Proposing amendment to forum signature guidelines

[aristotle]

This is an Apple software and hardware rumours site so I propose the following amendment.

No signatures directly supporting or attacking any political party, activist group or pressure group or statements in support or attacking any political initiatives.

There is a community forum for discussing political issues where people can voice their opinions on issues that are typically off topic in other forums but having political slogans in signatures means that everyone is assaulted by a political view in every forum post made by a member with such a signature.

People should be free to post a simple link like "Visit my blog" but that is not the same as advertising one's views in a sig on this site.

This site is visited by people of all walks of life, age groups and countries. This change would make this site more "Safe For Work" and "Safe for School".

As a Canadian, what happens in the US political sphere let alone a specific state has little relevance to me. I come here from mac and iPhone/iPad rumours.

 

[Doctor Q]

We welcome discussion about this issue because it affects a lot of users and involves a tradeoff among goals.

We try to strike a balance to let forum members express their views about almost any topic while keeping the forums civil, useful to as many people as possible, and enjoyable for our users.

Sometimes these goals conflict, and signatures can bring that into view. Some users list their Mac equipment in their signatures, some use jokes or favorite quotes, and some express views on subjects of importance to them. As a result, other users may feel they know users better by their signatures, be amused, or be annoyed by signatures they see.

We've purposely made the rules fairly lenient about signature content, while disallowing sigs that are clearly offensive, too distracting, or contain insults of forum members, but allowing political, religious, or other social statements. One reason we haven't chosen to apply more restrictions is that users can turn off the display of signatures in their User Options (the "Show Signatures" checkbox). But it's an all-or-nothing choice.

 

[tooz]

I think the way it is now is fine. Everyone is entitled to their views, and a signature is just a way to express someone's personality. as long as it isn't screaming "Your a **** head" in flashing comic sans, I have no problem

Kinda like a bumper sticker

 

[rdowns]

I think it's fine the way it is. I may not agree with many of the political signatures but they have every right to say it.

Personally, I'd rather see the pretentious signatures full of ones electronics banned. Who cares?

See how that works?

 

[miles01110]

Personally, I'd rather see the pretentious signatures full of ones electronics banned. Who cares?

Seriously. At least political statements have some meaning to someone.