Cafe Announcements 📣 The no politics rule.

Targa · Jun 12, 2026

mrblackbat said:
My opinion: people who don't like talking about politics for one of two reasons. 1. They're squeamish. 2. They harbour views they know to be unsavoury in one way or another.

Personally, I think a lot of the problems in this world would be sorted if people actually talked about politics more, and the uncomfortable stuff.

Religion is probably even more dangerous to get into the politics, right? Tightly bound, the pair.

Unsavoury meaning you disagree with them?
Which is exactly why politics should not be discussed as people cannot accept that others have as much right to their views.

mizmar · Jun 12, 2026

Pete Effamy said:
What.. they don’t exist?

That, as the philosophers say, depends on what you mean by "they".

Pete Thomas · Jun 12, 2026

mrblackbat said:
Religion is probably even more dangerous to get into the politics, right? Tightly bound, the pair.

Absolutely. Sad but true.

Pete Thomas · Jun 12, 2026

mizmar said:
That, as the philosophers say, depends on what you mean by "they".

Shall we agree not to get into religious discussion 😉 ?

mrblackbat · Jun 12, 2026

Targa said:
Unsavoury meaning you disagree with them?

No. Meaning that they harbour a belief that I think they actually know to be selfish, self centred and know that it's not really acceptable.

There are plenty of people who have views I disagree with that are perfectly happy to discuss them and talk about them in public. The folk that avoid doing so, in my experience, usually do it because they're actually a bit ashamed of their own opinion.

And also, the forum has the ignore button too if you really don't agree with someone and don't like what they have to say to the point it angers you, just click that ignore button.

Targa · Jun 12, 2026

mrblackbat said:
No. Meaning that they harbour a belief that they actually know to be selfish, self centred and know that it's not really acceptable.

There are plenty of people who have views I disagree with that are perfectly happy to discuss them and talk about them in public. The folk that avoid doing so, in my experience, usually do it because they're actually a bit ashamed of their own opinion.

To discuss that any further would of course be entering the political.

mizmar · Jun 12, 2026

rhysonsax said:
It can't be an "objective opinion" - how could there be such a thing ? An opinion must be "subjective", surely.

Rhys

It may not be a good choice of words.
None the less, if someone thinks something is politics they should report it and not self police. We all have different thresholds, sensitivities and motivations (both for postings and accusations of "politics") - and the atmosphere, here, is bounded by moderation.

Grumps · Jun 12, 2026

mrblackbat said:
My opinion: people who don't like talking about politics for one of two reasons. 1. They're squeamish. 2. They harbour views they know to be unsavoury in one way or another.

False dichotomy. I just like to avoid imbeciles. But while we're here, I'll let you in on the secret to life. You're not always going to be able to make people believe what you want them to, but you still have to figure out a way to get along with them. If only...

turf3 · Jun 12, 2026

Pete Thomas said:
I'm starting this thread (a) to help keep the World Cup thread on topic and (b) to allow discussion of our cafe rules and moderation - which I am not afraid of discussing. ....

What a difference from "that other forum" where discussion = banning.

Pete Thomas · Jun 12, 2026

turf3 said:
where discussion = banning.

To be fair I am talking only about discussion of our policies. As with most forums public discussion of individual moderator actions is still a nono

mrblackbat · Jun 12, 2026

Grumps said:
False dichotomy. I just like to avoid imbeciles. But while we're here, I'll let you in on the secret to life. You're not always going to be able to make people believe what you want them to, but you still have to figure out a way to get along with them. If only...

And the only way to do that is to talk about what they think, why they think that, and what you can do to help them, what you can do to ensure that the scenarios that end up with them thinking that way stop happening. Which is why politics absolutely SHOULD be discussed, especially with people that don't agree with your view. Not necessarily to change their mind, but so you can understand them.

mrblackbat · Jun 12, 2026

Targa said:
To discuss that any further would of course be entering the political.

Not really at all. Nothing political at all, in fact. More psychology than anything.

LostCircuits · Jun 12, 2026

turf3 said:
What a difference from "that other forum" where discussion = banning.

You don't even have to discuss politics, all you have to do is talk about saxophone manufacturing being offshored 😱

Grumps · Jun 12, 2026

mrblackbat said:
Which is why politics absolutely SHOULD be discussed, especially with people that don't agree with your view. Not necessarily to change their mind, but so you can understand them.

In real time, sure. Meaning, not online. I'm happy to tell you what I believe and what I think in having a reasonable discussion (hint: I'm a life long independent who has never been a member of a political party and I vote like most do; in pure self-interest). I'm against politics being discussed on special interest forums such as this however, as we really don't need another reason to hate each other, do we? Some folks just can't control themselves in this regard. The ones that HAVE to tell you about their politics. And that the world is ending... you know, just for emphasis. These are not serious people.

Targa · Jun 12, 2026

mrblackbat said:
Not really at all. Nothing political at all, in fact. More psychology than anything.

mrblackbat said:
My opinion: people who don't like talking about politics for one of two reasons. 1. They're squeamish. 2. They harbour views they know to be unsavoury in one way or another.

mrblackbat said:
No. Meaning that they harbour a belief that I think they actually know to be selfish, self centred and know that it's not really acceptable.

There are plenty of people who have views I disagree with that are perfectly happy to discuss them and talk about them in public. The folk that avoid doing so, in my experience, usually do it because they're actually a bit ashamed of their own opinion.

So anybody who prefers not to discuss politics is squeamish, unsavoury, selfish, self-centred have unacceptable views of which they are ashamed.
It’s not because they know that most people’s idea of ‘discussion’ particularly on the internet is argument, righteousness, offensiveness, with a sprinkling of derogatory descriptivness, anything but a civilised exchange of views and ideas.

wakyct · Jun 12, 2026