This is topic Dying board. in forum Civil Debate - Politics and Other Hot Button Topics at TheCatsDomain.Com Message Boards.


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Posted by handycat (Member # 2323) on 12-12-2019, 10:45 AM:
 
I suggested a few years back that we do away with the civil debate portion of this board and consider not allowing political posts as I felt it caused too much animosity. If I remember correctly, Norm was the only one who agreed with me. We even had responses suggesting this would violate freedom of speech and the press by not allowing such posts. I remember this because of how absurd I thought that was. If indeed this does violate these liberties, there are uncountable social media sites that are in violation. The overwhelming response was to keep things as they were.

I believe the vast majority of posters that have left this site is because of “civil debate”. They either have got mad, got their feelings hurt or got tired of the constant bickering. I’m embarrassed to say I was a contributor to this.

Last year we had a great football season (by UK standards) and once again, an excellent basketball season. This year our football team is bowl bound and our basketball program is top ten and a contender for a National Championship. Yet our traffic on this board continues to decline. We have lost a lot of basketball and football knowledge and I for one miss that. Yes, we have a faithful few, but overall I believe both the number of posts and posters continue to decline. People listed as moderators never post. Hell, I wonder if they even bother to open this site.

I firmly believe this was caused by our inability to tolerate political views other than our own. Our divide started with the different opinions during the Obama era and we lost most of our posters with a liberal bent then. It has continued (probably accelerated) with the Trump years and it appears to me we are losing even more.

I believe this site was started by the love of all things UK and is dying because of political bullsh*t.

I will continue to visit this site daily. I can’t imagine that changing except for my occasional temper tantrum. I’m not suggesting that politics be taken from this board. That ship has sailed. I’m simply lamenting that this site has become such a “small family”.

Tip, I attempted to use several big words in this post. I hope they are spelled correctly and are used in the right context.

[ 12-12-2019, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: handycat ]
 

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Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 12-12-2019, 11:11 AM:
 
Great post, Handy. A big gold star to you for the big words.

The political bickering on TCD dates back to GWB's term as president, with lots of back-and-forth about the wisdom (or lack thererof) of invading Iraq. We discussed "mission accomplished", the Dixie Chicks, Bush being burned in effigy, films made suggesting he be assassinated, Medicare part D, and every other aspect of his presidency, great or small. As is usual, a stark divide existed between our stalwart democrats and irascible republicans. There did seem to be a bit of crossover, as Boom stood against the "republican orthodoxy" and was staunchly against the war.

The Obama years saw a different kind of rancor, most of it directly or indirectly tied to the fact that race issues drove much of his agenda. We are a bunch of old white males, for the most part, and some of what happened after Ferguson lit a fuse here. Obama's validity as a president, his religion, the "red line", and a few socialist policies kept things fairly hot during his 8 years.

As to the "missing moderators", I am sure that CatFanRick reads most everything here, but he rarely posts. AtlantaCatFan moved from Atlanta to Evansville years ago, and family and job responsibilities led to his disappearance from these boards. I have no idea if he still lurks here or not. Bayer may be a casualty of the political wars... he was in the beleaguered minority and might have just cut his losses and left.

But the sobering truth is this: The participation on these boards is dwindling. A few people have left (for a variety of reasons), and we don't seem to get any new members. Others have gone 'silent', lurking but no longer posting very much. Our little corner of blue heaven is slowly grinding to a halt.

I try to promote TCD anytime I run into Cat fans when I travel, but to no avail. Not one of the dozens of people I have spoken to have posted here. I don't know what else to do. All we can do is to continue to post and make this place active!

One last thought. The idea of removing politics from a discussion forum is a pipe dream. Everybody's worldview is informed by and infused with politics. The reason we moderators created this forum was to put a fence around it -- this is the "free speech" zone of TCD. Participation is voluntary, and everybody knows what to expect here. If someone's feelings get hurt, it is a self-inflicted wound.
 

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Posted by Old Norm (Member # 1482) on 12-12-2019, 04:27 PM:
 
We have lost a few members to Father Time, including my favorites, Redbone and Cattracker (John Hayes) Others that I miss a lot, but are still among the living are SCWC, (I still get email from him), Blue Collar Man,(tat I keep track of on Facebook, Boom Daddy who suddenly quit, and even Mountain Mafia. I'm sure there are many more, but my almost 85 year old brain just can't retract their names. I think it's just packed so full that my processor just can't find them!
 

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Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 12-14-2019, 10:10 AM:
 
I will say that my interest in this board is strictly for UK sports. I do read (browse may be a better word) the political section but rarely post. In my worthless opinion, discussing politics is useless. You will never change anyone's mind, and it usually leads to something negative - never anything positive. I would rather be friends than enemies, even if they are democrats.

I also like the general section. Every now and then there are some very interesting topics. Plus I've been on this site so long that I feel like I know everyone personally, even though we've never met!

LONG LIVE TCD!
 

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Posted by MountainMafia (Member # 2066) on 12-19-2019, 12:21 PM:
 
Norm:

quote:

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Others that I miss a lot, but are still among the living are SCWC, (I still get email from him), Blue Collar Man,(tat I keep track of on Facebook, Boom Daddy who suddenly quit, and even Mountain Mafia.

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