Well, as far as i know political topics have
always been allowed after a quick Staff meeting some time ago, it's the wording of the rule
"No Racism or Hatred of ANY Kind. This includes discussions on Religion/Politics/Race/Country" which just meant as long as there was no hate, etc. then it was allowed; although, the
"this include discussions on ____" is what got people saying the generic
"No political discussions". Even a few Staff have said it, along with Kharn himself, but that rule was recently
(recent meaning like 2 months ago) changed to
"No discrimination. No character assassination." which is of course, no discrimination
(don't need to define that) and no character assassination which by definition means:
char·ac·ter as·sas·si·na·tion
ˈker(ə)ktər əˌsasnˈāSHən/
noun
the malicious and unjustified harming of a person's good reputation.
Which covers a whole lot when it relates to any political, religious organization, or country, just don't discredit it. But you can discuss it.
More pointers;
-deliberate and sustained process that destroys the credibility and reputation of a person, institution, organization, social group, or nation
-raising false accusations
-planting and fostering rumours
-manipulating information
-involve exaggeration, misleading half-truths, or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person
-spinning information that is technically true
-negative campaigning
-Opposition research is the practice of collecting information on someone that can be used to discredit them
-A smear campaign is the use of falsehoods or distortions
-Scandalmongering can be used to associate a person with a negative event in a false or exaggerated way
First, their intention: character attacks are by definition deliberate.
Second, the public nature of the attacks: private insults do not lead to reputation damage.
And third, the importance of the public perception of the attacks, which means that the truth of allegations is irrelevant. To sum it up, it's what everyone's been saying. Keep it civil. Staff just need to monitor any thread related to politics, religion, controversial topic; meaning deleting and/or editing off-topic comments while warning users if they fall under any of the areas I had listed above.