So, it's come to this.

Mods, please lock this shit. I'm offended. These are not the nuts I expected.

You guys are making this into something else like we can’t have political debate. Probably never read what I wrote.

You can debate. What you can’t do is a character assassination of a member. Please don’t conflate the two. 
You can say some one is wrong but when you start bringing in their education, assumptions that they are in some ways racist, needing to see professional help to ridicule and embarrass ( not that it has happened, just an example) and so on is not a debate it’s just flat out up close and personal fighting words bordering slander. It has nothing to do with debate. It’s a last ditch effort meant to hurt and then it incites retaliation to avoid embarrassment among the group.   

This is not the lord of the flies, It’s just a Spyder board. Feel free to add your two cents just don’t make it about that person and you. Make it about the subject and stick to the points of your argument. People can judge for themselves especially when people have no merit to their argument. I usually find when a person makes  it personal they lost and I lose interest. What happens afterwards is that person chases me around on other threads acting out passive aggressively and sending me psycho babble PMs to me telling me about how great they are. 

You may win an argument but you lose in real life.  

When comments become personal in a negative way, I believe that with this website it becomes over the line.

that is one of reasons I’m here.

if I want conflict I’ll go to work and deal with management or visit SC

As one of the more outspoken members on that other thread, I think this one is good too. Most topics like that one, being a global, encompassing issue, will (d)evolve into political discussions, arguments, or worse. That one saw some of the worse, but that was pretty tame, and I think that is because most here respect the others, to varying degrees. If I said or implied that anyone with an opposing viewpoint is stupid, then that's on me, and it is not logical, nor terribly respectful.

Sometimes it is all too easy to frame things as "if you think that, you must be an idiot." I make that leap far more often than I like to abmit, but I try not to. That's an easier back-pedal when the person who is currently expressing their disappointing viewpoints is otherwise known to be a non-idiot. Then one can realize that the problem is ignorance, not stupidity.

I like political banter too, as long as it is civil, or at least only mildly toxic. Not easy to define, but tge forum rules are loose. I believe, with a few exceptions, that everyone here feels like friends with most others. I look around and see no truly horrible people (so it must be me!). I'm steering clear of LT nowadays when it comes to stirring up politics (I didnt start it this time, just piled on), as his low enjoyment level of political discussion is known to me now, LOL. Fair enough. But my point is that off-topic discussions happen everywhere, because online friends like ourselves do like to discuss OT items, even politics, sex, and religion with their friends. I do not know why. My guess is that a victory in an argument with a friend is somehow more rewarding. You can get lost trying to figure out why people even argue at all.

I think that there have been some good ideas suggested here for managing this, *if necessary*. The Virus thread was already in the general/OT area, and as promised last year, LT did not kill it on sight at the first whiff of politics. He wasn't in there swimming in the mud with us either. Maybe pwnzors advice to simply not read or join threads you dont like is enough. Great for everyone, except for the folks that wanted to talk about, um, Corona virus.

I would not have considered it censorship if the mods split the topic into The Virus, The Left sux, and The Right sux.  Did I miss any? Oh, yeah, almost forgot the other sub-topic: America sux. No, wait, there's also the Wiping My Butt With My Hand Sux topic. Anyone in that room yet? I hope not...

 It doesn't have to be political. On Spyderchat I had many disagreements with others regarding topics like oil. I have had people behave badly with me especially when they lose an argument. Debate is not a bad thing but it's not for everyone if you are not in control of your emotions. It is like a game of three dimensional chess, not so much with your opponent but with your convictions. You will find that during a debate you might actually agree with your opponent and might actually come to a better understanding that we are all after the same things but different approaches to the same problem. I have gained a greater incite into opposing views and the world around me because I certainly don't want to surround myself with people that just agree with me. Being respectful is not an easy thing to do however I believe the mastery of your emotions   makes you a better person as you become acclimatized to it. 

I find it very prophetic that the thread was closed after a religious comment was made

Posted by: @cspidy

I find it very prophetic that the thread was closed after a religious comment was made

Don't worry, it returned at Easter.

Posted by: @cspidy

I find it very prophetic that the thread was closed after a religious comment was made

 Just to set aside any conspiracy I closed the thread for other reasons which were discussed here and left it to UM to decide when to open it as a cooling off period. It was never about anything religious. I do like to see religious text. Censoring expression of religion goes against my very being even though Im not a religious person.  I respect those that express their religion and I would defend their first amendment right by getting involved because thats how I bleed.

 If you want to test that theory please post bible verses on the thread as I encourage anyone who wants to.  BTW Im the guy who didn't grow up Christian but celebrated the Hollidays and wish everyone a Merry Christmas just to piss off the PC phonies. 

Just to confirm,  I discussed with Dev the parameters for closure of the thread well before dev closed it for me.  The decision to close, as Dev stated above, had nothing to do with religion.  I might add it also had nothing to do with who's perspective was right, wrong, full of beans, had merit or because of the presence or absence of facial hair (attempt at humor). 

 I must say that I am grateful for the members of this forum -- all of who graciously complied with my request for interacting with each other in ways that demonstrate respect for each member and my other request to  decrease the use of expletives while continuing to voice perspectives regardless of agreement/disagreement with other member's posting.  I appreciate that my decision was not a popular decision for some of our members, which makes me appreciate the members of this community that much more -- because you were kind enough to comply in spite of your disagreement with me.  Thank you. Thank you for your help and cooperation with living the rules of this forum so that it remains the better place.  I am grateful to all of you for making this the better place.  

Take care and stay safe.