Current Events > Politics board is CLOSED

(+) Yeah! (+)

Undecided. But 261 was overrun by trolls and bad faith actors who just made more alts when banned. Then again this is the same site that frequently allows racist trolls and pro-Trump shills. Also allowing Admiral to exist.

Admiral was a mod that says alot about this place tbh

mystic_belmont posted...

I really only came to gamefaqs for the politics board, and now that it's gone, I don't think I have a reason to come here instead of Reddit.

Very close to this.

I like the setup of this site. I like that a topic is just one long discussion thread instead of the fractal nature of other sites with comments on comments. I like that topics eventually close and conversations end. I like that it's 1 short line to get your interest in a topic so you can see a lot of topics on one screen without having to scroll. There was a lot of information there. Politics had it's fair share of garbage topics, but those were easy to ignore. Sometimes reading a topic title and the first post wasn't enough to be informed on a topic but when someone in real life brought it up I had a base knowledge to start an interesting conversation instead of just being "no I never heard of that."

Over 10 years ago CE was my main board, and maybe this is still a good spot for me, but I'm not sure.

I was modded once on that board, back in 2023, of course, in the far future of 2055, the whole thing was turned into a wiki, but for a time, many losers gathered together to lose to one another, and it was good.

Is that same group of around 9 or so users who spent dozens (if not hundreds) of accounts over the last 8 years trolling 261 going to behave themselves now that 261 is gone? Absolutely not.

Nothing of value was lost and never liked politics to begin with... it's always a chaotic thing.

bfslick50 posted...

I like the setup of this site. I like that a topic is just one long discussion thread instead of the fractal nature of other sites with comments on comments. I like that topics eventually close and conversations end. I like that it's 1 short line to get your interest in a topic so you can see a lot of topics on one screen without having to scroll. There was a lot of information there. Politics had it's fair share of garbage topics, but those were easy to ignore. Sometimes reading a topic title and the first post wasn't enough to be informed on a topic but when someone in real life brought it up I had a base knowledge to start an interesting conversation instead of just being "no I never heard of that."

Over 10 years ago CE was my main board, and maybe this is still a good spot for me, but I'm not sure.

I feel the same way, about this site. Well not the not sure if it's still good for me part. But I like the design of this website. It's sad that it is slowly dying.

Feyniphia posted...

never liked politics to begin with... it's always a chaotic thing.

So how do you feel about the fact that it affects every single aspect of your life when existing within a society and do you not think it would be beneficial to you to be educated on why & how that is and possibly working towards change where you think necessary?

bfslick50 posted...

I like the setup of this site. I like that a topic is just one long discussion thread instead of the fractal nature of other sites with comments on comments. I like that topics eventually close and conversations end. I like that it's 1 short line to get your interest in a topic so you can see a lot of topics on one screen without having to scroll. There was a lot of information there. Politics had it's fair share of garbage topics, but those were easy to ignore. Sometimes reading a topic title and the first post wasn't enough to be informed on a topic but when someone in real life brought it up I had a base knowledge to start an interesting conversation instead of just being "no I never heard of that."

Over 10 years ago CE was my main board, and maybe this is still a good spot for me, but I'm not sure.

Yea, that's the classic internet forum those of us who've been on the web since the 90's / early 2000's are used to. Wasn't until I saw twitter, reddit and similar sites that had that branched/nested comment style. Not a fan of nested comments - and dont see what's wrong with linear replies like I'm doing to you? Like, everything is sorted by 'hotness' and likes and all that.. some people's opinions get boosted and other's supressed. Goes against the purpose of internet discussions in my opinion - they are supposed to be anonymous and equal.

We went wrong when we started having 'likes' and people started associating real identities with their online accounts. I also notice younger users behave differently online then us old farts.. in my opinion because they don't get the 'anonymous' aspect of it - they grew up with social media. They seem more likely to take offense as if they were defending their real-life image, while an anonymous user has less to fear and less to hide.

IDK why im posting this, just feeling nostalgic. I may start hunting around for classic internet forums.. i believe a handful still exist from the 90's even - like Ars Technica and such.

So I found some old web forums I remember that are still active, and thought I'd share. Ars and Anand both have politics. They have posts going back to the 90's still and are active! Pretty neat that sites like GameFaqs and these are still active in classic forum style. I'm trying to remember some others.

Ones with politics:
https://forums.anandtech.com/forums/politics-and-news.24/
https://arstechnica.com/civis/forums/the-soap-box.24/

I used to visit here a lot too,
https://forums.afterdawn.com/

Tommy_the_Cat_ posted...

Yea, that's the classic internet forum those of us who've been on the web since the 90's / early 2000's are used to. Wasn't until I saw twitter, reddit and similar sites that had that branched/nested comment style. Not a fan of nested comments - and dont see what's wrong with linear replies like I'm doing to you? Like, everything is sorted by 'hotness' and likes and all that.. some people's opinions get boosted and other's supressed. Goes against the purpose of internet discussions in my opinion - they are supposed to be anonymous and equal.

We went wrong when we started having 'likes' and people started associating real identities with their online accounts. I also notice younger users behave differently online then us old farts.. in my opinion because they don't get the 'anonymous' aspect of it - they grew up with social media. They seem more likely to take offense as if they were defending their real-life image, while an anonymous user has less to fear and less to hide.

IDK why im posting this, just feeling nostalgic. I may start hunting around for classic internet forums.. i believe a handful still exist from the 90's even - like Ars Technica and such.

Great post. Just to add, Facebook was the biggest buzzkill to the internet. I miss before all that when it was simple, with AOL, AIM, username instant messaging, the internet was progressing in a certain way until Facebook came along. The idea of it was idiotic, everyone for some reason latched on to Facebook, and it's never been the same.

But this place, with its classic internet style, with its "anonymous" usernames, it's a place that we talk freely about anything under the sun. 261 though did not allow the kind of free flowing discourse that exists everywhere else on this website. It was very controlled and regimented, and now it is gone, so we should rejoice.

radical_rhino posted...

I have no idea why. The politics board was 95% far left

And you just answered your own question.

Tommy_the_Cat_ posted...

Yea, that's the classic internet forum those of us who've been on the web since the 90's / early 2000's are used to. Wasn't until I saw twitter, reddit and similar sites that had that branched/nested comment style. Not a fan of nested comments - and dont see what's wrong with linear replies like I'm doing to you? Like, everything is sorted by 'hotness' and likes and all that.. some people's opinions get boosted and other's supressed. Goes against the purpose of internet discussions in my opinion - they are supposed to be anonymous and equal.

We went wrong when we started having 'likes' and people started associating real identities with their online accounts. I also notice younger users behave differently online then us old farts.. in my opinion because they don't get the 'anonymous' aspect of it - they grew up with social media. They seem more likely to take offense as if they were defending their real-life image, while an anonymous user has less to fear and less to hide.

Yea this board actually feels like a group conversation with a flow. Some of those others you're either just yelling into a void or on the other end of the spectrum you get locked into this intense one-on-one back-and-forth cause there's that added pressure to respond when your name is attached.

Tommy_the_Cat_ posted...

Ones with politics:
https://forums.anandtech.com/forums/politics-and-news.24/
https://arstechnica.com/civis/forums/the-soap-box.24/

I used to visit here a lot too,
https://forums.afterdawn.com/

Thanks for posting this. I'll check those out.

bfslick50 posted...

Yea this board actually feels like a group conversation with a flow. Some of those others you're either just yelling into a void or on the other end of the spectrum you get locked into this intense one-on-one back-and-forth cause there's that added pressure to respond when your name is attached.

Exactly. Attaching your real name and image to your online presence is no good imo. And it's horrible for children's self-image and expectations of themselves. I won't be letting the boy use social media until a reasonable age, if he even decides to use it all. Luckily he's very into classic kid stuff - playing outside, Legos, and very little television. No youtube for the kids either - even youtube kids is just plain awful for the most part - I stick with PBS stuff, Mr rogers, nature stuff, sesame street etc.

Thanks for posting this. I'll check those out.

Honeslty, I can't speak for the quality of those boards these days- its been over a decade since I visited. Afterdawn was my go-to for anything tech related questions.

A lot of radical left wingers posted there, which is a bit inappropriate. It's best to have an inclusive politics forum, full of radical left and right wingers.

tremain07 posted...

The worst part of this is Tails won

How do you figure?

Tails thinks the mods are all out to get him, instead of just modding his bigoted horseshit.

I didn't see any mass mod purges or anything. All I saw was the closing of a board that Tails, Pooh, scorp, SMAL, and a bunch of others couldn't quit, despite how many times they'd been told they and their thoroughly shitty, abhorrent, bigoted views weren't welcome.

Some "win".

CEMen: "We hate 261 and are glad its gone!"

Also CEMen: "We are going to make 10 topics per day about 261!!!"

blue42972 posted...

radical left wingers

Definitely sounds made up.

Derwood posted...

CEMen: "We hate 261 and are glad its gone!"

Also CEMen: "We are going to make 10 topics per day about 261!!!"

Lol

DIstance77 posted...

Great post. Just to add, Facebook was the biggest buzzkill to the internet. I miss before all that when it was simple, with AOL, AIM, username instant messaging, the internet was progressing in a certain way until Facebook came along. The idea of it was idiotic, everyone for some reason latched on to Facebook, and it's never been the same.

But this place, with its classic internet style, with its "anonymous" usernames, it's a place that we talk freely about anything under the sun. 261 though did not allow the kind of free flowing discourse that exists everywhere else on this website. It was very controlled and regimented, and now it is gone, so we should rejoice.

Yeah well said, agreed.

Kradek posted...

So how do you feel about the fact that it affects eve

I'll just worry about my own life. Grass is greener on this side. I'll let those interested in politics play that game. They'll be plenty of places which will allow it.

I dont like to talk politics is a red flag, up there with similar claims like Im a moderate