Post of Political or Religious Nature…

In-Depth Outdoors has and always will be driven to provide the best source of hunting and fishing information on the web. We’ve also allowed a broad range of other topics to be discussed with posts of political or religious content given a cautious “pass” hoping that most members would keep the discussion free of attacks. And for the most part our membership has done a fabulous job of “playing nice.”

Yet we’re still losing new members at an alarming rate as one after another is offended or insulted.

I find it hard to discuss politics with close friends and family members without upsetting a person or two from time to time.

With so many people from a wide range of background, beliefs and personalities visiting this site the hope that we could discuss these same topics here on this site without alienating members of our IDA Family just has not proven a reality.

So…. as a result…. all posts of a political or religious tone will be immediately deleted. My hope is that most all of our members will embrace this descision and focus on the fishing and hunting talk that brought us all here to start.

Any questions, just holler.

PS – The description for this forum has been changed to indicate this new policy.

Thank you.

O.K. probably a good choice.

Will I still be allowed to rip the Vikings and Packers? Or are they considered some sort of religion?

Keep up the good work guy’s, this will make your jobs a little easier.

Thanks for the understanding.

As for sports… go for it.

I agree. Keep up the great work. Thanks for all the great information! MIKE

all posts of a political or religious tone will be immediately deleted.

What about prayer requests? We get those all the time. Seems to me it would be a shame to delete those.

Politics is no big deal.

dd

James,
I could not agree with you more.

There are people on this website who feel compelled to interject their personal views (especially political) on many topics; unfortunately their views can easily insults others. There even has been, and may still be, member signatures that make a mockery of one of our major political parties – that alone could certainly add fuel to the fire to turn away about 50% of the people visiting this website.

I know I am here for fishing information, not to have my beliefs insulted. Those people who must get their fix attempting to persuade everyone in the world to believe as they do can go to any of the hundreds of political or religious websites.

Dave Gulczinski

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all posts of a political or religious tone will be immediately deleted.

What about prayer requests? We get those all the time. Seems to me it would be a shame to delete those.

Politics is no big deal.

dd

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We will definitely allow prayer requests.

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fuel to the fire to turn away about 50% of the people visiting this website.

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We’re talking about a tiny fraction of the total number of people that visit.

But since the site see’s nearly 400,000 visitors a month… even a fraction of 1% is too many visitors to alienate in my opinion.

Thats to bad. I enjoyed alot of the political posts but can see where you are coming from with banning them.

It wasn’t an easy choice, Mike but eventually the enjoyment some took from these posts was outweighed by the number of new members that we were losing because of them.

So much in life comes down to a “this or that” type descision. I hope we’ve made the right one here for the largest number of people.

James,

your quote
”We’re talking about a tiny fraction of the total number of people that visit.
But since the site see’s nearly 400,000 visitors a month… even a fraction of 1% is too many visitors to alienate in my opinion.”

Below are a couple example signatures I have seen in the past that could probably alienate anyone affiliated with the democrat party or an independent, combined these two groups would consist of more than 50% of the population. That was the point I was attempting to make.

IDA Member Signatures:
Liberalism is a disease
LIBERALISM: the haunting fear someone, somewhere can help themselves.

So sad to see. James I for one do not have that thin of skin that I cant handle a few jabs. It seems as Americans we are sacrificing our rights just to make a few happy. I will never quit this site.

There is too much info and fellowship to let personalitys get in the way of principals.

In January I will be sending a support check just to keep this site available to all.

Thank You

paul follmer

I also believe this will be a positive change
I am also glad to hear that most members can understand the need for James to make this decision. For those of us who have been around IDA awhile, know that James doesn’t make these kind of decisions without thinking through all angles and making the best possible decision for the better of the site. James gets my vote for the best webmaster title for the way this site is, has been, and always will be run

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There is too much info and fellowship to let personalitys get in the way of principals.

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Paul

I completely agree. We need to foster the fellowship and let the other “stuff” be dealt with some place other than IDA. My original goal with IDA was to create a place where people could forget all the normal day-to-day worries and hassles and share info with like minded sportsmen to get them through until they were able to get back out on the water or in the woods.

In our growth we might have strayed a little so will consider this to be a re-focusing of our overall goal and direction.

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James,

your quote
”We’re talking about a tiny fraction of the total number of people that visit.
But since the site see’s nearly 400,000 visitors a month… even a fraction of 1% is too many visitors to alienate in my opinion.”

Below are a couple example signatures I have seen in the past that could probably alienate anyone affiliated with the democrat party or an independent, combined these two groups would consist of more than 50% of the population. That was the point I was attempting to make.

IDA Member Signatures:
Liberalism is a disease
LIBERALISM: the haunting fear someone, somewhere can help themselves.

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A tip…

Click on that users name.

Then choose “ignore user.”

You will never see another post from that member again… including signatures.

As a brand new member I definitely say “Good call on this one.” I have been looking over the forums for the past few months. Info on fishing is outstanding, but have been holding off registering because of some of the nonsense in some of the political/religious posts.

Keep up the great work moderators!

TwoBear

Welcome to IDA TwoBear.

Welcome Twobear. Great to have you with us. Please feel free to share and post all you want.

Topics that are going to cause fights just aren’t mean’t for a outdoors fishing and hunting site. IDO allows alot more non fishing/hunting threads/topics than any other outdoors site that I know of. Some don’t even allow any. If we all play fair and stay away from the kind of topics that we know inside will cause fighting then we should be ok. Don’t get me wrong, I have my strong beliefs and I hate seeing America moving away from the way it was created-One nation under God, but a fishing/hunting site is not the site to debate this and talk about it on. We ARE a fishing/hunting site so moving on with our common love for the outdoors will move us forward. ”Thanks.”
Thanks, Bill

Great move.

Does that include wishing somebody Merry Christmas? Or, do I now have to say Happy Holidays for fear of offending a non-Christian? James, I’m sure you pondered this long and hard before making a decision, and indeed this is your site to do as you see fit, but banning religion and politics for fear of offending someone seems rather harsh to me. Does that apply to all references to either subject? Will it apply to waving flags in one’s avatar, or reminding others to get out and vote when the time comes, or how about words of inspiration that have helped many through tough times??? I just believe that regardless of the subject matter the rules say no attacks on another person, right? Well, everyone that signs onto this site has the option to click on a topic and participate in that post or not….if somebody crosses the line why not give that person a PM reminding them of the rules and ban them, rather than the subject, if it happens again? Personally, for me, I really don’t care much for professional sports, yet I see people bashing one team or another. I have the option to not read the post, or not participate in the post by replying and move on to another post that interests me. I don’t become offended, I just move on realizing we all have our opinions. I think it’s the people who attack another member that need to be removed, not the subject!

Go ahead people, blast me….anyone offends me or my postion on this topic and I’ll just sign off and go somewhere else, thus making room for a “new member”. Can’t say that it will make me happy, and I’ll miss many of you I’ve come to know and be friends with, but this seems a form of censorship that could be avoided if people simply followd the rules of engaging one another in their posts.

I say keep the subjects of Politics and Religion and get rid of the rule-breakers instead.

Are politics that include hunting and fishing laws still allowed? I enjoy this site a lot and support decisions that are best for the whole group!

James,
Good call.
I’ll go to church for relgion.
I’m invloved with other sources for my political fix.

I’ll get my outdoor fix here at In-Depth.

Thanks to all the moderators, for all your hard work in keeping this site moving forward and in my opinion Number One.

I’m not putting words into anyone’s mouth…..but I believe the move was done not because “people were offended”, but because “people were getting turned off”. Too much negative vibes were rolling out of the “goofy” political and religious threads.

There are websites out there that cater to political and religious post/forums.

It appears James wants IDA to be a fishing/hunting community, not a political/religous banter community.

Welcome to IDA TwoBear!!!