Why are the moderators closing the McCain threads?

[rthomas]

The man is a true American hero. It's not PPB to pay tribute to him.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The man is a true American hero. It's not PPB to pay tribute to him.

Totally agree. If you are going to close it, don't close it without at least giving a reason why. (Especially since the second one was started by a mod.)

[OldPhiKap]

First one closed because some could not stop from injecting political invective.

Not sure about the second one.

This is not difficult, folks. Don’t hate the playa, hate the game.

Hell, the Dean Smith death thread didn’t get locked. And I hated that SOB. Still do.

[CameronBlue]

Totally agree. If you are going to close it, don't close it without at least giving a reason why. (Especially since the second one was started by a mod.)

I asked and was told the trendline wasn't positive. Hope my post didn't contribute. The man deserves to be venerated. I'm bummed mainly because I see so few "mavericks" left in Congress willing to stand against party. It's immensely distressing and his life was truly remarkable.

[devildeac]

First one closed because some could not stop from injecting political invective.

Not sure about the second one.

This is not difficult, folks. Don’t hate the playa, hate the game.

Hell, the Dean Smith death thread didn’t get locked. And I hated that SOB. Still do.

I'm kinda waiting for the HB thread to be locked on the EK Forum cuz we all hate him.

[OldPhiKap]

McCain will be lain in state at the Capitol:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/26/polit...tol/index.html

[JasonEvans]

Folks, when the mods repeatedly close a thread topic, continuing to start the same topic is likely going to bring some heat upon you. The far easier thing to do is to PM a mod (or all the mods) to ask what is going on. We do not hide. You know who we are. Our names are listed at the bottom of the main page and the off topic page.

At this point, I want to bring up a post that my moderator friend JB Duke wrote when we last had this conversation, back when Billy Graham died:

Not every prominent death needs to be a topic of discussion on these boards, especially when the person primarily inhabited places in our society that we choose not to discuss on these boards - like topics of public policy or religion or other divisive topics that run afoul of our desired congenial pub-like atmosphere.

While it would be nice to be able to talk about some of these folks who pass, the general rules of the community does not make it possible. There are folks who have real problems with some of what John McCain did in his life. Some may recall him for decades of service in public office and his heroic time as a prisoner of war, but others see the guy who thought it was a good idea to put Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency or the guy who cast the deciding vote to prevent the end of Obamacare. Given the time and the inclination, I could probably cite at least a dozen other controversial moves during his life that make a discussion of him impossible given the rules for this board. The bottom line is it is not fair to ask folks who despised McCain (and there are valid reasons one could not like him) to stay silent while others celebrate his life.

So, having a thread about him just doesn't work. The same way having a thread about Billy Graham did not work. We are sorry. We wish it could be otherwise. There are certainly other forums where you can talk about McCain and pay tribute to him (or kick him one last time), but not here.

-Jason "thanks for understanding... this thread is now closed. If you have additional questions, please feel free to PM any/all members of the mod team" Evans