My 2 cent s - revoke my membership if necessary
I could see this thread was headed in a bad direction and I opted out. So, I didn't see everything that was posted. I pick and choose the threads I'll participate in and if the thread is of a political nature, I'll bypass it completely or I'll post something completely unrelated to pull it in another direction.
I spent that last I-don't-know-how-many years participating in another hobby chat site that at one time was the best place on the Internet. Everyone shared their hobby, everyone got along, it was a wonderful community. And then one day one woman started posting her political views and would not stop. Eventually other people with opposing views got irritated and started shooting back. It got ugly. The community broke into factions. Previous friends became enemies and chat became almost all political. There was no longer any discussion about the reason why people came to the place in the first place, to discuss their shared hobby and other shared interest. People who had been there for years and years started to leave, including myself. Two weeks ago, the webmaster asked people to vote whether the site should stay up or be killed. I voted to kill it, because it disgraced the memory of the beautiful place that it once was. Last week, after about a 7 year run, the site was executed. Gone.
Some people think that can't happen here. It's happened in a bunch of places where it could never happen. Just my two cents, but make this site a no politics zone to avoid one potential problem area. I joined this site to get away from that.
Secondly, this is the funniest place that I know of on the Internet. I find the whole concept of this site hilarious in and of itself and seeing a new member calling himself Pulsematic, for example, to me, is inherently funny. It just doesn't get old. And many of the people here are absolutely hilarious. They write well and they are imminently skilled in turning a phrase just the right way to make you laugh. I have never seen so many skilled humorists in once place and that is one of the reasons why I love this site. I have literally had tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard here. Having said that, it is possible to write in such a way that you get your point across so that adults know what you are getting at while it is PG or less. Someone mentioned clever innuendo above. I find humor to be better and funnier when it is executed in such a way where an adult can pick up on the double entendres or the turn of the phrase while it seems perfectly harmless on the surface to the casual (read younger) reader. I'm saying that if we police ourselves, we can retain our wonderful sense of humor and never cross that line into vulgar or explicit. They are not mutually excusive and in fact, challenges you to hone your skills. It's easy to be vulgar and explicit and it's not as funny, in my humble opinion. Someone could point out that I may have gotten dangerously close to crossing the line a couple of times and I'd accept that, but I have consistently made every attempt to never cross the line and if we all measured what we posted carefully, there wouldn't be a need to be monitored.
And finally, here's where I think I run the risk of getting into trouble here. It obvious that the majority of members here lean in a certain direction. I was born artsy and have lived an entirely artsy existence, so I am perfectly comfortable here and I have never been offended. Everyone should feel free to be themselves and be comfortable doing that. However, when the discourse in this direction is so overwhelming and overt and manages to find its way into so many threads, you run the risk of alienating other appliance lovers who do not have the same leanings. If you don't care, you don't care, and that's fine. But I tried to make this point in a subtle and humorous way in the past, because I think the best humor has a grain of truth about it. Everyone wants to feel comfortable and free and accepted for being who they are and INCLUDED. From an outside point of view, because of the overtness mentioned above, this place can give the impression that it is exclusionary and not inclusionary. Which I think is somewhat ironic, because wanting to be accepted and included is the fight, is it not?
So, that's my 2 cents on the subject. Bottom line is self-policing and measured restraint while retaining all the qualities of what makes this place the greatest place on the Internet is the way to go.