As a long term TMC member, I value the opinions I get on this forum than any other outlet out there. And specifically I pay special attention to a few members (perhaps a dozen) that I have a lot of respect in how they analyze issues deeply and articulate very well. If they are that rational and mature in analyzing Tesla, then hopefully they are good in others aspects too.
So although I have strong opinions and views on the world around me, the people whom I respect immensely have an effect to get me thinking differently in a small way if their views are much different than mine. Over a period of time that helps to mellow down my current views or even change it completely 180.
I understand that - what you're talking about is being part of a community and wanting to discuss more things inside of that community than the original purpose. And I think that's absolutely normal. I also tend to have broad interests, and in fact, the majority of my passionate interests are most certainly outside of Tesla. You've been here since 2012, I've been here since 2014. We've developed some kind of relationship with the membership so I understand your point.
All of that said, there has always been a rule against discussion of politics at TMC. It's in the original Terms of Service, linked at the bottom of every page. It's really, really hard to manage, but it's a valuable rule because discussions of politics are likely but not guaranteed to devolve into ideological separation. That causes rifts within a community and can actually harm the flow of dialogue and get in the way of productive discussion. I've seen it happen many times since I started moderating a few years ago. Sometimes, discussions of politics with regard to EV tax credits or other pertinent topics are allowed to run their course, and they resolve well. Sometimes they don't, and they need moderation. It's a challenge to do it properly and to do it fairly, but I can tell you that the group of volunteer moderators on this forum are extremely thoughtful in the moderator discussion area. Speaking of a community that one respects, the thought that is put into some moderation decisions can be really inspiring. I'm sure it doesn't always look that way on the outside, but I can assure you that for an uncompensated job, there is an awful lot of work going into doing the "right thing."
I don't make the rules, I just enforce them as well as I can and provide feedback to the admins about how things are going. I think if we had a thread where politics were discussed, or just removed the politics rule in general, I'd find this a much less interesting place to visit. Human beings like to use heuristics to determine in-groups and out-groups, and I'm willing to bet that a not-insignificant portion of the membership would start to categorize other members subconsciously based on those political discussions. That's not the kind of community I prefer to engage with.
If you disagree with me, and I'm sure it's entirely reasonable to do so, you may want to contact the admins and make a suggestion about changing the rules. It's quite possible I'm in the minority here.
