Politics, Religion, Social Issues Forum Closed (July 2021)

[LizKat]

You and I didn’t agree often but I always respected your very well-written posts. Maybe a little lengthy but always intelligent. I got myself spanked enough times to get banned but I can’t imagine you getting in that kind of trouble.

Heh well now that they closed the thing, everyone is spared my Ambien-length farewell address, which quite possibly would have been fashioned to warrant getting banned, depending on whether I was hanging in there one suspension away from the ban hammer, even though by self-censorship I managed to avoid more than a raft of deleted off topic offerings and a few warnings about not discussing specific moderation.

Now I'll rethink any use of a barn-burning option though... since I realize I miss the forum and would have preferred anyway to keep hanging back for awhile until the current crop of baiters got bored and went elsewhere. I still hope there's a rethink on MacRumors' part and that PRSI will be reincarnated sometime with rules that are easier to understand and apply. Hope to see you around then!

 

[JayMysterio]

Yes! Twitter-sourced claims FOR THE WIN.

If that is how one saw the guidelines & rules, that would explain a thing or two.

For many though it was using articles, papers, and other such things that could be easily verified by anyone else reading on their own.

Which is what I enjoyed about PRSI, people providing sourcing for their claims meant I'd have access to learn something I wasn't aware of before. I've always said the true strength of PRSI was both it's not falling into a raging cesspool that other comment sections & forums were, and that it could offer insight to things one wasn't aware of.

 

[Herdfan]

I'm embarrassed that I did try to communicate with some posters in that category, and it was usually as productive as 'talking' to family. I'm just lost how to deal with it, and feel it's not going to end well, but it's just not worth it.

I see your point, but at the same time, it wasn't an echo chamber. I learned a lot from people whom I would rarely agree with. I will miss that.

 

[Herdfan]

Politics is just the "P" in PRSI

We also lost Religion and Social Issues in the great MacRumors forum purge of 2021

I don't remember many threads about religion, but Social Issues and Politics have become so intertwined it would be hard to separate them.

 

[LizKat]

I don't remember many threads about religion, but Social Issues and Politics have become so intertwined it would be hard to separate them.

Damn. I think @Huntn had a nice long and interesting thread going in PRSI about "Being a competent theist". Gee why can't they at least leave the old forum archive accessible for members to read?

 

[Bubble99]

The Political News section is a nexus where technology intersects with politics.

PRSI frequently featured posted topics and discussions which bore no relationship to this nexus. There was no place where a subject like “Biden’s trans athlete order” fell into this nexus. It was a place where people who started and entered discussions with their structural privileges as their base line would post largely unchecked, remarkably judgemental takes without any expectation that those parties/populations they were casually judging might hear and then hold their remarks (many of which completely lacked cited support) to task.

As technology and politics intersect, discussions to “debate” gender and sexual minorities or racialized populations had no place in the mix.



This is real. This is also why I’ve written before (and again, now) about how I’m tired. The fatigue aches in your bones. For more than the last thirty years of my life, I’ve watched random people — literal strangers with no stake in the welfare of my life — try to litigate and “debate” with deliberately dubious language, like “balancing rights” and “objective viewpoint” (as if announcing dispassion wills it into being). This becomes a near-constant onslaught, a persistent siege. And just when one area of, say, my being gay or my being trans or another marginalized component of my life loses traction as a weaponized lightning rod, the goalposts move, the threat changes its name, and the cycle of siege repeats anew.

I share your exhaustion. Stuff got old way back at the start.

I wonder if this has to do with the US being very polarized now? I know the US has always been very polarized but it seem when Trump got in well it got more polarized now it is no longer talking it is yelling and screaming

So the forums being more flame war now.

 

[B S Magnet]

I wonder if this has to do with the US being very polarized now? I know the US has always been very polarized but it seem when Trump got in well it got more polarized now it is no longer talking it is yelling and screaming

So the forums being more flame war now.

I don’t know. And from my vantage, it doesn’t matter. The invective and categorical actions I both endured and also witnessed toward fellow community members during the 1990s is no less weaponized now. Only the goalposts have been moved.

 

[vipergts2207]

I actually went looking today to discuss Lambda and I don't have a place to discuss it now. I guess I'll look at the other forums here to see if it's being discussed.

Same, I came to MR earlier to see if anyone was discussing a certain topic, (which I don’t even recall what it was now) only to find that PRSI had been nuked.

 

[MagicHAM]

This probablay was no doubt coming. I mean it got to the point even when someone offered their reasons why they voted for such and such an immediate derogatory label was put on that poster on both sides of the political aisle. Someone said that political debates and discussions has been going on for centuries but with the anonomity of the internet and not able to See someone’s real who name who put their keyboard warrior name to the outlandish and childish posts that I have see in th political forums, it has create less civility and more attacking (On both sides of the political spectrum).

It is a shame that it had to come down to this but there must have been a final kick I’m the gut for the decision to be made.

I come here for tech and Mac related discussions ans the extra stuff is just bonus stuff as it is (imho) primarily a Mac tech discussion forum.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I turned PRSI off in the settings back in May 2020 as I received a 12 month ban. I had decided pretty quickly that I was never going to request access once the 12 months was up.

This forum is a much more pleasant experience without the politics I have to say and more people should try it. I didn’t join MR for the politics, I joined because I owned an iPhone and this is probably the best place on the internet to discuss all things Apple. I visit other forums where politics are banned and you get banned if you ignore requests to stop bringing it up and that’s great. I found PRSI far too extreme and I lacked the discipline to not challenge those I felt were trolling. It’s just a needless downward spiral in my view and I’m glad it’s gone even though I haven’t seen a single thread from it in over a year. I don’t think it did this site any favours at all.

 

[niploteksi]

I turned PRSI off in the settings back in May 2020 as I received a 12 month ban. I had decided pretty quickly that I was never going to request access once the 12 months was up.

I sent in a request to get my access back a good while ago, just to see what happened. It was denied and after that I’ve had no wish to actually post in that forum.

I’ve still popped in once in a while to read the forum. They were still banning people for responding to personal insults in kind but letting vile or obviously deceitful post to be left unmoderated.

I’m not sad to see it go at all. MR will be much better off without it. It’s a good decision.

 

[acorntoy]

Well damn it was the easiest way to get suspended. /S

 

[Killbynumbers]

PRSI became my biggest reason for coming here, especially during COVID. I had become so bored with anything Apple over the last year that PRSI was often times the only forum I visited many days.

I didn't participate a lot but I learned a lot. I'll miss it.

 

[JT2002TJ]

I am part of several forums, each have a political section. This was the only one that had a higher level of rules applied. There are very few places that require sources, and the level of one's sources are scrutinized. The discussions remind me of college level topics/responses from my master's degree, while other forums remind me of middle school/high school.

I am 100% sad to see this section go, it was my go to section. I mostly was a observer, but when I felt I had something worth saying, I would jump in.

IMHO, Apple products do not come out frequently enough to justify as large a forum as this is. What keeps this such a go to forum is all the other things, the filler. One of which is/was the PRSI section. I have been one of those members that comes to read rumored features (to determine if the next version hardware is worth the upgrade), and/or to find solutions after a major OS update. What has kept me coming back (daily) over the past few years, has been the PRSI section.

I will likely return to once/twice a year forum viewing, I imagine there will be others as well. Sad to see it go.

I agree with other people's suggestions that for information/reading purposes, the section should be brought back in a Read Only status. There are plenty of good reading threads, and great sources posted for additional reading. This would at least give me the filler I'm looking for between the 2-3 times a year Apple releases new products.

 

[decafjava]

If that is how one saw the guidelines & rules, that would explain a thing or two.

For many though it was using articles, papers, and other such things that could be easily verified by anyone else reading on their own.

Which is what I enjoyed about PRSI, people providing sourcing for their claims meant I'd have access to learn something I wasn't aware of before. I've always said the true strength of PRSI was both it's not falling into a raging cesspool that other comment sections & forums were, and that it could offer insight to things one wasn't aware of.

Honestly I wrote earlier many of your posts have been very enlightening to me - as have many others. I really wish the forum could be archived.

 

[ericgtr12]

I am part of several forums, each have a political section. This was the only one that had a higher level of rules applied. There are very few places that require sources, and the level of one's sources are scrutinized. The discussions remind me of college level topics/responses from my master's degree, while other forums remind me of middle school/high school.

I am 100% sad to see this section go, it was my go to section. I mostly was a observer, but when I felt I had something worth saying, I would jump in.

IMHO, Apple products do not come out frequently enough to justify as large a forum as this is. What keeps this such a go to forum is all the other things, the filler. One of which is/was the PRSI section. I have been one of those members that comes to read rumored features (to determine if the next version hardware is worth the upgrade), and/or to find solutions after a major OS update. What has kept me coming back (daily) over the past few years, has been the PRSI section.

I will likely return to once/twice a year forum viewing, as I imagine there will be others. Sad to see it go.

I agree with others suggestions that for information/reading purposes, the section should be brought back in a Read Only status. There are plenty of good reading, and great sources posted. This would at least give me the filler I'm looking for between the 2-3 times a year Apple releases new products.

If you had college professors analyzing your paper with well thought out claims that would be one thing, but that's not the case. You have unpaid mods getting dozens of reports per day of petty nitpicking partisan, and often arbitrary, claims.

How in the world can one expect this stuff to be thoroughly and properly vetted on a message board under these circumstances? I would argue that it's more like highschool already with "nu huh, prove it!!" rather than thoughtful and considerate debate.

 

[rotlex]

Sorry to see it go, but fully understand the reasons. I didn't post much, but visited often as there was always some interesting discussion. I did notice, maybe just me, that over the past years things seemed to get nastier and nastier. What used to seem like one of the better forums for this type of discussion started turning into every other forum with politics out there. Personal attacks, no one seeing the others point of view etc. It's a shame people can't hold argumentative yet civil discussions on these topics anymore. I guess it's the anonymous nature of the internet.

Ah well, it's been fun.

 

[JT2002TJ]

If you had college professors analyzing your paper with well thought out claims that would be one thing, but that's not the case. You have unpaid mods getting dozens of reports per day of petty nitpicking partisan, and often arbitrary, claims.

How in the world can one expect this stuff to be thoroughly and properly vetted on a message board under these circumstances? I would argue that it's more like highschool already with "nu huh, prove it!!" rather than thoughtful and considerate debate.

Relative to other forums that I am part of, this is a PhD level... You are welcome to join one of the motorcycle forums I frequent where their is a member that starts 10-15 threads a day, mostly posting memes from Qanon and Stop the Steal without any actual words of his own. It is so bad, I don't even open the section, because it is just meme after meme and no discussions. I just looked in the first 5 pages of threads, there are 5 threads started by other members.

 

[ericgtr12]

Relative to other forums that I am part of, this is a PhD level... You are welcome to join one of the motorcycle forums I frequent where their is a member that starts 10-15 threads a day, mostly posting memes from Qanon and Stop the Steal without any actual words of his own. It is so bad, I don't even open the section, because it is just meme after meme and no discussions. I just looked in the first 5 pages of threads, there are 5 threads started by other members.

I definitely agree that MR is far more highbrow than this. Any site letting users like you're describing here overrun their site like that isn't being managed properly IMO.

 

[mollyc]

I understand the decision, and I definitely witnessed unbecoming behavior at times. But I learned a great deal over the years, reading about issues I didn't know about, and appreciated the well reasoned, yet opposing opinions offered on so many topics.

I hope it re-opens at some point.

 

[tgara]

This is a good decision, and I won't be sorry to see PRSI go. There are plenty of other forums to talk about politics.

Political news as it relates to Apple and tech, however, is an important topic today and deserves discussion and debate. I hope debate on that forum remains civil and constructive.

 

[Huntn]

Politics is just the "P" in PRSI

We also lost Religion and Social Issues in the great MacRumors forum purge of 2021

That is quite a blow. Just to confirm, religious and social topics are no longer allowed at MacRumors say plunked in the Community forum?

 

[Allyance]

I will miss the Tr**p Humor Thread, lot very creative stuff there.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I will miss the Tr**p Humor Thread, lot very creative stuff there.

Yes... that was the thread I visited the most! ?

In fact... that's how I discovered PRSI was gone. I found some funny images on Twitter and I came here to share them.

Oops...

 

[Khalanad75]

I honestly really liked PRSI for the world views I got to see.

Much of what Brexit was and what it really meant I learned from threads here.

US news focuses so much on us it is sometimes hard to know what’s going on with the rest of the world.