Discussions/flame wars on politics
by hazel from LinuxQuestions.org on (#59YCN)
Yet again a thread on American politics has had to be closed. Jeremy seems to be thinking twice about having a "General" section at all. But I think it would be a pity if we lost it. May I make an alternative suggestion?
I once belonged to a Linux forum (unfortunately I can't remember which one it was) which had two general discussion boards. They were called the Cafe and the Back Yard. The Cafe was a civilised place where discussions about politics and religion were banned. In the Back Yard, anything went! People were warned that if they ventured into this area, they might see things that they did not like.
If a Cafe discussion appeared to be getting out of hand, it was simply transferred to the Back Yard, where people who liked that sort of thing could flame each other to their hearts' content without annoying the rest of the community.


I once belonged to a Linux forum (unfortunately I can't remember which one it was) which had two general discussion boards. They were called the Cafe and the Back Yard. The Cafe was a civilised place where discussions about politics and religion were banned. In the Back Yard, anything went! People were warned that if they ventured into this area, they might see things that they did not like.
If a Cafe discussion appeared to be getting out of hand, it was simply transferred to the Back Yard, where people who liked that sort of thing could flame each other to their hearts' content without annoying the rest of the community.