speak for David when I say that we really appreciate the core community here.

The switch from vBulletin to IPB hasn't been the smoothest.  I know David continues to try to tweak both the configuration of the board as well as working with the vendor.

But, I think traffic is down for two reasons (especially on high end stuff like your optic.)  One, Hillary isn't coming to get your guns.  People have spent money they didn't have over the last 6 years - and now we're in a down period.  But, two we've run a bunch of eyeballs off.

It's going to take some time to build that back.  

I appreciate you guys in the meantime.

 

[Chucktshoes]

41 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

While I'm encouraged by the activity over the last week, I'm afraid substantial damage has been done over the last year. Put as bluntly as I can do it, blind partisan rhetoric ran a huge number of people off.  

I know I've said it a million times, but guns are an American thing - not simply a Republican thing.  

A few handfuls of voices so poisoned the air here that a lot of our members simply left.  They didn't protest.  They didn't whine in PM's or in threads.  They just logged out.

Heck, I'm the admin who likes to talk about big topics and there have been plenty of days lately where I've just not wanted to engage with some of these folks.  I love a good debate - but there wasn't really any debate in that politics subforum. 

So we were faced with a choice - to continue to let this slowly choke out any community here - or to find some other path.  

We chose the latter.  

I'm not sure what the future will hold.  I know that I can speak for David when I say that we really appreciate the core community here.

The switch from vBulletin to IPB hasn't been the smoothest.  I know David continues to try to tweak both the configuration of the board as well as working with the vendor.

But, I think traffic is down for two reasons (especially on high end stuff like your optic.)  One, Hillary isn't coming to get your guns.  People have spent money they didn't have over the last 6 years - and now we're in a down period.  But, two we've run a bunch of eyeballs off.

It's going to take some time to build that back.  

I appreciate you guys in the meantime.

 

There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of formerly regular voices here that I miss seeing around. I'm hopeful that we can diversify the mix around these parts a bit once again. 

[hipower]

1 hour ago, MacGyver said:

While I'm encouraged by the activity over the last week, I'm afraid substantial damage has been done over the last year. Put as bluntly as I can do it, blind partisan rhetoric ran a huge number of people off.  

I know I've said it a million times, but guns are an American thing - not simply a Republican thing.  

A few handfuls of voices so poisoned the air here that a lot of our members simply left.  They didn't protest.  They didn't whine in PM's or in threads.  They just logged out.

Heck, I'm the admin who likes to talk about big topics and there have been plenty of days lately where I've just not wanted to engage with some of these folks.  I love a good debate - but there wasn't really any debate in that politics subforum. 

So we were faced with a choice - to continue to let this slowly choke out any community here - or to find some other path.  

We chose the latter.  

I'm not sure what the future will hold.  I know that I can speak for David when I say that we really appreciate the core community here.

The switch from vBulletin to IPB hasn't been the smoothest.  I know David continues to try to tweak both the configuration of the board as well as working with the vendor.

But, I think traffic is down for two reasons (especially on high end stuff like your optic.)  One, Hillary isn't coming to get your guns.  People have spent money they didn't have over the last 6 years - and now we're in a down period.  But, two we've run a bunch of eyeballs off.

It's going to take some time to build that back.  

I appreciate you guys in the meantime.

 

Permit me to offer a third possibility for reduced traffic, Mac.

With the last several incarnations of the format, I find the site less and less user friendly. Yes, I'm old and don't have the background in computers/IT/ and other high tech things that most people here seem to have.

The days of my spending hours here have been gone for quite some time now. Yes, I'm also job challenged and have a lot of time I should put to better use.

But to me at any rate, I see the number of former heavy-duty users dwindling. Seems stat many of the staple names have almost disappeared from the posts.

I do see a bunch of new names, very many of which seem to be sellers who have discovered the site; and they do not usually represent the kind who will stick around. They come for the fast sale and that's all. And quite frankly, after contacting several of them, I'd just as soon they not return.

Ok, this is not well written, and I'm probably going to offend some by it. But just my little opinion.

Edited May 30, 2017 by hipower

[E4 No More]

7 hours ago, hipower said:

Permit me to offer a third possibility for reduced traffic, Mac.

With the last several incarnations of the format, I find the site less and less user friendly. Yes, I'm old and don't have the background in computers/IT/ and other high tech things that most people here seem to have.

The days of my spending hours here have been gone for quite some time now. Yes, I'm also job challenged and have a lot of time I should put to better use.

But to me at any rate, I see the number of former heavy-duty users dwindling. Seems stat many of the staple names have almost disappeared from the posts.

I do see a bunch of new names, very many of which seem to be sellers who have discovered the site; and they do not usually represent the kind who will stick around. They come for the fast sale and that's all. And quite frankly, after contacting several of them, I'd just as soon they not return.

Ok, this is not well written, and I'm probably going to offend some by it. But just my little opinion.

There's certainly merit to this posit. I certainly agree with your opinion about the return of people just here to make a quick sale. I know that I do not entertain the idea of purchasing anything from people with just a few posts. It's not that I feel there's anything wrong with them personally, but when it comes to purchasing a firearm I am not comfortable with buying from a stranger unless said stranger is in an established gun shop. It's just the way I roll.

[Randall53]

I think people should just not visit a topic they find offensive rather than try to have it removed. I find it similar to a channel on the TV that I don't like. It's easy to just change the channel and much easier than having the channel removed from the airwaves. I suppose most people do this, but I'm sure the problem with the political topic was the way it filled up the "unread content" and the "all content" activity streams. I understand this would be a real problem and irritation to some.  

I have a custom activity stream that pulls from everything I really like, which I cunningly named "everything" , and I admit it would fill up sometimes when hot debate was happening in the offending sub title, but when that happened I'd go to the browse button and scan over the topics I enjoy most if I didn't feel like engaging. I did enjoy the political stuff and got caught up in it pretty good. Like others have said, it was usually the first thing I looked at when I logged on. I can live with it either way though. I enjoyed this place a great deal before the said sub topic existed and will continue if it stays gone, or if it comes back. I don't plan on leaving no matter which way it goes. I was surprised it was gone when I got back from vacation. It was the first saved link I have for TGO that I went to and found it gone. I don't know a thing about programming, but if it could exist as a topic that simply did not post to the streams, then the ones that want could go there would have to knowingly enter it by their own choice and debate away without offending others. There would be no room for anyone to complain about it. 

edited to say......if it existed in the benefactors lounge, prying eyes from the outside world couldn't see it. I don't think......right?  Just a thought.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Randall53

[Erik88]

I don't mean any disrespect but I don't understand the complaint that the new site format is hard to navigate. 

The "new content" button is basically the same as it has always been. I think you can even change the color scheme if that bothers you.

Internet forums have to periodically update software. That is inevitable.

[gregintenn]

16 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

I don't mean any disrespect but I don't understand the complaint that the new site format is hard to navigate. 

The "new content" button is basically the same as it has always been. I think you can even change the color scheme if that bothers you.

Internet forums have to periodically update software. That is inevitable.

When you become an old fart like us, you won't like change.

 

 

 

 

[mikegideon]

9 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

IF you become an old fart like us, you won't like change.

 

 

 

 

FTFY. May not be any old farts like us when he gets there. 

[tacops]

On 5/29/2017 at 9:30 PM, gregintenn said:

I have an idea.....let's try a religion section!

Well...Ok, I guess...but no dancin'.

[mikegideon]

53 minutes ago, tacops said:

Well...Ok, I guess...but no dancin'.

Ha! You know why Baptists don't screw standing up?  

[Steelharp]

[Wingshooter]

I haven't been around much lately simply because spring happened. There's a new boat, the grass has been growing like mad, kids are graduating, etc. There's just been a lot going on for me. Funny thing... I came here looking forward to catching up on the political funnies thread  Dang.

I enjoy gun talk. Guns and hunting are my main hobby. However, I do (did) enjoy the political talk  here as well. I have thick skin and thought the differences of opinion added to the conversations. I hope it comes back. The benefactor only idea is probably a good one.

I'm browsing on my new iPhone 7+. I was a die-hard Android (Samsung) fan, but I decided to try something different for a change. The site looks and functions great with it.

[gregintenn]

Man! A lot of stuff to discuss this week.

[mikegideon]

1 hour ago, gregintenn said:

Man! A lot of stuff to discuss this week.

Sure was warm out today. I gotta hire me a grass cutter.

[Wingshooter]

15 minutes ago, mikegideon said:

Sure was warm out today. I gotta hire me a grass cutter.

I was riding the mower today and thinking seriously about getting a goat. 

[steamnsteel]

The Confederate Statues being removed, normal comical thoughts and fun have became taboo in many circles. A business in Chicago starts a strict dress code and now they are racist and classist. Think about all of these things and put them together.

How many of you call on a business when the flag is half staff and it should be full staff? look around at the flag displayed in your driving about, you may be surprised at how some are displayed, 3/4 staff does not qualify either.

 

I like the political section, I checked out the thread and then would cruise a couple of other topics if they had any new comments.