A New Community

Éomer of Rohan

Having searched through the various lists and participated in most of the relevent forums which this could slot into, I'd like to ask for a public community board for readers of Private Eye or other politically motivated satirical magazines; Politics is the forum in which I make most of my posts but it seems rather incongruous to have serious political debate and dedicated political satire side by side.

Cloud

Is there a demand for a Political Satire forum? I'll move this to FB to see.

dahamsta

Originally posted by Cloud
Is there a demand for a Political Satire forum? I'll move this to FB to see.

FB2C? English man!

I've had a few things I would have liked to have posted that would be too jocular for Politics and too complimicated for Humour, so I wouldn't mind seeing how a satire forum would go. Mightn't work, but strikes me as one that might be worth a try.

adam

Victor

I would be happy with such a forum. Perhaps indented off politics?

sceptre

I'd love to see this being given a go. Firm thumbs up.

I would also like to see this.
Indented off politics would be a good idea.

mm

Éomer of Rohan

So that is five mods who think it is a good idea - how many more does it normally take Cloud?

Hobbes

Sure why not... as long as we got satire from all sides.

Éomer of Rohan

With Man and me posting regularly? I'd say you probably would get satire from both sides

Cloud

I'd like to hear from a Politics mod...

DapperGent

Good idea.

technobob

Originally posted by Cloud
I'd like to hear from a Politics mod...

there too busy having in depth conversations about death squads

but i also reckon a satire forum would be useful

i wouldnt like to post satire in politics for fear of been banned for been off topic :rolleyes:

Victor

Originally posted by technobob
i wouldnt like to post satire in politics for fear of been banned for been off topic :rolleyes:

Putting a "[Satire]" tag on it should keep you safe.

bonkey

Originally posted by technobob
there too busy having in depth conversations about death squads

No dude....we're organising the boards.ie death-squads....thats why we're busy.

i wouldnt like to post satire in politics for fear of been banned for been off topic :rolleyes:

The first post of a thread can't be off-topic....its bringing the satire into serious discussions that there is an objection to. :rolleyes:

In general, I'm in favour of the idea, as long as there is sufficient co-operation between the mods of the two boards (assuming they are seperate groups) so that the satire forum doesn't become "political discussions for those who don't like the politics mods" and vice versa.

I was thinking of a "political conspiracy" forum some time back for poeple to post their theories (madcap or not) about what is really driving current events....not quite satire, but definitely not something off-centre enough that I would have reservations about it being feasible on the politics forum itself - too many people who'd be too quick to get offended and need to take the topic seriously and all that....

So yeah, in principle I'm for it...

jc

bonkey

As an afterthought - assuming that the forum is created - I would like to see it not become a "copy and paste your favourite (copyrighted) satire here" forum.

I can really see there being a huge temptation for people to start dumping in their daily political cartoon of choice or something, and to be honest I'd be against the forum if that was the intention (or a major reason amongst others).

jc

Victor

Originally posted by bonkey
I was thinking of a "political conspiracy" forum some time back for poeple to post their theories (madcap or not) about what is really driving current events....not quite satire, but definitely not something off-centre enough that I would have reservations about it being feasible on the politics forum itself - too many people who'd be too quick to get offended and need to take the topic seriously and all that....

But you would need two / three separate boards - one for the crackpots and one for the people worse than crackpots. The crackpots would object to the other dragging the board through the gutter and tarnishing it's reputation

The third board would be for plausible things, e.g. someone on a mailing list (for a military gaming scenario) was wondering if the USA could support Israel in the event of Israeli-pan-Arab war and Egypt, Spain and Morocco (or UK) objecting to American intervention. I thought up this scenario last year when Colin Powell did the rounds of guess where (Egypt, Spain and Morocco) when the Saudis and Egyptians started making noises over the way Palestinians were being treated (the particular incident was King Al Saud watching footage of an Israeli soldier with his boot on an old woman's head).

*Unless I am a crackpot and haven't realised it. In that case 2 boards will do.

Éomer of Rohan

It seems that's a thumbs up from JC, so what do you think Cloud?

As for the boards.ie deathsquad JC, can I join or am I somewhere down the list ?:(

Beruthiel

its got my vote
I imagine there'd be some good reading in it

Gordon

Call it "Political Nonsensicals". Ah gwan.

mr_angry

I agree there's a bit of a risk, but I think we should give it a go, and see what happens. If the worst comes to the worst, it can all go down in flames, and the mods can get to use all those banning powers they're just dying to unleash!

p.s. I think I'm angry enough for a deathsquad. Where can I sign up?

The Beer Baron

Obviously I'm all for it.
Ain't been in politics for some time, well, ain't really posted in boards for some time, doing a little prject of my own & had to go cold turkey. That meant not spamming the place with my lofty opinions on the hour every hour- but I haven't gone away so bonkey you can stop crying into your pillow each night.

Really, I'd love it, I think it's a great idea and I thank you Eomar for bringing it up. In all fairness, I think some of the reservations some of you have voiced are speculative at the very least. Far's I can tell it would be a rather quiet, low-traffic affair, but yeah, I'd love to see it happen.
:cool:

swiss

Call me the spoilsport, but I can't really see this taking off. Of course we get the occasional satirical thread, that is part of the very nature of politics. I'm not against satire at all, in fact some websites like www.theonion.com and www.portadownnews.com and even www.evilgerald.com (although they haven't updated it in ages) feature among some of my more regular site visits.

There are two main reasons why I think this may not be a good idea. Firstly, the number of threads based on political satire have been minimal. I don't have necessarily have a problem with this, but it can lead to fragmented discussions where satire is sandboxed and moved to the relevant board, rather than cropping up in the general discussion and banter on the politics board.

Secondly, as bonkey has pointed out, there may be a tendency for some posters to put up their "favourite satirical cartoon of the day" or something to that effect. This can easily be sorted by putting up a sticky that links the main satirical sites, but this would (I feel) pretty much redress the main reason for the existence of the board in the first place.

I would like to propose an alternative however, because I do like satire . I feel we should make it more general than political satire. Satire can encompass relationships, work, commerce, pretty much anything. Of course, if this ethos was adopted then it would fall under the remit of either arts or society, because satire is a form of wit, and as such could be considered an art form.

As stated, I don't especially have a problem with the board, and would be happy to moderate it as I do the other boards I moderate, I just feel that that there is more potential for the board than simply in politics, where it's scope is rather limited.