I don't know how you guys do it...

[LLR]

...And by that I mean, I don't know how you put up with this place. Let it be clear - I'm not leaving. I would never be able to do that. But, God, this place has really turned to sh**t. I mean, the Presidential boards are all filled with Nazis, delusional Trumpists, and people who think Elizabeth Warren is more unelectable than al-Baghdadi and Tulsi Gabbard is the left's savior and will win a 50 state landslide. Those boards never get any news put on them, it's meaningless speculation and poor Morden trying to keep everyone on topic. It's not like the rest of the site is better, either. Every day a new spammer appears, and 2 of the 3 modadmins (i. e. people who can do anything about it) are inactive as hell. The midterm boards are also full of [Random name] could run for [Insignificant house seat].

And that's not the worst of it. Every Individual Politics thread is a page-long argument between two people who are usually both wrong. I'm not yearning for the glory days of eight years ago - I wasn't here then. I'm yearning for the "glory days" of ing April 2016, when I thought it was pretty bad. There's no reason to check any of the political boards any more, because they're all boring or idiotic or both. Moderators are incompetent, unwilling to ban literal Nazis because "opinions ", but flipping out over swears and stuff. Everything meaningful on this site has gone to sh**t. And god bless the few of you (Averroes, Virginia, etc.) who try to keep everyone's heads on straight, but it's a real uphill battle.

Again, I won't leave - I have too much of a commitment, especially to Atlasia and Lumine's board and sh**t (God, for once, that's the good part! What a crazy place this is). I know that leaving or whatever will only make the problem worse, but it's infuriating. There's just nothing left outside of the bottom five boards that's worth it for me to keep checking. I only get myself mad. AAD does all this stuff better, and I'm not just saying this to shamelessly promote the better, elitist forum like most people. They do everything better over there, and it's so much more worthwhile to spend time on an intelligent, well-moderated, civil forum than this hellhole.

I wish you all luck, and I hope we can find a way out of this mess, because, God, it looks bleak.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I just focus on things and people that I enjoy interacting with, including the OP. I've been here for seven years and I think I developed thicker skin in the process.

Some stuff I just ignore.

[Phony Moderate]

I'm not yearning for the glory days of eight years ago

Err... 

[Virginiá]

I largely tune out the things I find annoying. I'm pretty good at that, although sometimes I get fed up with some things. I mean, for boards like the 2020 presidential election, given that its 2017 right now almost by default the purpose of that board is pure speculation. Personally, I avoid it most of the time. As for the Nazis, well, Trump won, and I imagine for whatever party actually wins, the other party will see a slight decline in representation on the forum as some of its members cut back activity or disappear entirely, and members of the winning party show up in greater numbers, emboldened by their God King.

I'm tempted to say that many of the problems you listed are almost inherent in any large political forum. Administration could try aggressively regulating membership here, but then you'd end up with a ton of people in an uproar about unfair bans/nazi moderation teams/etc. I guarantee it. It's really a no-win situation in this regard. In regards to AAD - well, AAD is still dependent on Atlas. I like to think of it as, like, a distilled version or something. Also, from what I can tell, a lot of the users you seek to see more from left Atlas and now post mostly on AAD, so that kind of reinforces the problems you speak of on this board, no?

Just my 2 cents.

[afleitch]

Yes, this forum is a sh!thole.

[Torie]

What percentage of active posters would need to be banned, in order to make this site a shining city on a hill? And what are the odds that there would ever be a consensus as to whether of not that esteemed state has been effected after the mass bannings have been completed?

It kinds of reminds me of Iraq. Don't make a regime change until you have a high level of knowledge and confidence as to what will replace it over time, and for that matter elsewhere, and what the ensuing body count will be as one moves from A to B.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Use the ignore function. Mine is maxed out, but that leaves 10 unbearable people or so. I think that's why I don't get this outraged

[Santander]

Nah, "expressing my opinions" is too much fun.

[parochial boy]

The International Elections board is very good. I don't venture out of it that much, so can't comment on the rest.

Also, I've see the rest of the internet, spend a week on Yahoo Answers or something and that will put this place in context

[This account no longer in use.]

You are totally right.

[SATW]

You are very right, but like others said, its just better to ignore 'em sometimes.

[Lambsbread]

It's an internet forum.

[dead0man]

the "I'm not leaving but if I was here's why" are worse than the "I'm leaving and here's why" threads.  who knew?

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Nah, "expressing my opinions" is too much fun.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Well, I haven't been here long enough to have any context, and I do enjoy some of it, I guess since for many years I was the only one I knew who was really interested in politics
I do hope the conversation becomes more respectful, but that's the internet. Personally, I'm waiting to be able  to discuss the probable Israeli elections which might come here, especially since the ones here who are invested in Israeli politics bring a lot of interesting insight.

[Meclazine for Israel]

"Boring" is a state of mind endured by teenagers who have not had sex yet.

[LLR]

"Boring" is a state of mind endured by teenagers who have not had sex yet.

And why is that important

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

What's with mods "banning" people? You guys realize like only two people outside of Dave can do that, right?

[Crumpets]

I agree with the election boards, for now, when there's really nothing to talk about except for wanton speculation. At the same time, I think the US General Discussion and International General Discussion are both bright spots. I suspect as we get closer to 2018 the Congressional and Gubernatorial boards will improve as well. I found the forum at about this point in the last political cycle, and it was pretty much my go-to source for the 2014 midterms. So I think it's more of a cycle than an overall decline.

[The_Doctor]

I recommend ignoring people, being snarky to the racists and responding to smart people here. The Trumpists are entertaining because their contortions are usually incredible to watch. Honestly half will drop out by 2018, a quarter will “convert” and the remainder will continue being a source of mockery. I expect a ton of Republicans to quickly become pro Pence and renounce Trump by 2019 to 2020.

As for the left I find them a lot more tolerable so I can manage that

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

What's with mods "banning" people? You guys realize like only two people outside of Dave can do that, right?

Wait... you mean mods are not all-powerful?

This is shocking.

[Meclazine for Israel]

"Boring" is a state of mind endured by teenagers who have not had sex yet.

And why is that important

You cannot criticize others for being boring.

It is a "state of mind" that you endure or perceive.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

I just ignore the bad and focus on the good. There are still a lot of great posters, and the rest I just simply ignore.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Tbh what I don't understand is why people take the time and effort required to write these long rants about how awful the forum is. I don't disagree, but what's the point? What will it accomplish?

[DavidB.]

Tbh what I don't understand is why people take the time and effort required to write these long rants about how awful the forum is. I don't disagree, but what's the point? What will it accomplish?

Attention.