> People don't seem to get that you can compartmentalize
There is probably a difficult-to-find balance to define for this, regarding technology.
The reason why:
- Technology is everywhere and a separation is difficult. Even the human body is technology.
- Technology exists in order to solve problems. These problems grow everywhere, in all aspects/areas of our life. And they must be discussed by technologists as much as everybody else so adequate solutions can be created (be they a business or a non-profit project).
But that ignore the other kinds of discussion, where there is nothing deeply interesting being said. The discussions where people enter with fixed views, and argue from those viewpoints, and cherry pick the data that supports their viewpoints, and ignore the data that argues against their viewpoints.
The intensely, but shallowly, interesting articles are harmful.
I like the light-touch user moderation applied so far, but maybe it's time for a few trusted long time members to have a down-vote hammer - a button that gives between 3 to 10 instant downvotes - to help moderate unsuitable behaviour, and a megaflag - something that gives super powerful flags to move stuff off the front page.
I agree. Well-kept gardens die by pacifism [0]. It's not the "political" topics per se that should be eliminated, but the "discussions where people enter with fixed views, and argue from those viewpoints, and cherry pick the data that supports their viewpoints, and ignore the data that argues against their viewpoints" - these should be constantly and consistently downvoted to hell and below.
There is probably a difficult-to-find balance to define for this, regarding technology.
The reason why:
- Technology is everywhere and a separation is difficult. Even the human body is technology.
- Technology exists in order to solve problems. These problems grow everywhere, in all aspects/areas of our life. And they must be discussed by technologists as much as everybody else so adequate solutions can be created (be they a business or a non-profit project).