I think the fact there have been no new posts in the open forum is a pointer that things can get a bit stale here ? Why not bring back a political forum and increase traffic and fire things up again with forum posters ! Surely a political forum would give GS a 'holistic' platform that encompasses so much more that affects us on a spiritual and political and social scale..thankyou
Most of the moderators are gone. So I take this request a little bit personally. That's not a negative statement. Just a fact.
The political forum raised the level of acrimony on this page to a point that was not constructive. We had to make a decision that was in the best interest of this site, a decision about what the purpose of this forum is.
It's just not politics. Well we are more than happy to host discussions about a wide variety of topics, political discussions generate problems that are not worth monitoring or policing. And we have no desire to leave a forum unmoderated.
The decreased traffic on this site is, in my opinion, strong evidence that many people who have been told over the years to get a life have done so.
The decreased traffic on this site is, in my opinion, strong evidence that many people who have been told over the years to get a life have done so.
I concur with this, Raf. In addition, the enormous growth of Facebook (especially, but other social media too) has grabbed many who, after all these years actually now have much more in common with non-TWI people than they do ex-TWIts. On Facebook they can still connect with old friends from 30-40 years ago, and at the same time keep up with those we see and play with in our "after" life today.
As for bringing back Pol-attacks...NEVER! (please). A few thoughts about it from me:
1- There were virtually no views changed by anyone when we had it. It was a bunch of soap-boxing. Myself included.
2- The rhetoric was nauseating (such as Allan's two recent attempts to bring it back). That in itself may be a trait of politics today but the problem in a forum like GSC is it did not stay in the Politics forum. The disgust posters had with other posters in that arena often carried over to non-political forums. I believe that is why I know of no ex-TWI site which puts up with more than a very occasional bit of political banter. It tends to distract from what we have in common.
3- There are numerous places on the internet dedicated almost exclusively to those of us who are political junkies. I enjoy them. Conservatives troll Huffpost and MSNBC sites and progressives troll Fox, Breitbart and Infowars. Nothing is accomplished, but if you want to get spicy those are places you can go and give it a whirl.
4- Rather than soapbox here, if we are serious about our political views, it is a much better use of our time to actually become involved in campaigns or our party's work, or run for office ourself rather than babble here to closed ears. A few GSC people have done just that.
It is just not worth it here, not needed here, and will not happen here.
I didn't go on the political forum much, but I remember reading several posters' concern about it on other forums. Excathedra once posted that she was talking in her sleep about a conflict between Rocky and Zixar and her husband heard this and thought she had become interested in pro wrestling.
I think the reason posting is down may be that some posters feel they have said all they can say.
Most of the moderators are gone. So I take this request a little bit personally. That's not a negative statement. Just a fact.
The political forum raised the level of acrimony on this page to a point that was not constructive. We had to make a decision that was in the best interest of this site, a decision about what the purpose of this forum is.
It's just not politics. Well we are more than happy to host discussions about a wide variety of topics, political discussions generate problems that are not worth monitoring or policing. And we have no desire to leave a forum unmoderated.
The decreased traffic on this site is, in my opinion, strong evidence that many people who have been told over the years to get a life have done so.
Most of the moderators are gone. So I take this request a little bit personally. That's not a negative statement. Just a fact.
The political forum raised the level of acrimony on this page to a point that was not constructive. We had to make a decision that was in the best interest of this site, a decision about what the purpose of this forum is.
It's just not politics. Well we are more than happy to host discussions about a wide variety of topics, political discussions generate problems that are not worth monitoring or policing. And we have no desire to leave a forum unmoderated.
The decreased traffic on this site is, in my opinion, strong evidence that many people who have been told over the years to get a life have done so.
Hi Raf, and company!! Raf, you are so right about politics really driving people nuts!! This election in particular has people going ape s--t!! How sleazy can it be; how low can it go??!! I'm not going to tell anyone how to vote, but I think politics in general can turn kind, good-heated people into screaming memes!! Please keep the political views off GSC. I love coming here, because of the love, and compassion for others. But politics often bring out the monsters in people. Sad, but true.
I must agree with the masses johniam - keep politics off this site.
There are numerous forums out there in cyber land for that.
MRAP- you are so right!! I tell myself that I am not going to respond to anything political, so what do I do?? I respond! I think something about politics makes some of us, namely me, go a little nuts. IMO, of course.
I daren't even begin to imagine how nuts this page would have been over the last few months if there'd still been a Political forum.
Or how even nutsier it would be after tomorrow - whichever candidate wins - neither of whom appears to have much merit. But that's another story, and not one for here.
I daren't even begin to imagine how nuts this page would have been over the last few months if there'd still been a Political forum.
Or how even nutsier it would be after tomorrow - whichever candidate wins - neither of whom appears to have much merit. But that's another story, and not one for here.
Yeah this has been quite an unusual election campaign - - and on top of all that there’s going to be a new prez at TWI. In the past I’ve always appreciated the informative aspect of Grease Spot – it helps me to sort things out – although as I get older I tend to get some things mixed up…
…All I know is come January when Jean-Yves is in office he’ll see to it that everyone has their own set of PFAL “tapes” on a private server and immigration reform will require all applicants to take PFAL and have Mexico pay for it.
Politics is extremely toxic to this wonderful cafe. It almost destroyed the Spot. Idiots who wanted to run down this site and it's founder Pawtucket purposely posted as much inflammatory and vitriolic political propaganda in order to undermine Paw and the mods, as well as siphoning as many members as possible to John Richeson's (GSC "handle" was Igotout) Ning Way corpse site. Posters like Johnny Lingo, Iona Cheryl Ware, Oldiesman, Whitedove, Bimpy, Larry N. Moore, Dot Matrix, among others, PURPOSELY posted their inflammatory, vitriolic right-wing nutjob propaganda as much and as often as possible in their attempt to disrupt and usurp the GSC. Anyone who was here back then can corroborate everything I've posted here. There are more GSC members who were involved but have since expressed regrets for their disinformation and attempt to undermine and drag down the GSC. Therefore, I have not mentioned them.
You want to repeat that??? I sure as hell DO NOT! Keep the politics ban! That way we'll keep The Spot. TY.
Are we going bonkers, bring in politics, no, well, hell no. Dang, have any of you been on Face Book of late (of course you have). It's a mad house and you wanna bring that here. I do see some intrigue: how folks in the café would respond, yet, it's gotta be a no, really, religion + politics. I suppose you who want politics here are the same folks who hold a lit cigar while gassing up your car.
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waysider
Not gonna happen, Allan.
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Raf
Most of the moderators are gone. So I take this request a little bit personally. That's not a negative statement. Just a fact.
The political forum raised the level of acrimony on this page to a point that was not constructive. We had to make a decision that was in the best interest of this site, a decision about what the purpose of this forum is.
It's just not politics. Well we are more than happy to host discussions about a wide variety of topics, political discussions generate problems that are not worth monitoring or policing. And we have no desire to leave a forum unmoderated.
The decreased traffic on this site is, in my opinion, strong evidence that many people who have been told over the years to get a life have done so.
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Rocky
Okay... Allan wants a political forum. He should have one. Of his own making. Not here.
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HAPe4me
I concur with this, Raf. In addition, the enormous growth of Facebook (especially, but other social media too) has grabbed many who, after all these years actually now have much more in common with non-TWI people than they do ex-TWIts. On Facebook they can still connect with old friends from 30-40 years ago, and at the same time keep up with those we see and play with in our "after" life today.
As for bringing back Pol-attacks...NEVER! (please). A few thoughts about it from me:
1- There were virtually no views changed by anyone when we had it. It was a bunch of soap-boxing. Myself included.
2- The rhetoric was nauseating (such as Allan's two recent attempts to bring it back). That in itself may be a trait of politics today but the problem in a forum like GSC is it did not stay in the Politics forum. The disgust posters had with other posters in that arena often carried over to non-political forums. I believe that is why I know of no ex-TWI site which puts up with more than a very occasional bit of political banter. It tends to distract from what we have in common.
3- There are numerous places on the internet dedicated almost exclusively to those of us who are political junkies. I enjoy them. Conservatives troll Huffpost and MSNBC sites and progressives troll Fox, Breitbart and Infowars. Nothing is accomplished, but if you want to get spicy those are places you can go and give it a whirl.
4- Rather than soapbox here, if we are serious about our political views, it is a much better use of our time to actually become involved in campaigns or our party's work, or run for office ourself rather than babble here to closed ears. A few GSC people have done just that.
It is just not worth it here, not needed here, and will not happen here.
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WordWolf
IIRC (and I may not),
the Politics forums exploded into existence when people felt the need to talk about
9/11 when it happened. (Makes sense to me.)
It took on a life of its own after that.
A mean, nasty, sectarian, ranting life of its own.
The choice was to either discontinue the Politics forum, or discontinue the GSC.
The GSC was not ABOUT Politics, and has existed before and after the Politics forum.
There's LOTS of places to go online to talk (or rant) Politics.
There's lots of places to go online and make your own forum (I've had one.)
If one feels they just can't live without that, they have lots of options to exercise.
As to slowed traffic on the GSC, I agree and I've said it before.
In fact, I said it in 2007!
"A number of people have arrived, interacted, decided they accomplished everything they needed
to accomplish, and then left.
A number of people have arrived, interacted, decided they didn't feel like sticking around anymore,
and then left.
In both cases, I say that's great!
The first is a GSC success story.
The second is a GSC'er thinking for themself.
I miss some posters, but, you know, life takes time to do right."
---------------------------
And in 2013, I said
"As for GSC members, over time, they get on with their lives and find other things are
more important-family, etc. That means fewer posters.
Is that a bad thing? Not for the people who got on with their lives.
They are GSC success stories!"
---------------------------
"Like everyone else, my life has moved on since twi. (Especially lately.)
I feel good about many posters who have moved on BECAUSE they've gone on with their lives.
They're all GSC success stories!
Those of us still posting all have lives as well, of course. I also hope that those
still Christian, posting now or not, have found healthy Christians to interact with
corporately to some degree, even online if necessary.
(I hope all posters are moving on in healthy ways regardless of their belief systems,
and that's probably true of almost all of them, past and present.)
We post, hopefully, because we have something to say. Paw could always put the forums
into an archive, read-only, mode if we all stopped having something to say. I'm hoping
nobody's posting just to post, or to raise post-counts or something.
I don't mind quieter days in between cycles. The threads with lots of posts and squabbling,
were they really better than lulls in posting?"
-------------------------
"I imagine that a few people out of hundreds were just posting to be political,
but if it were more, then the successor political board would be pretty busy.
But ex-twi boards of every kind all have dwindled, as did any twi boards.
For the few who wanted to applaud twi, there was only so much to say before
it was obvious there were only about a dozen posts to rehash, and everything
was a variation of that.
As for the GSC, it has existed to warn others about twi, and to help others
survive twi. It has succeeded in both. Others don't fall for twi's deception
and traps- partly because of the GSC, partly for several other reasons.
As for survival and recovery, well, duh. Most people who have posted on the
GSC post-twi have recovered and gone on with their lives. So, they have
families, they have kids, they have churches, they have outside interests
which are relevant to their present. That leaves them with less time to
post here. I wish a few of them would post more, but in general, I say it's
great because they are all twi success stories.
Ok, a few ex-posters are not because twi is still in them even if they are not in twi,
and a few ex-posters were here because they wanted to argue, or troll the
board, or say how terrible we are to warn people about twi or for ever being
Christians or any other pet cause they have to attack people (including, I
imagine, political ones.) However, ALL messageboards have that. All groups
eventually have someone there who has no real reason to be THERE other than
"You haven't kicked me out." All messageboards have to deal with contentionm
rudeness and flamewars. Since almost every poster who ever did that has moved
on as well, there's an absence of flamewars as well. Some people can consider
that for a bad thing-I do not. I think important things get lost among those."
-------------------------------
And in 2014 I said
"I consider everybody who survived twi, then visited the GSC for a time without
becoming members of twi again or members of splinter groups formed and run
by ex-twi leaders to be GSC SUCCESS STORIES. We don't hear from most of them,
but that doesn't take away from their SUCCESS at making and living their lives
without twi in major or minor forms.
So, congratulations."
-------------------------
Perhaps, if we want to really increase posting, we need another national
disaster like 9/11. That really multiplied the posting.
That having been said, I'd really rather NOT have the traffic increase
if that's the reason.
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Bolshevik
The political forum was nice because, coming from a very narrow viewpoint, it did help broaden things. That was, relatively, a long time ago.
With so little traffic, that would mean limited numbers of views here, and a political forum would be a step in the wrong direction.
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johniam
I didn't go on the political forum much, but I remember reading several posters' concern about it on other forums. Excathedra once posted that she was talking in her sleep about a conflict between Rocky and Zixar and her husband heard this and thought she had become interested in pro wrestling.
I think the reason posting is down may be that some posters feel they have said all they can say.
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MRAP
I must agree with the masses johniam - keep politics off this site.
There are numerous forums out there in cyber land for that.
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Grace Valerie Claire
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Grace Valerie Claire
Hi Raf, and company!! Raf, you are so right about politics really driving people nuts!! This election in particular has people going ape s--t!! How sleazy can it be; how low can it go??!! I'm not going to tell anyone how to vote, but I think politics in general can turn kind, good-heated people into screaming memes!! Please keep the political views off GSC. I love coming here, because of the love, and compassion for others. But politics often bring out the monsters in people. Sad, but true.
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Grace Valerie Claire
MRAP- you are so right!! I tell myself that I am not going to respond to anything political, so what do I do?? I respond! I think something about politics makes some of us, namely me, go a little nuts. IMO, of course.
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Twinky
I daren't even begin to imagine how nuts this page would have been over the last few months if there'd still been a Political forum.
Or how even nutsier it would be after tomorrow - whichever candidate wins - neither of whom appears to have much merit. But that's another story, and not one for here.
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TLC
what... is there more than one even half way sane choice?
but maybe "choice" itself is an illusion (according to J. Assange)
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T-Bone
Yeah this has been quite an unusual election campaign - - and on top of all that there’s going to be a new prez at TWI. In the past I’ve always appreciated the informative aspect of Grease Spot – it helps me to sort things out – although as I get older I tend to get some things mixed up…
…All I know is come January when Jean-Yves is in office he’ll see to it that everyone has their own set of PFAL “tapes” on a private server and immigration reform will require all applicants to take PFAL and have Mexico pay for it.
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Twinky
T-Bone, you really do crack me up!!
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DontWorryBeHappy
Politics is extremely toxic to this wonderful cafe. It almost destroyed the Spot. Idiots who wanted to run down this site and it's founder Pawtucket purposely posted as much inflammatory and vitriolic political propaganda in order to undermine Paw and the mods, as well as siphoning as many members as possible to John Richeson's (GSC "handle" was Igotout) Ning Way corpse site. Posters like Johnny Lingo, Iona Cheryl Ware, Oldiesman, Whitedove, Bimpy, Larry N. Moore, Dot Matrix, among others, PURPOSELY posted their inflammatory, vitriolic right-wing nutjob propaganda as much and as often as possible in their attempt to disrupt and usurp the GSC. Anyone who was here back then can corroborate everything I've posted here. There are more GSC members who were involved but have since expressed regrets for their disinformation and attempt to undermine and drag down the GSC. Therefore, I have not mentioned them.
You want to repeat that??? I sure as hell DO NOT! Keep the politics ban! That way we'll keep The Spot. TY.
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T-Bone
Thanks Twinky…but remember no one person can do it alone
It’s going to take all of us…remember we’re funnier together
So…let’s make Grease Spot laugh again
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Raf
I've consulted with the mods (no I haven't).
Well, with all the mods who check in regularly (which means me and pretty much no one else).
The ban stays. No politics.
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JayDee
Good. Thanks.
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MRAP
Are we going bonkers, bring in politics, no, well, hell no. Dang, have any of you been on Face Book of late (of course you have). It's a mad house and you wanna bring that here. I do see some intrigue: how folks in the café would respond, yet, it's gotta be a no, really, religion + politics. I suppose you who want politics here are the same folks who hold a lit cigar while gassing up your car.
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Modgellan
Raf did not need to consult me on it. He is well aware of my position. There will be no pol-attacks forum on these pages
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JayDee
Good
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Raf
My version was funnier.
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Rocky
Did you try it out on a test audience before you posted it? ;)
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