Proliferation of covid threads

Can we please have just one covid thread in General, like we have one Windows v. Linux thread and one for religion?

The original covid thread was started at the beginning of the pandemic (I think by Lysander) and for a long while, it worked very well. But since the vaccines came in, there has been a proliferation of anti-vax threads. We don't need all this. One is enough and anyone who starts a new one should have his thread locked and be redirected to use the existing thread.

Ah ... general. Blocked it ages ago. Guess I'm not missing anything of note.

Originally Posted by syg00 Ah ... general. Blocked it ages ago. Guess I'm not missing anything of note.

No, you aren't.

Well, as always there's one or two relatively sane voices, but the cacophony of misinformation, FUD, conspiration mythology, a generous splash of Dunning-Kruger effect and misanthropic trolls like myself, always buries everything else in the end.

Looking at it that way, a "Covid Megathread" would make some sense.

I see it differently. Some posters don't like others' opinions and resort to personal attacks and ridicule. Those who believe they're in posession of all the facts, shout others down and it goes round in circles endlessly. Why don't the lot of you take it to $SOCIALMEDIA and chatter away and speculate and quote stats over there...?

Isn't it just a handful of individuals that keep doing this?

It's simple, Covid arrived, vaccines were produced, the sensible people went & got theirs.....

Originally Posted by dugan Isn't it just a handful of individuals that keep doing this?

Very much so. We have a small but very vocal group of anti-vaxxers and some other people like enorbet who seem to think it's their moral duty to try to convince those people to change their minds. I don't object to that, but why do we have to have so many parallel threads on a matter which has nothing to do with Linux?

Let's give them a walled garden where they can go and throw apples at each other as much as they like, and it will be relatively easy for those who are bored by the whole discussion to unsubscribe permanently from that thread.

Originally Posted by fatmac It's simple, Covid arrived, vaccines were produced, the sensible people went & got theirs.....

You should join the thread, you'll feel right at home...

Originally Posted by hazel Very much so. We have a small but very vocal group of anti-vaxxers and some other people like enorbet who seem to think it's their moral duty to try to convince those people to change their minds. I don't object to that, but why do we have to have so many parallel threads on a matter which has nothing to do with Linux? Let's give them a walled garden where they can go and throw apples at each other as much as they like, and it will be relatively easy for those who are bored by the whole discussion to unsubscribe permanently from that thread.

You are however, part of those threads... so you're essentially complaining about the threads you are contributing to. Then you generalise and label certain people "anti-vaxxers", when from what I have read - they are clearly not. So instead of confining it to that thread, you are ramming your opinion into this thread as well...

The way to stop those threads, is to actually stop contributing. The threads are not scientific, not medical, not fact based - that goes for both sides of the argument.

Given the general misinformation and bickering in these threads, it seems like the best short term path is a moratorium on the topic. I'll go through and close all threads shortly.

--jeremy

Originally Posted by cynwulf The way to stop those threads, is to actually stop contributing.

Agreed, but it's easy to forget that attempting to contribute is counter-productive.

A way to ignore specific threads (without ignoring the entire forum) might have helped, but I assume the current software doesn't support that or it'd be on already.

I have suggested before that general should at least have to be "technology" related - tech as in computing, electronics, engineering, etc. That would smash long standing pulpits such as the religious thread and threads about climate change, GM crops, US elections, US gun control and other contentious political or social issues - which go round and round in circles and never achieve anything. The Stallman thread was another one - it shouldnt have turned bad, but it did, then even when it got back on track it was closed.

Originally Posted by cynwulf I have suggested before that general should at least have to be "technology" related - tech as in computing, electronics, engineering, etc.

That's what I would expect, too.

I wouldn't object to that, but how could it be policed? I checked and we have only 4 moderators on that forum. I don't think I know any of them. Could they just close anything they felt was political?

btw I used to be on Linux Forums and istr politics and religion were banned there.

Originally Posted by hazel btw I used to be on Linux Forums and istr politics and religion were banned there.

And it didn't exactly help there, did it? People will find a way to troll any topic to the ground, if unchecked. Moderation is the only way really, whether you allow politics or not.
I feel LQ isn't doing too bad there.
Also remember, if you disallow politics, people will always find fringe topics that have some sort of connection to computers, technology, Linux (e.g. the Stallman topic) - and ride that until the proverbial bar fight breaks out.

Originally Posted by hazel I don't think I know any of them. Could they just close anything they felt was political?

As there is no "forum council" the mechanics of that kind of thing are solely the domain of the admin. My understanding has always been that they wish to avoid that.

Originally Posted by ondoho Also remember, if you disallow politics, people will always find fringe topics that have some sort of connection to computers, technology, Linux (e.g. the Stallman topic) - and ride that until the proverbial bar fight breaks out.

Any thread can turn political, but some are initiated with the main aim of continuing a typical back and forth, with the usual outcomes. The main issue in all such threads, and I've seen this countless times at LQ and elsewhere, is that a clique usual take over and freeze out opposing views, heap on the ridicule and use labels and dismissive language such as "liberals", "SJW", "anti vaxxer", "conspiracy theorist", etc and while demanding citations from others, clearly show that their own "knowledge" is in fact an opinion, backed by their own choice of news media, in turn bolstered up by some carefully cherry picked "research" and stats. Anyone who doubts them and/or their sources is a conspiracy nut - and the circle jerk goes on. The clique believe they have won the argument - group think wins the argument.