Are political threads allowed?

[pat fan]

The Eiffel Tower leans??

BWAAHHAAHAA!!!

Did you happen to notice WHEN I posted that??? TOTALLY before any coffee! Let me clarify....Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Note to self...never post before coffee.

 

[Spoot]

BWAAHHAAHAA!!!

Did you happen to notice WHEN I posted that??? TOTALLY before any coffee! Let me clarify....Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Note to self...never post before coffee.

Sorry, I didn't look at the time of the post (and didn't think about you meaning the Leaning Tower of Pisa). I thought maybe there was some sort of US political joke about the Eiffel Tower (I know it isn't a joke, but the donkey versus elephant thing still always gets me confused).

I'm Canadian, if that helps explain my donkey/elephant confusion.

 

[DVCcurious]

I got a response from a moderator which I think clears this up a little bit:

"Your post was criticizing a political figure. Commenting on a law is not necessarily "political", but expressing your opinion about specific politicians or political parties is going to attract attention - and thus encourage someone to report your post."

So it looks like you can comment about laws but they draw the line at commenting about a political figure or party.

Looks like I'm free to go start that thread about abortion!

And I freely admit my original post did specifically mention a party or person. So, my bad. At least now I know, and as they used to say at the end of after-school specials: knowing is half the battle!

 

[rocky22]

There is a rule that political comments are not allowed.

Yet there are currently active threads about Obamacare and the government shutdown.

These are clearly political topics.

I'd like to know how it is determined when political comments are OK and when they are not OK. I read the rules and all it says is "political comments are not allowed", but these threads continue on without being closed and deleted.

Can a moderator clarify what makes a post "political" and why "post your Obamacare success stories" is not considered political?

A PM from a moderator would be helpful. I just want to avoid getting "points" assessed to me because I don't understand this rule.
I guess what I"m looking for is an answer that says something like: political topics are OK, but mentioning a politician or a political party is not OK.

Obamacare has no business on this forum and should be deleted immediately.

 

[lauradis]

Obamacare has no business on this forum and should be deleted immediately.

Why it is budget related big time. What's wrong with getting personal stories or god forbid not agreeing with someone

 

[rocky22]

God has nothing to do with this.

 

[pat fan]

or god forbid not agreeing with someone
God has nothing to do with this.

Oh good grief....

 

[Robbi]

I got a response from a moderator which I think clears this up a little bit:

"Your post was criticizing a political figure. Commenting on a law is not necessarily "political", but expressing your opinion about specific politicians or political parties is going to attract attention - and thus encourage someone to report your post."

So it looks like you can comment about laws but they draw the line at commenting about a political figure or party.

Looks like I'm free to go start that thread about abortion!

And I freely admit my original post did specifically mention a party or person. So, my bad. At least now I know, and as they used to say at the end of after-school specials: knowing is half the battle!

You can get points for mentioning you got points.

 

[Planogirl]

I don't see discussing the new healthcare laws as political either if you just talk about how to get the best deal or how this will affect the budget and so on. Of course mentioning a certain political figure is all about politics and how could it be anything else?

I love the leaning tower of Eiffel.

 

[tvguy]

I got a response from a moderator which I think clears this up a little bit:

"Your post was criticizing a political figure. Commenting on a law is not necessarily "political", but expressing your opinion about specific politicians or political parties is going to attract attention - and thus encourage someone to report your post."

So it looks like you can comment about laws but they draw the line at commenting about a political figure or party.

Looks like I'm free to go start that thread about abortion!

And I freely admit my original post did specifically mention a party or person. So, my bad. At least now I know, and as they used to say at the end of after-school specials: knowing is half the battle!

Probably the best advice is to avoid replying to any thread you think might be an issue, and to realize what a diverse group of people populate these boards.
However, IMHO, respectfully, and most importantly, honestly, how any thread about any law, which are created by a political process in the United States, can not be political is a little hard for me to wrap my arms around.

 

[Spoot]

At least now I know, and as they used to say at the end of after-school specials: knowing is half the battle!

That was G.I. Joe!

 

[Marie17]

I truly cannot understand why discussing the new LAW that will affect everyone in America would be considered a political thread. During income tax season we have lots of discussions on advantages of when to file, waiting to file (with the college problems this year), etc. as filing TAXES affects a majority of Americans if you receive an income. The new healthcare law affects everyone if not within the next couple months then sometime in 2014. How it will affect you will vary. It is scary to lots of people - not because the law was enacted but because it has the potential for plenty of people of be a big BUDGET item.

There will be subsidies but those greatly dwindle down once you are over 251% of poverty level and from the plans that you can look at on the e healthinsurance website (for 2014) it seems that most of the plans will have very large deductibles that will be very hard to budget for. Somewhere it was noted that you can see the same "metal plans" (ACA/Obamacare) that are for your area for 2014. Remember a deductible is the portion of the bill that you pay for before insurance starts to pay. Your co-insurance share is the portion you pay after meeting the deductible but before you meet your annual out-of-pocket. Deductibles are a separate charge that is over and above premiums.

I know that preventative visits are covered and that is nice BUT a preventative visit is just that preventative. NOTHING better be wrong because then it becomes another kind of visit which triggers a different visit code which will cost you money. Annual visit doesn't equate to a free doctor visit each year - unless nothing is wrong or future concerns/treatment is not needed.

 

[Robinrs]

There is a rule that political comments are not allowed.

Yet there are currently active threads about Obamacare and the government shutdown.

These are clearly political topics.

I'd like to know how it is determined when political comments are OK and when they are not OK. I read the rules and all it says is "political comments are not allowed", but these threads continue on without being closed and deleted.

Can a moderator clarify what makes a post "political" and why "post your Obamacare success stories" is not considered political?

A PM from a moderator would be helpful. I just want to avoid getting "points" assessed to me because I don't understand this rule.
I guess what I"m looking for is an answer that says something like: political topics are OK, but mentioning a politician or a political party is not OK.

Obamcare threads should be shut down. Too hot a topic and it is political no matter which side you fall on.

I do a lot of lurking around here and I am also sort of confused by this. A thread about navigating exchanges and how one does it should be fine. The reality is that it's out there - so tips on how to get the best deal should be encouraged, not shut down. But, an endless debate on the pros and cons of having a healthcare exchange is useless. And it seems like the former can't exist without someone turning it into the latter.

For reasons that absolutely elude me, it still seems like a hot button issue which is getting in the way of people actually using the system and seeing if it even works. It's too bad that it's gotten politicized to the point where people can't even have an exchange of ideas without it getting completely nasty and blown out of proportion.

Obamacare has no business on this forum and should be deleted immediately.

God has nothing to do with this.

Funny how the people with the most extreme thoughts have the fewest post counts?

Curious are they NEW or just NEW for now?

As a former mod of this board I know it's up the discretion of the PTB. If you're unhappy, report it and let them know or just don't read it. NOBODY has to be on this board.

 

[Robbi]

Funny how the people with the most extreme thoughts have the fewest post counts?

Curious are they NEW or just NEW for now?

As a former mod of this board I know it's up the discretion of the PTB. If you're unhappy, report it and let them know or just don't read it. NOBODY has to be on this board.

Nowhere does it say you have to have a particular number of posts to respond to a board, correct?
You're right though. If posts bother someone, they can't stop reading.

 

[tvguy]

I truly cannot understand why discussing the new LAW that will affect everyone in America would be considered a political thread. During income tax season we have lots of discussions on advantages of when to file, waiting to file (with the college problems this year), etc. as filing TAXES affects a majority of Americans if you receive an income. The new healthcare law affects everyone if not within the next couple months then sometime in 2014. How it will affect you will vary. It is scary to lots of people - not because the law was enacted but because it has the potential for plenty of people of be a big BUDGET item. .

I think your example makes my point. Except in years when there have been major revisions made by Congress, the tax laws don't change much and haven't in decades.

 

[leahjade]

I think a lot may depend on the moderator's political leanings. I've seen threads shut down if they are criticizing one political party or figure, but not the other side.

 

[timmac]

A fair bit of it is subjective, though I think for the majority of cases, there is a pretty clear distinction between talking about the effects of something that has a political sounding name, and having a political discussion. The difference, to me, is that in the latter case, there is usually some attempt to incite debate and/or badmouth particular figures or their voters/supporters.

Talking about how things have been going with people trying to sign up for Obamacare is, in and of itself, only political in the sense that the name of the politician involved in its passing has become part of the colloquial name for it. Actually using the exchange itself, is not a political topic. (Some posts on those threads may be political however, I haven't read them all, nor am I a moderator)

On the other hand, anything along the lines of "I can't believe congress X" or "Why isn't the White House doing Y" are almost certainly political. Likewise for "This is why so-and-so voted for such-and-such"... definitely a comment on pretty thin ice at best. All of that said, the subjective part of it likely comes into play a lot when the overall rudeness or cattyness of the posts is considered. An otherwise polite post that hints at frustration or disagreement is going to be let go far more often than a thinly-veiled dig at the president, for instance.

 

[iheartdisney]

There are no set guidelines, except to agree with what previous posters have said. Posts are usually only against the rules and regulations when they are against the leaning of the one giving out the points.

The same goes for the "no religious discussions" guidelines. It against rules and regulations to talk about your beliefs or faith, but bashing faith as a whole or a religion in particular is acceptable.

 

[lauradis]

I really don't get why we can't talk about any thing we want.

As long as people aren't running around calling each other stupid pooh heads.

Most of us are grown ups on this board.

Well except me Im childish and lucky this week

 

[Kay1]

I really don't get why we can't talk about any thing we want.

As long as people aren't running around calling each other stupid pooh heads.

Most of us are grown ups on this board.

Well except me Im childish and lucky this week

Really, I imagine some advertisers may prefer a happy, bias-free arena, unless they were targeting that sort slug-it-out site. Dis is a travel-related board and that's why politics aren't permitted. Or so I was told.

If the rules have changed, I hope we'll be notified of the change.