New Rules for the New Year

Hi everyone.

I've been hinting around about this for awhile, and have been thinking of it even longer, but today I'm going to make it official: we will no longer permit political arguments. They have a way of taking over forums, usually because enmity about political or cultural differences colors discussions on other parts of the forum, too. It's also not realistic to expect people to stay perfectly civil in these exchanges, even though that's what we generally require.

There are, I think, two reasonable questions that arise from this, which I'll address preemptively:

• Art touches on political issues. This is obviously true, and so some glancing discussion is inevitable. But he discussion has to stay on (or at least quickly return to) the cinematic side, and not branch off into its own discussion.
• What counts as "political"? Anything you'd generally avoid in polite conversation with mixed company. Stuff you wouldn't go near on a first date or job interview. You know the usual suspects: politics, religion, culture war stuff, such-and-such movie is just exploitative/emblematic of our cultural hegemony/decline and loss of legitimacy/morality.

Obviously there's some subjectivity involved in these considerations, so some of this will be case-by-case, especially at first. Most examples will be clear-cut, but I'm sure there will be edge cases, and we'll work together over time to figure out just where the lines should go. Hopefully, though, through example that line will become clear. In the meantime, I welcome everyone to PM myself or a moderator for guidance if they're unsure.

This rule has been sort of low-key in place already for months now, so I don't expect a big functional shift, but I wanted to be totally clear about it going forward. This place is a movie forum first and foremost, and always will be, and I think this choice is necessary to preserve that.

Now turn off the news and go watch a movie!

Good decision. One I applaud as well.*
I know we chatted about it in the past, and I was very guilty of letting my emotions control my responses in many cases. There’s some regret there as there were many who were more responsive then others, and had thoughtful responses but too often it became too heated.

Me, too. And everyone else! That's part of it. We have rules about being respectful, but it's untenable to expect emotions not to spill over on some of these topics. So our choices are to ditch rules about behavior, constantly ignore them being broken (and constantly police tone and content on a granular level), or we just disallow the trouble topics. That's an easy choice.

Ah f*ck. No rules lifted on swearing yet then?

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Technically, no. But another stealth rule shift (it's been sort of provisional) that a lot of you might have noticed is that it's fine to post R-rated clips that would, if merely typed, break those same rules, since disallowing that really makes a lot of legitimate discussion difficult.

If it's particularly rough in language or content we like people to label it as such, but that standard has been loosened considerably over the last year or so.

2020 was kinda rough though tbh

We definitely set a new record for slurs directed at calendars.

Yoda, I'm sure you know I already approve of ditching political discussions. I mean, there's other places on the internet for that and this is MOVIE Forums....so

I do think MoFos in general have been exceptional good about not going on about politics in the last few months, so the new rule should not be a problem.

One thought...
Regarding that bolded part of your post: I'm guessing it would depend if someone is willfully using their film critique as a blatant segue into venting their own personal political broadcast? Do I have that right?

Very political of you.

Thread ruined.

Basically, yes. I included that bit because it would probably be easy for someone trying to circumvent this rule to deliberately choose films for this purpose, or fold them into a review that mostly existed just to grouse about something.

We're not going to be restricted by technicalities here: subjectivity is inherent to moderation and if we're confident someone is trying to find loopholes, we'll act accordingly. I just wanted to include something in the announcement to this effect.

thanks and makes sense.

WARNING HINTS OF RUDE WORDS IN THIS POST

Thank Buddha for that!

We watch movies where there is foul language used, it is part of the modern world and does have it's place.

I mean when someone is annoying you what will have more effect,
1. Please go away
2. F**k Off you annoying Tw*t

Obviously using it to troll others on here would be unacceptable.

Anyway my other recent post that mentions porn I hope will raise a....smile.

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Has anyone seen my lightsaber?

https://digitaldecor.threadless.com

https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/7-stewart-smith

Easy now, the little green guy packs quite a punch.
Even though I kicked his butt in Episode III.

Did you Cream Yoda?

Yes I know, I'll close the door on my way out.

I don't talk politics anyway.. its a waste of time.. it's a person's opinion anyway..

Do you know what they say about opinions? it's like an a**hole.. everyone has one. and mostly they stink!

Love it. I genuinely enjoyed the tough discussions here but I would get so hung up on them it would be all consuming for me. It's one of the main reasons I basically disappeared, because when I was here I couldn't help myself.

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Letterboxd

“Except for markf, you’re all a disgrace to cinema.”

Thanks for your encouragement. I would have never ever watched a film if it weren't for that!
You see, MoFos, she stopped after she found out she's the only person who wants to legalize murder.

PS: Cthulhu is the best presidential candidate ever. Vote for him!!!

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San Franciscan lesbian dwarves and their tomato orgies.

I agree 1,000%.

This is the right decision and doing the right thing is tough to do. We all need to recognize that @Yoda was faced with a difficulty that even I would not wish on my worst enemy.