For those asking political questions: What harm will it do to you if you had to post your questions inside the debate room?

The main issue right now is that ordinary (read non-political) questions are drowning right now. You could say it's up to others asking more questions but to be honest, not ten of us asking series of 10 questions would be able to hold up the pace day after day after day and that makes one at times think there's no point asking a single question that soon enough will be surrounded be 20+ political questions. I must admit I have dropped posting questions at times I was certain they would be surrounded by such series of questions. I think I'm not the only one. What's a bigger shame is if it's driving new members off this place after a few days. I loved the fresh new blood we got with the latest visit of blurtit members. It was refreshing with improved activity which unfortunately been reduced more or less to "normal" again with several of them leaving after they did like it here initialtely. It is an issue for the community as we won't have a living place if this continues as it is right now. Hmm.

I know. I was active on Blurtit for a while and it was good to see familiar faces on here. I used to ask my question in the early mornings when I was drinking my coffee and waking up for the day,  now, not so much. I know it will to be futile to ask. I don't even log on here every day anymore. People say to ignore what you don't like, it's just too hard to ignore page after page. Asking your own questions isn't the answer either. I joined AnswerBag in 2008, from there I came to the Mug. I have ALWAYS asked questions in phases, never every day. I may go several months without asking a question and then post several in one day. I prefer to answer and finding questions to answer on here is akin to hunting the great white buffalo. 

They seemed like a good group of people having added to the rest of people we are here. At least we still got some of them back.

They are a great group. I had fun on that site and don't really know why I stopped going there. 

My point exactly. Thank you for sharing your view on the question.

Thank you for taking part. I can follow your thoughts a long way, but one question pops into my mind "what was first..?"

When the debate room isn't used it will have no followers and there will be no activity. If questions and discussions were started it would increase traffic. This means what is cannot be used as an argument for keeping what is simply because it's how it looks. Would we accept such arguing in any other aspects within for instance politics?

As for the argument that not much else is asked it's likely connected to the amount of political questions. Like I said in  my reply to Karen above, there has been times where I did not post as I knew my one question would drown in 20+ political questions. I'm rather sure I won't be the only one. Furthermore we had people leaving us after they joined because the amount of political questions compared to other questions did not make them feel comfortable. This means again less questions of other nature. So, the real question might be how to break a negative spiral?

I don't have the golden solution, there is probably none. One solution could be to take the political questions into the debate room.

I do see your point re what was first...  I guess for me it's a case of.. when in Rome.. fact is for me this is how it is.

I know I'm one of those annoying people who says just because something is it's not the same as keeping it if its not working out the best.

I don't know the which was first but I know since I have been on the Mug, the debate room has had limited activity. (I came over when Answerbag died)

When the debate room isn't used it will have no followers and there will be no activity. If questions and discussions were started it would increase traffic.

There are all kinds of other groups as well. Music related, religious, politicial, family related, art, and just about every other topic that has a category in the main q&a section.... should we also tell those people they must post their questions in those groups rather than the the main section?  

Like said other place inside here, I don't have a golden solution. I do really find it a shame though that members who could contribute positively to the development of our community feel themselves driven off our site because of the over representation of political questions. 

The political questions are on the home page because the get the most replies.....not because they  are asked the most. Because the most of the are asked at one time. If no one was responding then after a certain amount of time they would disappear from the home page. 
And also we all have the ability to filter our home feed. I know not by topic but certainly by user..and we all know which users hang out in the political section. 

I have to disagree with you. If you look up most views you'll find non-political questions outnumbering the political questions.



Btw, I'm perfectly aware of filters for home feeds. The home feed wasn't part of the question. Please try to stick to the question, what harm will it do to you to post your political question inside the debate room if everyone else was doing the same? This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at December 12, 2016 5:19 PM MST

The topic is about the home page. If it were not then those complaining about the political questions would not be seeing them.  Without going to the specific category.
Your screen shot is most viewed.which is not necessarily the most answered (more time on home page)
If it's not the home page....then how are you seeing the political questions?
Today there have been approx 60 questions, 21 are political and not all at the same time or by the same user. Again if people want questions on different topics....ask them.  This post was edited by my2cents at December 12, 2016 7:55 PM MST

I don't know what the mentioning of the homepage is good for. It (aM) is a homepage!

I'm rather surprised that my question is looked at as a complaint by you. You should know I do reply on political questions every now and then myself. My question is rather simple, at least what was aimed for. I'm asking those that post political questions if it would harm them to post them inside the debate room. I even gave an example on a reply, by making my own reply in the description. I still miss to see your reply on the question although you've made several comments inside my question. Either I've been very lousy formulating my question, or you refuse to answer it out of whatever reasons pulling in all kind of semi statistics and thesis about interest of the users per your own definition. If you really are interested in the users and their interest a poll can be created, including one asking about reasons why people do/don't contribute with posts inside the main question room, and how we create more traffic inside the groups.

As for the specific screen shot I showed you, and most of all your following comment... most viewed means most viewed. What could be reasons of 700+ views when we have around approx. 2,500 accounts signed up? Let me tell you this much, it needs followers and activity is the key. I believe you are aware. The list will be the best representative we have after we moved to the new platform. This all isn't that big a surprise, is it?

If we mix the new and old platform there will be another list when basing it on replies, again will the political questions be outnumbered by other questions. It is rather ironic that the top runner is the parody on the American election a few of us were having a banter about. As a side remark, I cannot see the result of the election as any other than the WingedHeart 2016 organisation winning the election. We await to be sworn in by JA on January 20. We will shortly after come up with our cabinet, and we will be presidents for all of the community. Love knows no boundaries. #LoveMatters #WingedHeart2016

This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at December 13, 2016 12:16 AM MST

No, but we are asked to go the adult section because our threads are best left there.
Saying that debates ( if you want to call them that) should be best taken to the debate section isn't any different.  If it is please explain how so.

Umm... I don't have a horse in this race, but I will say I have a legal obligation to keep adult stuff away from minors. I don't have a legal obligation to keep political discussions anywhere...

That's true and I'm not complaining about it.  I'm talking more about clothed pics though and curse words.  I understand that it was a rule decided by the user majority, but it's kinda the same thing with language.   The only reason it's asked is because some don't like it and it turns some people off.

I don't think we are asking for a new rule.  I never was anyways.   More about asking people if we all should better utilize what we have available as a group effort.  I'm gonna respectfully stop talking about all this though from here on out.   It's probably been talked about more than enough and beating a dead horse isn't good for bringing new users either.

With all due respect, I think you do have a horse in this race. Reading through the responses, it seems like many people are turned off by the fact that these questions make it hard to find other content and that the site appears to be just a political forum. If you want the site be welcoming to new members and to retain current members, then you might want to consider more than just legal obligations. This is not about censorship, it is about courtesy. I suggest that you send a link to this question to anyone whose questions are overwhelming the site and ask them to read it. If the member is aware of the effect on the site, the member might find a way to change how the questions are posted.