Its not just that "Sometimes the PRSI forums can get bad" (emphasis added), its also increasing the time and effort that the volunteer staff needs to dedicate in dealing with the "bad" For a tech site having to focus so much resources on PRSI content its counter productive, frustrating and doesn't make MR any better imo
Well, for what it is worth, I will offer - what may possibly be - something of an alternative opinion.
For one thing, Apple, or the "tech" world are not what they were ten, or twenty, years ago.
The world of those who invested (time, money, and indeed, identity) in stunning niche computers that were a design triumph of the fusion of form and function - that world has gone.
Apple is now a global behemoth, a tech (and economic and culturally powerful) giant, - an actor more powerful and richer than many, if not most, of the countries on the planet - and the world this site was created to report on - even in relation to Apple - no longer exists.
So, things change, and I would argue - not so much that a politics/scocial/cultural section is necessary - but, rather, that we cannot divorce Apple from its effect (political,economic, transformative in social and cultural exchanges) on the wider world, and that we cannot deny that there are political (and social - and security, and economic and cultural) perspectives in lay, when we are discussing Apple (and other tech giants). For, they have not just altered, but transferred how we relate to our world, and have transformed that very world in the process, as well.
And the points that
@yaxomoxay - in an earlier thread - has made about how the way (political) conversations on social media are carried out - and how, with the advent of Twitter and similar forms, this has been altered beyond all recognition into something resembling pithy sound-bites, rather than a kind of dialogue, or discussion, or debate, have considerable merit. How conversation is carried out online has changed, and platforms such as PRSI reflect that, not because - or, not just because - they are PRSI, but, becaue, they reflect what is happening on social media platforms generally, and in the wider society.
Moreover, from what I have seen on this site, for all of the complaints about the toxicity (relative or absolute) of PRSI, to my mind, nothing on this entire forum can compare - for sheer venom and pure, undiluted, toxicity - to the iPhone section, especially around the time of a fresh product launch.
And, as for volunteer moderators complaining - and they have grumbled, extensively, in recent years - about the "resources" required to patrol and police PRSI: Seriously, you are volunteers. You have chosen to do this. You can choose to go elsewhere, or I daresay that you can choose not to mod PRSI. Or, you can request payment for doing so.
For my part, when I volunteer, - and I do, or used to, pre-Covid, with certain, specific, charities, at certain times of the year, whenever I was home - I value my time (and my self-respect) far too much to wish to spend it on something to which I am not completely committed.