An old tired Horse called the Lounge

[domenico Foschi]

Since the decision of the moderators, the Lounge has become a stale place where threads get started and then are bound to die abruptly very likely because they end up delving in the very issues that have been prohibited.

This sanitation in addition to being offensive to people who like to express their thoughts and feelings has made the Lounge now, more than ever, a grotesque distortion of what it was before.
I wonder if it has passed in the moderator's mind to just shoot the animal out of its misery and give it back its dignity.

[davidb]

The lounge is/was a black eye for this forum.

Are you so desperate to talk politics that this is the only place for you to do it?

[domenico Foschi]

The lounge is/was a black eye for this forum.

Are you so desperate to talk politics that this is the only place for you to do it?

You see, David, the point is not whether I am desperate or not, as you say, to talk about politics.
The real point is that my very core rejects vehemently the possibility that a person has invested himself of the power to delete my thoughts expressed in writing.

It is about respect toward other people and respect toward an Universal ideal called Freedom.
It is not that I want to talk about politic, it is that if you outline some limits on which my ideas can be expressed you are limiting my freedom.
If the owner and the moderators of this forum care about this ideal that we all cherish, they should also consider the philosophical implications of their decision.

If you believe in an ideal as Universal, you should treat it as such.

When the decision to prohibit political issues was taken I posted my thoughts about it saying that it was an unfortunate decision but I still thought that this was a good forum.
My opinion has changed since then and I don't think that this is a good forum anymore.

Eddie, if you are bored, don't blame me.

[BradS]

I find myself in agreement with Frank on this point. I find the stifling of the free flow of opinions and ideas is repulsive - especially so in a community that is ostensibly the domain of so called "artists".

[GPS]

...
It is not that I want to talk about politic, it is that if you outline some limits on which my ideas can be expressed you are limiting my freedom.
If the owner and the moderators of this forum care about this ideal that we all cherish, they should also consider the philosophical implications of their decision.

If you believe in an ideal as Universal, you should treat it as such.

When the decision to prohibit political issues was taken I posted my thoughts about it saying that it was an unfortunate decision but I still thought that this was a good forum.
My opinion has changed since then and I don't think that this is a good forum anymore.
...

Absolutely! The moderators didn't realized, once again, the capital role of the human element of the forum. And it wasn't the first time. First it came the foolish idea to "calm down" the heads by threatening people who happened to disagree with someone else more often than allowed, say 7 times instead of 3 times. Never mind that they did so in all politeness and without any bad language, they stood corrected...
Then it came the new heavy handed moderating of the newest moderator who took his role in a religious manner for the salvation of humanity...
Then the brave, final decision about banning the poor souls who had the dirty idea to clash politically. Not that I could give a damn to all their discussions, as I very rarely visited the Lounge.
What the moderating gods didn't get is the human implication of their decisions.
As you say, the people will stop liking the forum because they feel limited, guarded by moderators Big brother policies and simply not free. As a result, already well visible, people will limit their interventions and resign later generally... After all, nobody participates, for some relevant length of time, because of feeling any duty to answer to newbies over their "which camera... is Siponar B sharper than Garonar T... questions. Without people, feeling comfortable and satisfied putting their ideas on the forum's market the forum will decay as an unusable skeleton of the "correct politics" of the moderators. Old timers started to leave now even more and the newbies with their queries won't last long.
The forum is in a strong decline in terms of the level of discussions while the police is happy that there is calm on streets... They just didn't get it.

[Marko]

You see, David, the point is not whether I am desperate or not, as you say, to talk about politics.
The real point is that my very core rejects vehemently the possibility that a person has invested himself of the power to delete my thoughts expressed in writing.

It is about respect toward other people and respect toward an Universal ideal called Freedom.

For me it's not so much about respect for others as it is about principle. Thoughts today, images tomorrow.

Those who gloat when the opposing view is forbidden should not squeal when their turn comes.

[m.bruehl]

You see, David, the point is not whether I am desperate or not, as you say, to talk about politics.
The real point is that my very core rejects vehemently the possibility that a person has invested himself of the power to delete my thoughts expressed in writing.

It is about respect toward other people and respect toward an Universal ideal called Freedom.
It is not that I want to talk about politic, it is that if you outline some limits on which my ideas can be expressed you are limiting my freedom.
If the owner and the moderators of this forum care about this ideal that we all cherish, they should also consider the philosophical implications of their decision.

If you believe in an ideal as Universal, you should treat it as such.

When the decision to prohibit political issues was taken I posted my thoughts about it saying that it was an unfortunate decision but I still thought that this was a good forum.
My opinion has changed since then and I don't think that this is a good forum anymore.

Dear Domenico,

I see you did your lessons in rhetorics well, and you are highly involved in philosophy.

I bet you understood well, what Mark wanted to say with the example of cursing. But as you couldn't argue against the whole - that in the house of somebody else, you have to show respect to the owner - you take it out of the context to attack it. Nice rhetorics, no argument. You still have to behave as a guest.

Same with the ideal of freedom: if you can't beat them at defined arguments, go to a common place nobody can deny, and argue back. Nice rethorics again, but that's it. You don't have to defend anybodies freedom here - It's a forum on LF, not human rights.

If you had the same respect for the people who do this forum, like you claim it for your own opinions, you would accept their decision and discuss political matters elsewhere. And you would stop whining about it.

As you seem to be intelligent and educated, and you still harp on about this, I can't deny I get the impression you only want to enforce your point.

If you talk about respect, but you don't take "no" for an answer, you have way to go.

Regards

[Bruce Watson]

The real point is that my very core rejects vehemently the possibility that a person has invested himself of the power to delete my thoughts expressed in writing.

It is about respect toward other people and respect toward an Universal ideal called Freedom. It is not that I want to talk about politic, it is that if you outline some limits on which my ideas can be expressed you are limiting my freedom.

No, you are wrong about that. That's not at all what is happening.

You have freedom of speech in your house. You also have the right to throw me out of your house if my speech offends you. Because it's your house and not the commons. If we meet in the commons and my speech offends you, you're just out of luck because neither of us has the right to control who is in the commons.

This forum is owned and operated by QT. It's his house. He has every right to assign moderators and moderate the speech that's posted in his house. And he has every right to throw people out who don't abide by the rules he sets in his house.

This is not an abridgment of your rights in any way. But you are right that this is about respect for other people's rights. He is not limiting your rights. He is exercising his. And you should respect his rights in his house.

[Rick Moore]

This is not an abridgment of your rights in any way. But you are right that this is about respect for other people's rights. He is not limiting your rights. He is exercising his. And you should respect his rights in his house.

Well said!

[BrianShaw]

My hope is that the moderators will someday add "talking about the Lounge" to the list of banned topics!