Do you feel the Board is hostile to the likes of you? Do you wish things were different?
Here, then, is the thread wherein you can make a difference! Post hereunder any suggestions you may have how the Moderators and Administrators of the Board can improve the situation for conservatives!
WRS - Disclaimer: one does not have to belong to one or any of the above categories to participate. Conservatives of the world, unite!
None of the above here, but you said non-conservatives could participate, so here goes. Like I just said in Excalibre’s thread, I think one good recommendation is that one of the SDMB conservatives should become a moderator, to replace manhattan. Nothing like a little ideological balance in the management to promote confidence and fairness.
I don’t expect the moderators to solve the problem, hell I am only a conservative when compared to the membership of this board. I really don’t think a nanny state of moderators stepping in anytime someone is an asshole is much of a solution. ‘Being an asshole’ is just too subjective to be left up to a bunch of individuals doing an already thankless job.
The only suggestion I would make is that anti-Bush hijacks inserted in threads that have absolutely nothing to do with Bush or even politics shouldn’t be tolerated. If I am in Cafe Society I shouldn’t have to read posts that have to do with Bush, Cheney, neo-cons, or any of the other bugaboos of the hysterical faction of the left wing, and adding a smiley on the end doesn’t change the fact that it is a hijack. I would be happy to search for examples if they are needed.
Oh you’re fucking kidding me! You want the mods to create a ‘safe space’ for fallacies?
“I’m pro Bush ,and I don’t care that he’s either a liar or incompetent. Mods! Protect me from the evil Liberals!”
“I’m pro war, and I don’t care that the pretenses were phony, cherry picked, that we didn’t take the necessary steps to care for the civilian populace. I don’t care that the results are probably much worse than if we’d done nothing at all. Mods! Protect me from the evil Liberals!”
If someone’s bashing you simply for being a conservative, that’s one thing. If they’re pointing out that your sacred cow is really a filthy pig, you really have nobody to blame but yourself.
Political persuasion doesn’t enter into it. They Who Sit At the Right Hand of Cecil are beyond our petty perspectives. It ill behooves the unworthy to suggest that such as these are needful of our advice. I, for one, am poperly grateful to bask in the radiance of their probity and wisdom.
We don’t need this. The board is as hostile as you let it be. There are plenty of liberals to come to your rescue in a conservative pile on and, contrary to popular belief, there are plenty of conservatives to come your aid, too. And there are plenty of level heads on either to side to take note of the morons on their side of the aisle.
While I applaud the attempt by the OP, I really don’t see any way for things to be other than they are. Conservative boards exist; liberal boards exist. This is a liberal board. I know I’m in the minority and I have no problem with it.
Further, as Eve and others have pointed out in other threads, this board provides her and many others here with a place to blow off steam and be in the majority. Frankly, this is a factor I really hadn’t considered much, and I can see how it would be particularly annoying to have people you consider to be your enemies coming into your territory and challenging what you have to say.
But all in all, I don’t see how it would be possible to reign in the board in the way the OP suggests, short of either doing away with the Pit itself or moderating it in the manner of GD, in which case why not just do away with the Pit and have GD only.
Yes, it’s frustrating sometimes to be unable to make a point and/or to have your words and intent perverted into something they aren’t, but c’est la vie. That’s the way it is here and I don’t really see a way to change it that wouldn’t do more harm than good.
This is the only suggestion I have. I would LOVE it if the Mods would delete posts/warn posters when they find any excuse to post anti-Bush rhetoric in threads where it is not appropriate. This thread is possibly borderline, but really stating this type of thing as fact when the thread isn’t meant as any kind of debate about the merit of President Bush’s administration.
Are you conservative?
Yes I have voted conservative and support many of their ideas.
Are you pro-Bush?
Not particularly. But as far as poloticians go he is far far from the worst.
Are you a Republican?
No, I don’t allign myself with any political party, I make my own choices and have my own beliefs, I then support whomever best represents those.
Are you pro-war?
Wars are wastefull and bad, but are also often necessary or at least a necessary evil. I am pro the war in Afganistan, pro the first Gulf war, not so pro the second Gulf war.
Do you feel the Board is hostile to the likes of you? Do you wish things were different?
Wish people would be nicer and less hostile to each other, here and in the real world. Shame wishes don’t get answered.
I think the righties need to form a committee, have meetings, draw up recommendations, maybe engage in a little ‘incident planting’ thru sockage or the OSP to bolster their position, then come out with a full blown plan of action which we board members can subject to an up or down vote (filibusters not allowed). This ad hoc approach is destined to fail as badly as president Bush’s pre-9/11 anti-terror policies.
Is this Board officially liberal? If not, then it ought to be evenhanded. Otheerwise, it ought to be stated clearly that this is a liberal board: conservatives need not apply.
If liberals (or conservatives or socialists or communists) want to vent, there’s the Pit. Vent there. Elsewhere, where irrelevant to the topic at hand, is not acceptable. Period.
I am not looking for protection. I am looking for evenhandedness and an environment where conservatives feel welcome to discuss their views, and where conservatives may discuss non-political issues without having to endure irrelevant slams against what they hold dear.
Civil discussions are to be promoted, of course. Perhaps I should have added that to the original post. My intention is not to vaunt the conservative opinion but to make the Board friendlier to those who hold it. Hostility to conservatives and conservatism should not be permitted, within proper limits and with due regard to the forum.
It’s not a matter of thick skin: it’s a matter of proper behavior.
So, you believe conservatives have no right to feel comfortable and welcome on this Board? Are you suggesting that all conservatives do is plot conquest and domination?
This board, as far as I know, is not officially anything. If it seems to be predominantly liberal, then that is just the perspective of the moment. In years past, some of us who have been labelled liberals, would have been considered right wing conservative in comparison to others. I myself, have not changed so much as the Party (which I once belonged to) has changed. It drifted too far to one side, while deliberately castigating and excluding those of us who once made up the “core constituency” (us more moderate types). I liked Ike, I respected Goldwater, I even had reasons to like Nixon for some things. But now the party of Lincoln, the party of Eisenhower is dead. It has been usurped by charlatans and cowards and fanatics. What you are seeing is anger.
Many of us also spent some time in the military or are still in. We don’t like the seeming opinion that “our people” should be used up for vague and poorly defined ideologies that seem to serve only for electioneering or to feel like a tough guy (“bring it on”), while their benefits are cut and they get sucked into a backdoor draft (and enrich the contractors). We caught on to the constantly changing alibis that were being given for it all. We clicked onto the sudden flood of alerts that coincided with the election, and quickly stopped afterwards. We despise the flag waving of an administration that beat their swords on their shields, but did everything they could to avoid service when the country called on them years ago. We despise the constant references to God, as if any disagreement is the worst sort of heresy, as if any doubt is treasonous. We are suspicious of a government that puts the interests of big business ahead of the needs of citizens. We’re tired of the “put up or get out” mentality. We are tired of the stock answer to any valid or even invalid question being "we won the elections so we have a mandate neener neener neener.
There is no “fair and balanced”. I give you that. There never will be. Instead, there are pissed off people who want to know how anyone can keep supporting an administration that has been caught in so many misstatements and outright lies, and created a disaster. How can you support people whose careers were built on lies and character assassinations (McCain, Cleland and Kerry were slandered by Rove’s “machine”).
We can’t control who says what, and I don’t want to control them. They will not be controlled, any more than you could control the ones on the far out there extreme right superconservative (i.e. the ones who condone arrest without due process and torture, or nuking everyone who is different). Can you control a Coulter, Limbaugh, Dobson, or Phelps? How could you expect us to control our loonies, when you can’t control yours either?
All you can do is ignore them, or click the REPORT THIS POST button.
Why do you need mods to prevent dogpiling idiots? Have enough confidence in yourself to recognize them for what they are, and be greatful you are not what they are.
Without getting to witness the repeated displays of “liberal and open minds” who cannot tolerate any dissent from their viewpoint, I would lose half the amusement I get from this world.
Asking mods to remove the raving lefty loonies around here would be like asking a professor to drop all of the D students from the class - without the idiots, the rest of us would have to work a lot harder to look good.
