Or unfortunately. By the way, is it forbidden on the forums to talk these kind of themes?
We can talk about anything gaming related as long as it's civil, everyone respects alternative points of view and it's in a relevant thread rather than off topic. And I don't think it's on topic here, especially as there have been other similar points raised in the ASIs thread that is also live at the moment and I don't see the value of having two threads turn into basically the same discussion. So I would definitely say that we should keep any political discussion there, where it is more relevant.
More generally, I personally don't think it's usually appropriate to bemoan the state of the world on a gaming forum, because it's basically dragging in wider politics that no doubt some people here will agree with and others won't, but none of us are here to discuss. Or at least we shouldn't be here to discuss that, given there are plenty of other places on the web! Plus it's not very fair to just spout our own opinions on non-gaming stuff if everyone else isn't going to be able to do the same, so that sounds like a slippery slope to me. So if someone says something I don't really agree with on that front, I'm probably going to say that I don't think we should be discussing it rather than start actually debating whether the world is going to hell in a handcart and, if it is, why it is.
But whether I put my moderator hat on formally is always going to depend on the tone of the discussion and whether someone is as willing to listen as to speak, and on there being no insults or personal attacks (either on people contributing here or who may be reading, which basically means everyone). I hope it's generally clear from my tone and what I say whether I'm making a friendly suggestion that I aim to help keep the discussion on track and constructive, and when I'm actually laying down the law, but feel free to PM me if it's not on any occasion, and I'll use your feedback to help make myself clearer in future.
"You may call it 'nonsense' if you like, but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!"
