Politics Everywhere!

[MountainBear]

Let me preface this by saying that I am active in supporting the second amendment in the state of Oregon. I contact my legislators, I vote, and I do care about what goes on in our state. So don't allow my next statement to twist anyone up I to thinking I'm an anti in disguise.

That being said, politics have invaded every single section on this site. They used to be confined to the political section, so if I didn't care to deal with it, I could avoid it. Now it seems I have to wade through it in order to get to any other content. When political threads were started outside the political section, they used to be closed or at least moved.

Honestly, the content has suffered lately, and I think this is partially the reason. If the purpose of this forum is to be to discuss the politics surrounding firearms in the Northwest, that is fine. But it has at times been more than that. Actual content. Talking about guns, reloading, ammo, gear. I'm not looking for a mall ninja forum where we talk about the latest greatest piece of tactical kit. I'm not an operator, and I assume most of us aren't. But several people have discussed that they no longer come here or contribute here, and I think the politics, in one form or another is partially to blame.

If I'm out of line, fine. I apologize. But I've been thinking about this for a long time, and I figure I should say something before I just disappear. Because honestly, that's likely to happen eventually if things don't change.

I am not important to the success of this forum. I realize that. But I have made over 3500 posts since I joined in 2009. I have 2100 likes since that button came about. I feel like that at least shows that I have contributed something.

Honestly, I don't have the answer to the challenges of this site. I know change is inevitable. But honestly, some things need to at least be considered, or there won't be many old members left around here.

Thanks for reading.

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[MountainBear]

Please do not consider this a condemnation of the hard work that the administrators of this site do. I appreciate the efforts they put in, but this is an issue that I feel needs to be addressed.

I appreciate having had a place to talk about guns for the last 7 years. If I do t have it anymore, I will still look back appreciatively.

 

[Joe Link]

If I'm out of line, fine. I apologize. But I've been thinking about this for a long time, and I figure I should say something before I just disappear. Because honestly, that's likely to happen eventually if things don't change.

You're not out of line, you're absolutely right, and I couldn't agree more. The policies haven't changed; non-firearm political discussion isn't welcome here. Firearm-related political discussion (including news) should be contained to the forums in the Legal & Political category. As always, reporting threads helps us immensely.

We're still in the transition period for our new moderation policies and I haven't had time to get things hammered out, but I'm going to make it a priority. We're also going to be adding additional moderators to our staff in order to handle the workload

 

[Joe Link]

Please do not consider this a condemnation of the hard work that the administrators of this site do. I appreciate the efforts they put in, but this is an issue that I feel needs to be addressed.

I appreciate having had a place to talk about guns for the last 7 years. If I do t have it anymore, I will still look back appreciatively.

Definitely didn't take it that way

I figure I should say something before I just disappear. Because honestly, that's likely to happen eventually if things don't change.

I also wanted to comment on this. Non-firearm political discussion is the single greatest cause of people drifting away. I appreciate you bringing it up!