Rules Question - Inappropriate Topics - How to define "real-world politics"

[Ionathus]

Hello, I have a question about how the moderation team defines real world politics, and how you distinguish it from things like history, culture, or geography. Obviously, references to things like political parties, figures, or legislation are completely out, but how broad is the definition?

Originally, just to be safe, I tried to avoid anything even partially related to politics, such as real-world countries, real-world battles/wars, or a specific culture's practices/customs. But I've seen those kinds of references on several threads, and they don't ever seem to be corrected or scrubbed, so maybe my initial definition was too broad?

Essentially, is there a good rule of thumb for me to follow when posting, or a way I can make sure my definition of "real-world politics" is in line with the community's? Or is it really just more of a "we know it when we see it" thing? I'm comfortable steering away from things, as long as I know what to avoid.

Thank you!

[Anymage]

The official answer is that all real world stuff is off limits.

Unofficially? Something only happens if a mod happens to notice and take action. Sometimes it might fly under everyone's radar, sometimes they might decide that calling out a minor slipup would derail a productive conversation. Still, as a rule, err on the side of avoiding anything real world oriented period.

[Khedrac]

One thing to remember is that there is no need to distinguish it from "history" - historical politics is still politics.

My personal interpretation is this: if you simply state the facts of what happened you are probably safe, but if you discuss the reasonings behind people making decisions then it is probably politics and not allowable.
The reason behind something is often driven by economics and one may be able to discuss it safeky, but you cannot be too careful.

Indeed, in many ways it does come down to "all real world stuff is off limits" as Anymage said (bascially because everyting can be reduced to politics in one way or another) but then, this is a forum for discussing other worlds not our own.

[ziproot]

The official answer is that all real world stuff is off limits.

Can you be more specific? What about, say, the random banter thread?

EDIT: Or the Coronavirus thread, for that matter. And I'm not talking about "are these threads exempt" (they aren't). I'm saying that if you consider "all real world stuff" off limits, wouldn't that include those threads?

[Roland St. Jude]

From a recent similar thread:

Sheriff: Thank you for the respectful and articulate question.

• If you don't understand the reasoning behind an Infraction, please PM the moderator who issued it rather than making a post here.
• Avoid all references to real world governments and governmental entities (and subdivisions) and real world religions or religious figures of any kind or era.
• The breadth of the rules terminology is adequate because we mean it that broadly, even if it inhibits or even prevents some discussion.
• Just because something goes unscrubbed doesn't mean it's acceptable. The Forum Rules notes this specifically. We can't be everywhere, and on a forum this size, many things go unreported or unnoticed. Conform your own comments to be safely within the Forum Rules, not the least common denominator you see in other posts.
• The easiest way to avoid violating the Forum Rules is to err on the side of caution and avoid all such topics entirely.