…there isn’t a “current events” forum, and the correct place for a general discussion of current general events has always been at “Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share”. But because a debate broke out in the discussion thread the thread was moved to Great Debates.
So where is general discussion on the Paris Shootings supposed to go now? Surely it would make more sense to tell those debating to go start a thread in Great Debates to get the general discussion back on track. But now I assume that if you want to talk about the Paris Shootings and not have a debate, we need to start a new thread? That doesn’t make any sense to me.
Yep. I sympathize with the fact that the MPSIMS thread had become debatey, but I reported it after the move for the same reason - at this point it is duplicative. The debaters should take the debate to the GD thread and rants to the Pit. The thread in question should have been left for current events development.
It was a judgement call and I can see both sides of the argument.
The philosophical, political, and current events issues are so intertwined in this specific event it was very hard to tease apart. Other currents events issues aren’t quite so difficult to parse and they remain appropriate for MPSIMS (though gun shootings tend to get into the same situation). However, it was becoming clear that there was almost no way that this attack was going to remain a factual discussion of the events.
This is certainly not my preferred MO- to move difficult threads to GD, and I will remain sensitive to the need to have a place to discuss difficult events without letting it become a debate.
…the original 9/11 thread managed to successfully stay in MPSIMS. If ever there was a topic that wa going to be derailed by philosophical and political opinions it was that one: yet somehow that thread avoided getting derailed. I’m not sure what it is specifically about this particular thread that made it so much harder to police. It looks like the moderators just gave up?
So back to my original question: where do we go to have a factual discussion of the event? Do we start a new thread?
As the moderator in question, who was not a member here during 9/11, I explained my reasoning. I certainly didn’t give up but made the decision I felt worked best in this situation. Everyone won’t agree with that and that’s ok. As I said, it’s certainly not part of a new pattern or strategy on my part.
With regard to a new thread, either MPSIMS or IMHO would be fine.
Do you guys NOT at least take a cursory look to make sure there isn’t already a thread on that subject in the forum you’re planning to move a thread to? With a hot topic like that, the odds are pretty good.
Yes. I was fully aware of the other thread (I was actively reading it). That didn’t change the nature of the thread I was dealing with. Once moved to GD, the GD mods can decide the best thing to do, including:
Close it
Merge it with existing thread
Leave it open and separate
Bounce it back to MSPIMS or another forum as they see fit.
Finally, to add:
If anyone is concerned that this action was due to laziness, ignorance of existing thread, or reflects a desire to get rid of troublesome threads, I can assure you it’s not an indication of any of those things. It was based on assessing the situation and making a decision. Some folks agree with it and others don’t, and that’s absolutely ok. I don’t begrudge anyone the right to disagree.