I would like to explain why moderation cracks down on those posts even when it (rarely) starts out as a fair discussion. After a few weeks of being a moderator, my impression of those threads is that they:
1. Almost always end up in a very bad and/or dark place.
2. Are magnets for bad actors who are not mainstays of this community.
3. Veer into off-topic territory when the discussion is about the problem of certain modern politics in general, rather than how one experiences a video game.
If these discussions were solely made up of long-term posters who are known to be good faith actors with level heads and respect for all, I think we would be less inclined to shut them down. The problem is that it attracts people who are not that way, and the subject matter, combined with the hostility of bad actors, tends to alienate a significant part of the community which feels either dehumanized or "problematized" by the subject and its rhetoric. As a result, there is a slight imperative to be better safe than sorry and engage in the occasional preemptive strike.
I understand. I recognize it's a very difficult balance. Sometimes I just can't help but bark at the moon.
And I would never in a million years want to be a moderator and have to deal with those decisions.
