I hardly care enough to argue about this and am not going to start engaging in moderation debate after 22+ years on the board.
I don’t want my thread moved to the pit because I’m not really pitting anyone.
It seems on topic of “Politics and Elections” to me. People are discussing the situation and it relates to politics.
Anyway, I guess it is fine, but I was still wondering enough to inquire here. Should it have been locked?
Linking to the OP is considered pretty standard.
BRB with my opinion on the closure.
The OP is fairly P&E but the responses (due to the subject matter) are pretty ranty. I think it is the subject matter more than the OP itself was the issue. I have to agree with Aspenglow.
I do think it could be a fun Pit thread. I would suggest letting us move it there.
By this way, this in no way is a negative for you.
MmmmMmm. I’m of multiple minds. You’re asking a reasonable, valid, question, but there is no doubt that Trump is such a polarizing figure that I can’t think people will be able to answer it in a non-pit manner.
And there’s been a lot of effort to clean up P&E recently. Honestly, I think it’s more a problem of the Trump/post-Trump world than the thread precisely, but still can’t think of a way to keep it on track - it’ll go to hijack territory over and over and over again.
I think it was a fair question to ask, about Politics and Elections, because it’s a question about the distemper of the times, and the breaking of the norms of political culture.
Unfortunately, it went sideways real quick, so maybe that is it itself the answer about the breaking of norms.
Sorry, had to step out to buy peaches.
@What_Exit summed it up perfectly. I had no problem with your OP. But the thread quickly devolved into Trump-bashing, and pretty much only that. I thought about what actual political discussion could ensue and could not think of much. I’ll allow it may be a failure of my imagination.
I’m not adverse to reopening the thread and admonishing those who were using it in a more Pit-like fashion, and I agree you should not be punished for what others did with your thread.
Can you give me more information about what political discussion you hope will occur?
Peaches!?! at a crisis point like this, you had to buy peaches?!?
I know. I know!!! (Hanging head in shame…)
Well, damn, I took a nap and missed the whole kerfuffle. I couldn’t help it. We got a rare gentle rainstorm and the lovely sound sent me and my cat Tikva straight off to dreamland. It’s her birthday.
So if I ask a reasonable question, and folks respond to it unreasonably, it is me who is “punished”?
The problem isn’t the question, it’s (some of) the answers.
mmm
It isn’t actually a punishment though. If people were attacking the OP it would have been handle as such. But in this case the subject matter is much better suited to the Pit.
As I stated, this is in no way a negative reflection on @Mahaloth
The subject matter is the problem with this thread, not the OP. Again, if you can offer some example of what reasonable and productive political discussion can be had around this subject, I am completely agreeable to reopening the thread. I just couldn’t think of any. Can you?
I know it’s not actually a punishment, hence my quotation marks. The response does, however, place the burden of proper board behavior on the OP.
@Aspenglow - Are you suggesting that it is literally impossible to discuss whether Biden should unveil a Trump portrait without getting nasty about it?
mmm
IMO this is a reasonable response to the question posed in the OP. The failure of the former president to recognize his predecessor is well worthy of venom. I believe we all can handle that in the political forum.
No, and I don’t appreciate you putting words in my mouth. I said I couldn’t think of one. If you can, I’m happy to hear it. Still waiting.
I agree with the worthiness of venom. But I disagree P&E is the proper forum. It’s a great topic. For the Pit. Why have a Pit if we treat every other forum just like there? We don’t allow ranty threads in P&E or GD. There’s a lot of leeway, but this is over the line in my view.
And I have to agree with this. We’ve been closing or moving threads like this of late. Trying to clean up P&E a bit.
With GD we’re rejecting OPs without a well framed debate and got Witnessing the heck out there finally. We’re continuing what Jonathan_Chance had started.
The way I look at it, the only reason for a sitting president to NOT unveil a prior president’s portrait has to do with reasons that are pretty much inherently spite or disgust based (as others have suggested). The reasons for the spite will lead to discussion of TFG’s actions, which is almost certainly Pit territory.
So we answer Yes or No without a problem, but discussing the reasons for yes/no will probably be Pit.
I guess the Modloop could pretty much dedicate a Mod to semi-full time riding herd on the thread, the way we did on gun measures immediately after the Uvalde shooting, but seems a waste of resources.
ETA - To be fair, @Mahaloth was very snarky in the OP, no, it wasn’t a rant by any means, and I enjoyed the snark fully. If I was to try to reframe the OP in a way that was less Pit-bait, I might borrow from Mahaloth’s second to last line - “Donald and Melania Trump Portrait Unveiling, who should be invited to Represent Trump in the likely event he does not care to show”
That might move the bar far enough away from Trump to lessen the hijacks.
Exactly.
Never mind. It’s not that big of a deal. Even going back to the AOL days(with the big brain), I can hardly remember having one closed, though I’m sure quick investigations will reveal that I have indeed had threads closed.
I guess it went awry.
I was asking for clarification, not stating that you said as such.
I’m also not clear on what you want me to provide - some sort of fictional dialogue between Dopers? Maybe this is why you are still waiting.
Anyway, since @Mahaloth is dropping this, I am as well.
mmm