2021 Pledge

[mbramley]

 It's a good thought. I try to stay out of any political discussion on here, I can't say I have always succeeded. I will try to stay out of those discussions in the future also, can't say for sure I will succeed there either. I have cut way back on how much reading I do on the general board because politics seems to filter into a lot of those posts but I still enjoy reading some of the stories here. The tech board is phenomenal and my prayer is that carbs don't become Republican or Democrat. I also look thru the classified board. The same prayer for it lol. My hat's off to those who put a political header on their post so we can decide if we want to risk that rabbit hole before we go there. 

[Bret SD]

Almost half of those on this board won’t get the vaccine to keep themselves and their families/neighbors safe. What does that tell you?

Safe = Something to put guns and money in

Safe-ty = an illusion

[RP#62]

Almost half of those on this board won’t get the vaccine to keep themselves and their families/neighbors safe. What does that tell you?

They don't trust the Trump vaccine?
 

-RP

[Skinhead]

My 2021 pledge: I Will continue to read or not read posts based on subject and poster.  Iwill post IAW the rules of the road.  Its not that complicated.

[cookiedough]

politics and religion are 2 things I try to avoid since changing people's minds on either is almost pointless to try to do. 

Am  happy for you being able to enjoy your grandbaby.  My age 69 semi retired coworker lady has NO JOKE 46 grandkids to deal with and somehow she knows the names of all of them.   I can wait a few more years I hope until one of my kids get married.  Seems like 1 is in the works no engagement yet but probably in a few more years once they are more established in their jobs/careers just graduating college the girl age 22.   The younger boy though age 20 now is going I think on his 7th girlfriend counting high school......    A few of his pics are mind boggling knowing NO good, but a few girlfriends were nice to have around.  I think he feels a lot of them are too clingy and needy wanting more space to be left alone and I agree after meeting a few of them.   

[f6gal]

Politics-it seems to me that people seem to think this 'division' (I disagree that is the correct term) is Republican vs Democrat, it isn't. The real chasm is between those who think America and the American Dream are worth preserving and those who want to fundamentally change America into what other, even third world, countries have become. This isn't political to me but is an invasion by the enemies of my country. They are trying to destroy the basic Law of the Land by ignoring it and saying it must change because their 'feelings' say so.

I agree with Eric 100%.  I will not agree to stop political posting, but I think I have done pretty well at sticking to facts, fostering good discussion, and not attacking other members.  My deletions have all been bad language (not that bad IMHO), not personal attacks.

The trick is to have meaningful and informative political discussions (which I enjoy and look forward to), without getting upset and angry and attacking each other over them.  Current events certainly anger every rational person, but focus your anger on the events, not each other.  The best way to do this, is to freeze out and ignore the 2-3 (and rare occasional others) without taking their bait and arguing with them, which (as they know and certainly intend) often results in post deletions and thread locks (and Willow pulling his hair out).  You'll note they almost never make any serious or genuine attempt to convince anyone their positions are worthy (which is not possible anyway), they just insert posts to anger, divide, and disrupt.  So give them silence, please.  They don't have minds that can be changed anyway.  Arguing with them just empowers them and is direct stimulus for them to post more divisive crap.

And Connie, I appreciate and enjoy all your (more recent) posts on all subjects, please keep them coming. 

Aww shucks! 

[carolinarider09]

Politics-it seems to me that people seem to think this 'division' (I disagree that is the correct term) is Republican vs Democrat, it isn't. The real chasm is between those who think America and the American Dream are worth preserving and those who want to fundamentally change America into what other, even third world, countries have become. This isn't political to me but is an invasion by the enemies of my country. They are trying to destroy the basic Law of the Land by ignoring it and saying it must change because their 'feelings' say so.

I agree with Eric 100%.  I will not agree to stop political posting, but I think I have done pretty well at sticking to facts, fostering good discussion, and not attacking other members.  My deletions have all been bad language (not that bad IMHO), not personal attacks.

The trick is to have meaningful and informative political discussions (which I enjoy and look forward to), without getting upset and angry and attacking each other over them.  Current events certainly anger every rational person, but focus your anger on the events, not each other.  The best way to do this, is to freeze out and ignore the 2-3 (and rare occasional others) without taking their bait and arguing with them, which (as they know and certainly intend) often results in post deletions and thread locks (and Willow pulling his hair out).  You'll note they almost never make any serious or genuine attempt to convince anyone their positions are worthy (which is not possible anyway), they just insert posts to anger, divide, and disrupt.  So give them silence, please.  They don't have minds that can be changed anyway.  Arguing with them just empowers them and is direct stimulus for them to post more divisive crap.

And Connie, I appreciate and enjoy all your (more recent) posts on all subjects, please keep them coming. 

And Jess, I could not agree more.   

[old2soon]

         When I started skipping over a few members posts I personally started feeling lots betta. When I peruse a political post I read it and ponder and then I may or may not respond. I do on the other find myself tempering my responses. I Do Desire our electronic community to stick around fer a fair piece. I would be deeply upset were it to disappear. Best I can duz at this time-I'll try. RIDE SAFE.

[f6john]

Well I didn’t think this would be very popular, for all the reasons given thus far. I do think that the VRCC is much like the country in that there is a somewhat silent majority (or 49% if you prefer) that would be happy to see the political discussions just fade away. Since I have been a frequent contributor and reader of the political posts I can relate to the reluctance to back away, as if your giving something up or worse, having something taken away. Many times censorship has entered the conservation, but voluntary self control for the betterment of the community doesn’t seem to be censorship to me. My Father told me he would not discuss religion or politics in general because he knew the out come from most of them would be negative. He was both a staunch Democrat ( which I never knew at the time) and a Baptist Minister.

I assume the rules to the road are for guidance which is good even though I have never bothered to read them, since good manners comes naturally (due to mom and dad) although when things get heated and personal I can get sideways so to speak. Just because we have a member number and a handle, it seems as individuals we take a form of ownership of the forum. That can be good or bad depending on whether or not a person puts the community ahead of the desire to use it as personal platform to, for lack of a better term, stir the pot.

We are always thanking the moderators for all they do, I think after the last 12 years we need to give them a break, don’t you?

[f6gal]

We are always thanking the moderators for all they do, I think after the last 12 years we need to give them a break, don’t you?

Or a raise.  

12 years?  We've been around for about 21. 

[f6john]

We are always thanking the moderators for all they do, I think after the last 12 years we need to give them a break, don’t you?

Or a raise.  

12 years?  We've been around for about 21. 

So have I, well maybe 19-20, the 12 years I was referring to are the Obama-Trump saga years. I guess the Bush years were contentious too but not like what we have put ourselves through the last 12. I would sure hate to see another 4 plus years of the status quo, I don’t think I would hang around for that.

[Serk]

I'll stick to the same pledge I've had for the last decade or so....

I'll almost never start a political thread.

I'll reply when I feel my reply is a good thing, and try (Not always successful, but I try) to reply to the concept, not the person.

And I'll ride my Valks, and post about that as much as possible....

[f6john]

I'll stick to the same pledge I've had for the last decade or so....

I'll almost never start a political thread.

I'll reply when I feel my reply is a good thing, and try (Not always successful, but I try) to reply to the concept, not the person.

And I'll ride my Valks, and post about that as much as possible....

I’ll take what I can get! If everyone practiced that approach there wouldn’t be much of a problem, maybe??? Since I have evolved to the point that I don’t need to respond to every political post, they don’t bother me any more, heck maybe I’m the only one with the problem!

[RNFWP]

I'm more of a reader than poster. I come in with the approach like taking a walk on our local trail through the woods. Wanting to look around and enjoy myself . Occasionally someone has left dog sh... poop behind. I see and avoid it and go on. Other times distracted by things I'm wanting to see I step in it. It's partly their fault  and partly mine . Some times it makes me mad, other times just say oh well... keeping in mind that it varies from one week to the next. It would be nice if it wasn't and issue at all but that's not realistic  . I don't like it, however the poop problem is not enough to make me stay in the house. 

Not wanting to miss the point here... I can see that if I couldn't go outside without stepping in it I would have some tough choices to make. 

[f6john]

The last 12 years has taken a toll on my mental well being, how about you? Of course the last four years being even more divisive than the preceding 8 which has really saddened me for the country and my grandchildren. I don’t want to stick my head in the sand and want to keep myself informed, but as some of you have mentioned, I am watching less and less news and taking what I read on social media with a grain of salt. Many contributors to our board list line after line of links to support their positions which mean absolutely nothing to me as I no longer trust most sources to deliver unbiased news, even “facts”are presented with a slant.

2020 has sucked in many (“most”) ways but on a personal level a lot of good events have transpired (my first granddaughter) , I’m still here, I don’t have COVID, made a ton of progress on my remodel project and on and on. With 2021 just around the corner, may I suggest we take a hard look at what is important to us as a group of motorcycle enthusiasts? Politics will continue to dominate the news cycles and attempt to infiltrate our daily lives in any way possible. If discussion, arguments, fingerprinting, and insults would solve our issues they would have been put to rest long ago. So as a willing and enthusiastic participant in political posts I would urge everyone to take a step back and consider the purpose for starting a political thread or participating and adding your two cents. Maybe because we are so wrapped up in our outrage over certain events that we lose sight of how many of are members have just faded out of active participation on the board. Surely the Valkyrie and motorcycling in general can offer enough fodder for a full and enjoyable motorcycle board without the constant rancor we impose on ourselves with divisive subject matter.

We are not going to add a political board to our general, tech and for sale sections so it’s on us to decide if our point of view on the politics of the day is more important than the health and longevity of the VRCC. So I pledge to not start nor participate in any political discussion on the VRCC message board. Who will join me?

All right.  You make a lot of good points.  I have certainly stirred the pot a good deal over the last year.  Guilty as charged.  I will join you in this pledge.  Honestly between my bikes, my remodel, work and life in general, I have plenty to talk about besides poilitics.  I'm in.

Ride Safe,

Alien

That’s great. I haven’t seen any remodel pics lately. I’ll have some of my own soon. Been leveling floors for the past few weeks.

I'm more of a reader than poster. I come in with the approach like taking a walk on our local trail through the woods. Wanting to look around and enjoy myself . Occasionally someone has left dog sh... poop behind. I see and avoid it and go on. Other times distracted by things I'm wanting to see I step in it. It's partly their fault  and partly mine . Some times it makes me mad, other times just say oh well... keeping in mind that it varies from one week to the next. It would be nice if it wasn't and issue at all but that's not realistic  . I don't like it, however the poop problem is not enough to make me stay in the house. 

Not wanting to miss the point here... I can see that if I couldn't go outside without stepping in it I would have some tough choices to make. 

Political posts don’t bother me and in and of themselves they can be worth discussing, but they devolve so quickly and cause “strife “ if that’s a good term, that members find themselves taking sides as the personal insults ensue and on and on. While everyone may have thick skin and just let it bounce off it hardly seems worthwhile. I’m sure you will have to be careful where you walk going forward but it would be nice if the moderators didn’t have to go around with a doggie poop bag or make things disappear into thin air.

All my comments are just observations from my point of view, and everyone’s point of view can be a little or a lot different.

[The emperor has no clothes]

I'm more of a reader than poster. I come in with the approach like taking a walk on our local trail through the woods. Wanting to look around and enjoy myself . Occasionally someone has left dog sh... poop behind. I see and avoid it and go on. Other times distracted by things I'm wanting to see I step in it. It's partly their fault  and partly mine . Some times it makes me mad, other times just say oh well... keeping in mind that it varies from one week to the next. It would be nice if it wasn't and issue at all but that's not realistic  . I don't like it, however the poop problem is not enough to make me stay in the house. 

Not wanting to miss the point here... I can see that if I couldn't go outside without stepping in it I would have some tough choices to make. 

You are a wise man indeed, Sir.