Politics has always been key to the success or failure of pilot issues. The policy and practice regarding political threads seems quite divergent on this forum. The "Trump presidency, good or bad for us" thread was allowed to stay open for 13 days and 29 pages then it was closed like so many other political threads. There also seems to be an unstated slant with the moderators regarding when they decide to close them IMHO.

Any moderators wish to clarify what the policy and practice are WRT to political threads?

I'm surprised that the mods let it go on as long as they did. Obviously, rickair7777's warning in post #19 was not being heeded.

They just might last a little longer if people would grow up and act like adults. There were a few warnings in there, as well as in the other threads that were closed down.

I think admin should create a standalone page entitled "Rabid Politics and Religious Zealotry" where all the true believers (or true unbelievers, as the case may be) can thrash and holler to their hearts' content without bothering the rest of us with the noise.

Not a bad idea. Then I can go back to meditating on the giant skin saucer that looks like a wrinkly, inverted..you know what.

MOD INPUT: The policy (as stated in the TOS) is no partisan political discussion.

Since government has a huge impact on our industry and profession, we do allow discussion of government as related to aviation, including topics like "what does trump mean for us".

Unfortunately discussion often drifts off into red/blue partisan infighting, and then gets killed off.

I appreciate the response, but how can it not "drift into" partisan discussions. That is the nature of politics which have always had "a hug impact on our industry and profession."

What is the reason for the TOS "no partisan discussion"? Is this some legal CYA?

Government, policy, regulations, even economics can be discussed rationally, at least by some people.

Red/blue politics is another thing entirely, and will always go swirling down the toilet. Certain folks have what is essentially a religious affinity for their preferred partisan flavor, and there's no possibility of rational discourse with folks like that. This is entirely predictable, has been proven empirically millions of times over, and there are a near-infinite number of places on the interwebs where one can engage in partisan pugilism. APC is not one of them though.

At APC we accept the challenge of navigating the grey area because the former category is pretty important in aviation. We understand that it can be a fine line.

The challenge for members is to steer clear of the partisan stuff. If you disagree with someone's stance on policy, address the technical merits instead of responding with "the election was rigged" or "she should be in jail". If you're invoking the name of a controversial political figure, you're probably on thin ice. Discuss the policy, not the policy-makers.

Okay then, how about the giant chem-trail 747 the Arabs sent to Israel?