Question on a thread. Does GD need to stick to the topic?

[Saint_Cad]

This thread specifically. Although it is about Mao and the Cultural Revolution, there are three (as of this tread starting) posts making a not-so-subtle anti-Trump references in a way that adds nothing to the thread.

Is that permitted in GD?

[John_Mace]

Political jabs are against the rules in GQ, but I think you need to point out the posts you think are at issue. I didn’t see anything obvious.

[Saint_Cad]

@Evan_Drake

He wanted to keep his cred against rival up-and-comers.

If a country has a light-headed, erratic, conceited, garrulous, crafty semi-loon as chosen leader, they must expect interesting times.

Admittedly Evan could be referring to Mao, Trump or Kim Il Jung. But then there’s this :

@Duckster

May you live in interesting times.

Hmm … what is that about? Then

@Senegoid

Fortunately, world civilization has evolved since then, and we have no world leaders like that today.

This last one (based on Senegold’s posting history) is pretty sure to be an anti-Trump post even if the first two are not. So even ignoring the first two, if this is an anti-Trump post that is not germane to the thread - is that allowed in GD?

*This is about the rules not a “why wasn’t this modded” thread so for those that don’t see the anti-Trump subtlety, let’s for the sake of argument say Senegold comes into the thread and says, “Yeah it’s about Trump”.

[John_Mace]

For the GQ rules:

Political, religious, or professional jabs, hijacks, and trolling prohibited. The purpose of General Questions is to get factual questions answered. In order to accomplish this we need the threads to stay on topic. We tolerate some joking, but that is generally acceptable only after the question has been answered. Please do not race to a thread to post that hilarious one-liner in response to the thread title, and don’t drive by just to drop in an anecdote that doesn’t answer the question. If you want to be funny while contributing to the thread, go for it. We tolerate some discussion of tangentially related factual information. We don’t tolerate political, religious, professional or personal jabs or insults. In case it’s somehow not clear: Trolling isn’t permitted at all.

I think it’s pretty clear that political jabs are against the rules. If someone makes a jab about Trump in a thread asking questions about Mao, I don’t see why that would not be against the rules.

[Ulf_the_Unwashed]

You’re talking about General Questions, but St Cad is talking about Great Debates.

[Bone]

Political jabs are not per se against the rules in GD. There is always room for guidance to keep threads on topic or to avoid threadshitting, should the circumstances warrant.

I haven’t followed that thread recently for lack of reports.

[cochrane]

There doesn’t seem to be a rule against political comments in Great Debates. In fact, there seems to be some overlap between GD and Elections, which does get political. According to Bone:

We recognize the difficulty of disentangling electoral politics from larger issues of public policy, and leave it to the discretion of users whether to start political threads in Elections or Great Debates.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=818217

So, since political threads can be placed in GD, I’d say political jabs there are going to be more loosely moderated than in some of the other forums, even if the thread topic itself is not strictly political.

ETA: Sneaky ninjas!

[John_Mace]

@Ulf_the_Unwashed

You’re talking about General Questions, but St Cad is talking about Great Debates.

Oh. Never mind!

Not sure why I was thinking that that thread was in GQ.