Subject: Just curious . . .
. . . is this what everybody wants this board to be? Partisan political talking points, on every topic, interminably, with both sides determined to get the last word? The same back-and-forth one finds on the most destructive social media sites?

I'm asking because I don't know what the old atheist board was like. I thought there were other boards on the old TMF platform dedicated to partisan politics. I was looking forward to monitoring this one because atheists share a distinctive view of the universe. There is no sign of that in the endless partisan back-and-forth that seems to have taken over the board in its early days. Whatever the culture of the old board, we have a chance to create a productive one here if it's not derailed at the jump.

For example, the immigration topic held a lot of interest for me. It's an increasingly important issue, and not just in the U.S. Mass migration is accelerating globally. War, poverty, crime, persecution, climate-related natural disasters all play a part. Religious fundamentalism and persecution play a bigger role in some places. In Central America, a drug trade supported by U.S. consumption is a major cause of crime and failing/failed states in the Northern Triangle. Does our consumption culture have any responsibility for its victims? The dynamics of climate change suggest this issue will get bigger. How should we think about it, aside from interminably blaming the other political tribe?

Unfortunately (from my point of view), the discussion here was quickly dominated by partisan tribal keyboard warriors and settled into a familiar, unproductive spitball contest, with no one changing anyone's mind. And, again, with no apparent connection to the board's name, unless we're trying to prove that atheists are just as bound up in partisan echo chambers as everyone else.

So I'm wondering: Among the folks who enjoy the partisan tit-for-tat, would you be willing to move your eternal debate to a new partisan politics board (if Manlobbi agreed to create one) and leave this one to build a less partisan atmosphere?

If I'm alone on this, feel free to say so and I'll hang out elsewhere. I just think this board could be of interest to more than a handful of posters if it were not buried in this blizzard of partisan political talking points.