Election Day

[AtlanteanTroll]

I realize that politic is a no-no here on the board, but I distinctly remember a "Go Out and Vote" thread surfacing last year, and I personally thought that was a great idea. Will that be happening again?

[TheCountAlucard]

If you'd looked a few threads down, you'd see someone had already asked something to that effect; the conclusion reached was that it's probably best avoided.

[mattie_p]

Yep, answer from the mod was no. No politics at all.

[Debbie_D]

I personally think that GitP should be taking a strong public service stance and encourage actual voting, without taking a partisan stance.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

No, even that's a political stance. Some people prefer not to vote as a political statement showing their non-consent to be governed by the winner.

[Mando Knight]

Originally Posted by Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll

No, even that's a political stance. Some people prefer not to vote as a political statement showing their non-consent to be governed by the winner.

Or a political statement against the candidates, or the election process, etc. Politics is touchy, that's why I've been trying to avoid reading half of my Facebook feed for the last six months.

[Geomancer]

Originally Posted by mattie_p

Yep, answer from the mod was no. No politics at all.

Politics make children cry

[Anarion]

I'd personally be in favor of a slight rules change here to allow a thread that simply reminded people that election day was coming up, and perhaps gave information for how to find one's closest polling place and/or how to register.

I consider voting to be a fairly neutral civic act. Even if one chooses not to vote due to a political statement, providing information about when and how to do so doesn't seem like something that would be controversial.

[Serpentine]

The trouble is, no matter how neutral you made the original post, it will inevitably end up being a political discussion. People will be unable to resist expressing their opinions, their disdain, their enthusiasm, or even just passing on news. The only way it could work is if you made the informative thread, and then locked it straight away - and if you did that, you'd have a hundred people coming along asking "what about my country's elections?" The US isn't the only democratic country, you know (and hell, even that is a potentially politics-charged statement).

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Serpentine

"what about my country's elections?" The US isn't the only democratic country, you know

I'm not sure that a thread with collected information about upcoming elections in general would be a bad thing.

An OP could make it clear that it was on tentative ground and was only for local information about when/how to vote and that people should not be discussing particular issues or candidates in the thread. If they do it anyway, the mods could lock it then and call it a failed experiment. It seems premature to me to give up all hope before even trying it.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Failed experiment? It happened last year and went fine.

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: I'd advise against it. Responses on this thread already have demonstrated that voting or not voting is political act. Discussion of it is going to involve politics.

Even a thread that contained just "I voted" comments would add little and require constant monitoring to avoid all the prohibited related discussion.

Would a thread telling people to vote be a nice show of public service? Perhaps, but so would assembling a list of resources for combating religious objections to roleplaying games. So would telling people which political regimes are oppressive so that they could avoid those nations and their goods. Not everything nice or useful belongs here.

I get that it's a relatively innocuous sentiment, easily palatable across party lines, but it's still about engaging in the political process. The line we have is real world politics without regard to contentiousness. So, as I said, I'd advise against discussing it.

As usual, we're not entertaining public advice on altering the Forum Rules or their application. If you have suggestions for changing the Forum Rules, please PM me as the Forum Rules suggest.