How many places are there on the internet where a Congressman we helped get elected will write a diary and answer questions from regular citizens? Just Daily Kos!
How many places are there on the internet can you get liberal activists across the country excited about a mayoral candidate in a small city somewhere? Only a few. Daily Kos is by far the largest.
How many places are there on the internet where users can argue over the Israel/Palestine conflict? Thousands!
Unfortunately it is becoming more and more apparent that Daily Kos cannot be all of these things. We need to choose.
The Israel/Palestine conflict has generated far too many diaries and comments that offend decent people and embarrass this site and all the good people who have put so much work into it. If the system worked then these comments would get hidden, but too often they are uprated by likeminded users.
Banning an entire topic is drastic but not unprecedented. I can't decide if I should use a "too big to fail" metaphor or a "proportionate response" metaphor. I know there have been some good diaries about Israel/Palestine, but the bad ones ruin it all.
I'm not saying Daily Kos should only be a well-oiled machine to get Democrats elected and nothing else. Many Daily Kos quirks, such as pictures of cats and running jokes about pie amuse many members of this community and they aren't hurting anyone so I don't want to ban them. But the I/P flame war is different because it is counterproductive and detrimental to Daily Kos.
There are several individuals who have too much fun writing offensive inflammatory diaries and comments about the Israel/Palestine conflict. They know they're not going to change anyone's mind, they're just trying to start a fight. I won't call anyone out but you know who you are.
Also the I/P topic brings out all sorts of kooks and racists and conspiracy theorists that we don't want here. One solution could be a mass banning of users. But I don't think that's the best solution. I think many of these individuals would otherwise behave themselves if we ban the topic.
There has also been a recent disturbing trend of users following users they don't agree with into non-I/P related diaries and harassing them there. This behavior should get hide-rated, but too often it doesn't. It can be solved only by banning certain users or by banning the topic.
I didn't feel this way until recently. For 3 years I felt the ongoing I/P flame war was annoying, frustrating, and sometimes made us look bad, but not enough to ban the entire topic. What made me change my mind was all the bad comments getting uprated and the increase in hijacking unrelated diaries. If you agree with me then please say so. I am hoping this diary and the responses to it will make the front pagers consider changing the rules.
Update: Poll