Well, look, if anyone wants to PM me, I’ll do my best to oblige there.
I feel that there is another problem. I would assume the purpose of such a thread would go beyond just witnessing. There would hopefully be some discussion.
And the problem I foresee is that some people feel that having anything they say questioned is a personal attack. I think we’d have something like this:
I’m a Republican because I think they’re the party that defends America from its enemies.
You don’t feel the Democrats defend America?
I was promised a safe space to express my views! And you’re attacking me for expressing my views! I’m being cancelled!
A thread like this would be akin to Life cereal to the mods, except there is no “Mikey” mod to shove it to.
If we want the hear Republican and conservative POVs here and allow more safe space for that, we can be more open to them in existing threads, and stick with the idea of disputing the idea, but not attacking the poster. Creating a safe space thread/playpen for Republicans here should not be a substitute for engaging behavior elsewhere on this board.
I think if the point is really to provide them a “safe space” to share their views, it could easily be done by just making a bright line rule that nobody who doesn’t currently identify as a Republican is allowed to post in the thread at all.
Your example is a hijack of the concept and would happen far too often generating modnotes, warnings, ATMB threads and I pit so-and-so for their views in the Why do you vote Republican thread.
I’m not really seeing anger. I at least am not angry; I’m just sad.
Many years ago, I’m not sure if it was here, or on another board, there was a “Post your secrets here” thread. How it worked was there was one poster that people trusted, and they would PM that user their secrets, and the poster would anonymously paste it into the thread.
Is there anyone here that would be trusted to act as such a buffer? There would be little point in arguing in the thread, since you wouldn’t know who was behind the copied PM, and they’d have no pressure to defend themselves.
Would such a version be allowed?
In theory we could automatically move all non-Republican poster posts to a comments on thread?
That would still cause problems I feel. But might just barely be doable.
Of course I would also have to use the same rules for the OP after his OP. I’ve seen posters hijack their own narrow P&E or GD threads a several times.
The op is specifically not interested in
I think there are a few Dopers, myself included, who could share views like “Why we used to be Republicans” and give a solid argument for why Republican-ism seemed very good at the time.
Yes, I feel such a bright line rule might work. But would is suit the purposes of the board? I feel the value of this board is that it’s a place to discuss ideas. And such a discussion requires allowing people to ask questions and express opposing ideas.
I think having a thread which is specifically restricted to only people who hold one point of view on an issue goes against the spirit of this board.
Agreed and well said.
You said exactly what I was struggling to put into words. Thanks.
The previous thread where mods restricted opposing points of view, a thread that ran for six years without being shut down, is Positive Gun News of the Day - Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS) - Straight Dope Message Board.
Perhaps the thread would work in that forum?
If you were really interested in what the typical Republican thinks, it would probably be better to go to a Republican board and ask there. That’s where I’d expect most typical Republicans to be. Because of the nature of the SDMB, I would guess the Republicans here are not typical of most Republicans. This doesn’t seem like a place that most typical Republicans hang out. The ones who do hang out here I would expect to have a different way of thinking compared to most Republicans. So you might learn what RepublicansOnTheSDMB think rather than what Republicans in general think.
For the record, I identify as Republican primarily because I am a single-issue voter on the subject of guns. If the Democrats would let go of their crusade/ vendetta/ jihad against the Second Amendment that would change. But as things currently stand I cannot give what amounts to a blanket endorsement of the Democratic agenda.
I think the pro-Life Republicans are in the position of the dog that finally caught the car- now what? I don’t think they appreciated that pursuing abortion bans amounts to a declaration of war against everyone who wants abortion to remain legal. That on this issue the Republicans have shot themselves in the foot.
On the subject of Donald Trump I have never admired him. I voted against Hillary Clinton in 2016; and since it was a knowingly futile protest vote, against the Democratic candidate again in 2020 (my state is dependably blue). I used to believe that Trump was a mostly harmless windbag; I don’t anymore.
I think what is much more likely is this dialogue:
I’m a Republican because I think they’re the party that defends America from its enemies.
You Republicans are the enemy.
Hmmm, this gave me a good framing for this thread about politics and Love in the Age of Trump, thank you.
Yes, @iiandyiiii opened the most recent version of this and I assume will still happily post any submitted secrets. But I don’t think it addresses what the OP is trying to do.
I’m not seeing the relevance to ATMB in this post.
I agree. In addition to people asking legitimate questions which are wrongfully seen as personal attacks, there would also be people making genuine personal attacks. I won’t speculate on which would be more common because I can see it going either way.