Monzo forum - Opt-in categories for general debates?

[leonardh (Leonard)]

@anon40779440

if people break the guidelines they can be opted out of that category, but not banned from the forum.

LOL. Sounds like you want to be able to say what you want without getting banned. To which I’d said do that one somewhere else…like Twitter.

@anon40779440

For the forums I run, we have group owners of the politics categories (and the owners are a mixture of lefties and right-wingers). When opting in to political chat, the user requests access to the politics group, and there is a pre-filled message stating “I agree to the following guidelines… etc”.

If you’ve already got forums where you can discuss politics why do you need to do it here…?

[anon4562461]

It’s a shame there’s not countless other places to discuss politics than a bank forum. Crying shame.

[anon40779440]

@alexs

Ok let’s say it’s not you but it’s another user that has controversial views (because yours definitely weren’t), we’d still have the same problem wouldn’t we?

“Controversial” is a very relative term. In a healthy and inclusive forum, we include people with strong views, try to understand the lived experiences that built them, and try to reason with those people on a respectful, human level.

We might find that people’s strong views (on both the far-left and far-right) either a) become less strong or b) are considered less controversial. This depends on having a civilised chat, and not bullying people away to other forums.

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

@anon40779440

We might find that people’s strong views (on both the far-left and far-right) either a) become less strong or b) are considered less controversial.

I don’t think this is the place to try to achieve that.

The point is, there would be a lot of arguments which needs a lot of moderation & there’s almost no benefit for Monzo.

[anon40779440]

@alexs

I don’t think this is the place to try to achieve that.

The point is, there would be a lot of arguments which needs a lot of moderation & there’s almost no benefit for Monzo.

If, say, the moderators wanted to ban politics / ethics discussion from the Monzo forum, then its up to them. I’d totally understand the reasoning.

But what mods may find is that it’s actually harder work trying to nip politics and ethics chat in the bud on an ongoing basis across the whole forum.

[cookywook (Richard Cook)]

Hey all

Right now, I’m not interested in creating a separate area (even opt-in) in the forum for ‘debates’. I can’t see much value in it, and I think it would just create more work for the mods if we were actively encouraging these kind of topics.

Personally, I don’t think the Monzo Community Forum is the right place online to come for political/societal debate. We have a General Chat category for off-topic discussion (and there’s some great topics in there!), and I think that’s enough for now

[Demmedelusive (Graham)]

Yes, the General Chat category certainly feels like its the place for all things non-Monzo. Special arrangements not needed.

As to discouraging political / societal discussion, with a forum membership so diverse (and articulate) in every respect? I’d rather enable folk to have their say and have normal forum rules apply.

I just hope not to see or hear the word “genitalia” any time soon .

[anon4562461]

Excellent news, for all your political chat, please make your way to the Starling forums.

A win all round I think.

https://community.starlingbank.com