# Thread moved from Elections to IMHO?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-moved-from-elections-to-imho/817047>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [June 30, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-moved-from-elections-to-imho/817047 "2018-06-30T15:39:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-moved-from-elections-to-imho/817047/1 "2018-06-30T15:39:49Z")

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The “Trump-Putin summer summit?” thread was recently moved from Elections to IMHO.

> [@Trump-Putin summer summit? Aye!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-putin-summer-summit-aye/816189/22):
>
> Not sure what is supposed to be debated here, but this is more of an IMHO (or MPSIMS) thread than an Elections thread.
> 
> Moving.

I’m curious about the reason given as I wasn’t aware that a debate topic was necessary for a thread to be in Elections. I thought Elections was

> [@](#):
>
> For discussion of elections and electoral politics, including strategy and tactics, political parties, individual races, political news, and politicians and public figures.

I don’t see anything in there about a debate being necessary and there are quite a few threads where no actual debate topic is given like [Sanderista primaries out 10-term Dem Congressman](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=857589) or [Michigan Gubernatorial Race](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=852274) or [Harley moving some production outside of US due to EU tariffs](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=857431) or [2018 US midterm elections](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=841273) or [The Fair Representation Act](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=857118) or [Michael Grimm (R-NY, convict) wants his job back](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=856049), for instance.

Also, the OP of the thread in question actually does end with a question that is debatable:

> [@Trump-Putin summer summit? Aye!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-putin-summer-summit-aye/816189/1):
>
> Will it happen? What will happen if it does?

So why was this moved again?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-moved-from-elections-to-imho/817047/2 "2018-06-30T16:54:09Z")

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I think the mods treat Elections the same as Great Debates, except that polls are allowed. Also, the mods will often let a non-debate OP stay in a debate forum if an actual debate ensues. If you read that thread, it didn’t look like anyone was actually debating after quite a few replies.

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**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-moved-from-elections-to-imho/817047/3 "2018-06-30T17:10:24Z")

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I’m not a mod but I think the thread should have stayed in Elections since that’ where the political junkies hang out and a discussion of the summit belongs in Elections, not in IMHO where it’s surrounded by threads about kittens and travel advice.

For example, we allow discussion of political books in Elections because the audience that’s likely to read them hangs out in Elections. Similarly, threads on sports books are in the Game Room since that’s the most likely target audience.
