I don’t recall there being a hard ban, and there is some election-related political talk that I can find in the archives, so I think it was more people voluntarily following an implicit norm.
BTW, has the LW mod team given any thought to how to make political discussions here safer, instead of discouraging them? It seems like we (meaning most people interested in rationality) can’t avoid politics forever, and I already regret not learning more about it earlier.
We definitely talk some about it. I don’t currently have any super precise takeaways that aren’t highly context-dependent, but could try writing up some things.
I do also want to note that the goal is not necessarily to discourage the discussion in a blanket way. I generally think that political discussion between long-time members with lower visibility is good and productive, and some of the goals here are to allow that to happen, without deteriorating in predictable ways.
To clarify, in case my intended meaning didn’t get across, by “how to make political discussions here safer”, in addition to “not deteriorating in predictable ways” I also mean “how to not get LW embroiled in controversy and associated with politically incorrect ideas in the minds of outsiders (and thereby drive away members who are legitimately afraid of being associated with a place that is associated with politically incorrect ideas) just because we argue in good faith about them instead of loudly denouncing/banning them”.
I don’t recall there being a hard ban, and there is some election-related political talk that I can find in the archives, so I think it was more people voluntarily following an implicit norm.
BTW, has the LW mod team given any thought to how to make political discussions here safer, instead of discouraging them? It seems like we (meaning most people interested in rationality) can’t avoid politics forever, and I already regret not learning more about it earlier.
We definitely talk some about it. I don’t currently have any super precise takeaways that aren’t highly context-dependent, but could try writing up some things.
I do also want to note that the goal is not necessarily to discourage the discussion in a blanket way. I generally think that political discussion between long-time members with lower visibility is good and productive, and some of the goals here are to allow that to happen, without deteriorating in predictable ways.
To clarify, in case my intended meaning didn’t get across, by “how to make political discussions here safer”, in addition to “not deteriorating in predictable ways” I also mean “how to not get LW embroiled in controversy and associated with politically incorrect ideas in the minds of outsiders (and thereby drive away members who are legitimately afraid of being associated with a place that is associated with politically incorrect ideas) just because we argue in good faith about them instead of loudly denouncing/banning them”.
I posted my reply to this as a post. Can you ping users on posts?
You mean tag people so they get notified, like on FB? I don’t think you can. Just send them a PM with the link, I guess.