Politics and Civility

[mjedlin66]

It feels like this has to be posted at least twice per year.

We definitely support open discussion. I don't care what your political leanings are. But political posts frequently degrade into personal attacks. For that reason, politics are not allowed on TSPcenter.

Below is an example of a civil discussion on a political policy. This kind of post is perfectly fine-

President Biden/Trump Infrastructure Bill is prohibitively expensive, but could spur economic growth

Below is an example of an unacceptable inflamatory post on the same policy-

The demoncrats/republitard infrastructure bill hates America.

Notice the first post opens up to discussion. The second post is just a statement of opinion, purposefully inflammatory, that adds no value to a discussion.

As for general civility, I expect all of you to be adults and take the high road.

If someone makes a personal or political attack toward you, don't retaliate with the same. It is okay to respond to someone's personal attack with a reasoned, non-attacking statement.

Do not use history of other personal attacks to justify doing it yourself.

We have only two moderators and we both prefer to be lenient, and politely ask people to be civil. "Banning" doesn't accomplish a whole lot, honestly, because banning a username and an IP address doesn't prevent that person from signing up with a new account and stirring up more trouble.

[evilanne]

Thank you MJ...we will try to do better

[Bubba]

I spent MUCH less time on TSPCenter whenever that was happening. I even had people send "threatening" messages to my inbox, which have been deleted (this was before MJ took over). It seemed like every time I made a comment as MJ's first example, then all I received was MJ's 2nd example as responses. I had wished there were actual discussions on policy. I hope we can get that because I have my opinions, but sometimes there are things I haven't thought of that could sway my opinion. It would be neat to have those discussions for that reason. Anyway, that's just my opinion and it's appreciated that MJ reminds everyone of being an adult.

[stilljammi]

Meanwhile, there's an entire thread dedicated to tasteless political cartoons that always disparage only one side. I have also received threatening PMs in the past. Threads do seem to devolve into name-calling even with the slightest bit of disagreement in policy that will affect the markets. So I just lurk every once in a while and look at my FantasyTSP for a nice pick-me-up from time to time.

[Tomanyiron]

Meanwhile, there's an entire thread dedicated to tasteless political cartoons that always disparage only one side.

Gotta let your hair down, and laugh sometime, man!


I promise to be an Equal Opportunity Jokester, from now on.

[IRQVET]

People don’t talk politics anymore, they argue politics. I’ve never taken it that seriously, but I also have an extremely healthy sense of humor so I can laugh at everything and everyone for the most part. Granted I am not atypical, as people these days seem so soft and easily “triggered.” Probably a byproduct of military service, where if you take yourself too seriously, someone will let you know. That’s probably why we are so desensitized, as humor has no limits.