INFO! Politics, The Barber Shop and You
- Thread starter djh
- Start date
Indeed, he’s in the minority!
Bill and Opus.
simon1
Self Ignored by Vista
Can we discuss red chowder vs. white chowder?
That's racist there buddy...it should be Native American Chowder vs. Caucasian Chowder.
Okay...no politics.
There was this hippie that walked into the Southern bar....
Dave Allen was one of the funniest stand-ups (sit-downs sounds so wrong) ever
That's racist there buddy...it should be Native American Chowder vs. Caucasian Chowder.
Okay...no politics.
There was this hippie that walked into the Southern bar....
Are you the fella with green teeth?
He’s a spy for the FBI.
Yes, he was. Being Irish, many assumed that there was whiskey in his glass. It was ginger ale.
Well I'm Irish, and there was a time in my life when there was an Ale whenever I was sitting. And sometimes when I was standing.
simon1
Self Ignored by Vista
Naw...I'm the one wiff no teef.
In the days before PC he'd puff away and spin his stories, he was pretty controversial in his day. He really upset the establishment with this one: "We spend our lives on the run. We get up by the clock, eat and sleep by the clock, go to work by the clock, get up again, go to work – and then we retire. And what do they give us? A f*cking clock." I thought it was hilarious!
He got in a LOT of trouble for some of the stuff he did about the Catholic Church ...
To the guys who thought political talk was already no longer allowed, you're right. Here's how I remember it:
A-way back in the day, politics were allowed. Unfortunately, it didn't go very well.
There were some very heated discussions, and the mods asked those involved to try to keep their emotions in check, and keep things civil, or words to that effect, (I would think.) They tried, they really tried...But in the end, Joel himself posted a message, saying (I'm paraphrasing, after all it's been a long time ...) basically that political discussion will no longer be allowed here at B&B.
Duggo
A-way back in the day, politics were allowed. Unfortunately, it didn't go very well.
There were some very heated discussions, and the mods asked those involved to try to keep their emotions in check, and keep things civil, or words to that effect, (I would think.) They tried, they really tried...But in the end, Joel himself posted a message, saying (I'm paraphrasing, after all it's been a long time ...) basically that political discussion will no longer be allowed here at B&B.
Duggo
Who's Joel?
Joel's post from September, 2008:
Alright ladies/gents - I'm embarrassed to say the recent outbreak of ungentlemanly behavior and relentless political debates (99% of the time between the same small group of 10 or so people about essentially the exact same thing) has gotten to the point whereby we've received so many complaints, we can no longer sit back.
There are fellas here who only participate in the barbershop - and primarily political threads (and do so in a way which irritates others), if you look at their post history, you literally have to go back hundreds of posts to find even one related to shaving. While this is the "barber shop" this is NOT a debate tournament, nor is this a political forum. There are are over 20 public forum sections on this site - and with a quick glance you can quickly/easily tell all but 1 or 2 directly relate to the name and topic of the site.
The bottom line - even in a barbershop... you've got to get your hair cut at some point or they'll ask you to leave. This is not a "free speech" forum, and has never pretended to be - the barbershop exists to shoot the breeze among friends... not to purposely argue the same topic 30X, intentionally get a rise out of others, or generally be a jerk. It's also not the primary (or even secondary) reason to be a member of this forum..... B&B is not about pushing personal agenda's, promoting your own beliefs - or arguing about 'em. It's a forum about gentlemanly pursuits.... if you're here to battle politics, please - go elsewhere.
Just to be clear - very civil and gentlemanly discussions on current events/politics are welcome - however arguments are not (no matter how right you are, or think you are - you'll NEVER change someone's opinion on an issue on a shaving forum, and in the history of B&B it's never happened once on a political issues) ungentlemanly, rude, antagonizing or insulting behavior of ANY kind will not be tolerated.
If those who only participate in political threads continue to argue the same 3-4 issues relentlessly, we'll turn off their ability to see/read/post to the barbershop entirely. Further, if we as ADULTS cannot act in the manner expected, and with the courtesy we would give our friends/neighbors face to face - ALL political/religious discussion will go the way of the dodo.
Frankly the two aforementioned topics, not germane to the vision of this site have caused 4X more problems for the mod team than ALL other topics combined, and it's getting tiring to see the same small group, battle over the same 3-4 things month after month.
If you come here to discuss gentlemanly pursuits - this should not and will not affect you - even RE: the political threads. If you come here to argue, or talk politics "get your hair cut" and take a permanent break from these threads/topics or we'll send Timmy after you... and he's not known for his compassion. Ladies/Gentlemen.... you've been warned - and the expectations and consequences have been clearly laid out.
Well, there used to be a general tolerance of polite and gentlemanly discussion of political issues. Just not letting things drift into arguments. That appears to have now changed. It's unfortunate that things got to the point that the current management crew had to take this additional step, but there we have it.
I've been a member of B&B for well over a decade, and spend a fair bit of that time serving as a Moderator (but not for a while though.) Throughout that time, I have been consistently impressed by the quality of both our membership, and our moderator team. Guys come and go (in both groups), but the quality remains. There's a small number of guys who come to B&B and need "extra attention" to control their argumentativeness, and if they are left unchecked they make things less pleasant for all ... and so we end up with threads like this.
Threads like this are kind of like the "warning: contents hot" labels on coffee cups ... almost all of us already "get it" without a single word being said, but there are those few ... those silly few ... who need just about everything spelled out for them (and still get a nasty case of latte lap.) Oh well.
Good post from 10 years back. To be honest, I am not sure why anyone wants to debate / argue on an internet forum - we could start a thread "Things Never Posted on an Internet Forum" and one of the top things will be getting a response saying "Gosh, all these years I have been wrong about my political views, but thanks to this debate, I see it now!"
Mind you, it is interesting being in Singapore right now with The Summit happening tomorrow.
Mind you, it is interesting being in Singapore right now with The Summit happening tomorrow.
Who's Joel?
Well to be fair, he hasn't been around lately and a lot of people wouldn't even know who he was even when he was since his signature only references the site. When I started about 4 years ago he wasn't very active and I had no idea either for the longest time. I got the impression that Jim had taken over the main operations of the B&B site administration but I really don't know much about the business side of this site.
I remember when there was a rule change in BST, and Joel wasn't up on it. Someone called him out, then a moderator let the person know that he (Joel) was the site owner. Said person was given the custom title "BST Enforcer" (I believe). It was quite comical at the time.
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