UPDATED: User profile political content restrictions

Started by Scott5114, May 31, 2018, 08:20:29 PM

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Scott5114

Quote from: Hurricane Rex on June 02, 2018, 02:16:20 AM
Is my signature ok (the raise the speed limit ODOT part) or not? I got a complaint in school that that portion of the signature was political but I personally don't think so. I just don't want to end on the wrong side of things.

As I mentioned upthread, we are mostly looking at content advocating for or against specific politicians, parties, or ideologies. Advocating for a DOT to do something is road-related and therefore perfectly fine.

Quote from: hbelkins on June 01, 2018, 01:52:32 PM
Addendum: I probably should clarify. In my perception, this really wasn't an issue until a couple of people turned it into one. Instead of merely using a signature or profile comment to communicate their own feelings or ideologies, they instead chose to complain about people who do/did. Had they left the matter alone, this wouldn't have happened. But they made a big splash over it, and thus we have the "one size fits all" approach that doesn't differentiate between forum/MTR/roadgeeking veterans and rookies.

This change was not made due to a complaint by any given user. To my knowledge, we did not receive any direct complaints addressed to us from the user base. I proposed the policy change myself and it was approved by the other moderators. I did so because I had personally noticed a rising number of political messages in user profiles, several of which were more inflammatory than those in the past. The other moderators agreed that they had noticed the same trend and expressed a desire to address it before it became a problem.

So if you're looking someone to throw under the bus on this one, that person is me.


Quote from: MNHighwayMan on June 01, 2018, 09:48:51 PM
By the way, can I campaign for the next Alan for the Grand Unified Alan of Alanland in my signature, or is that banned by this policy too? :bigass:

As long as you don't specify Alan who:sombrero:
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef


abefroman329

I did not make any direct complaints to any mods or admins. I mentioned in a few posts (or, in hbelkins-speak, "whined" ) and figured it would either be addressed or it wouldn't. I also tried adding my political beliefs to my sig, realized that was stupid and not germane to a forum about fucking roads, and deleted it.

abefroman329

Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on June 02, 2018, 12:00:04 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on June 01, 2018, 10:33:56 PM
So tell me. If you're driving down the street and you see a bumper sticker supporting a candidate you don't like, what do you do? Do you mutter a few opinions under your breath, or vocalize them if you have a passenger, and then go on? Or do you complain to the DOT and get them to ban bumper stickers entirely? Here's another real-life lesson. You're going to encounter opinions with which you disagree every day, everywhere. You need to learn to deal with it instead of whining and complaining about it. I've had to come to terms with it. (Although I'm sure you didn't mind reading NE2's political comments in his sig/in his profile.) You just didn't want to see something you disagreed with.

But herein lies the real point.  Does a bumper sticker telling the world which candidate you support do anything positive for the public discourse?  I would argue that it doesn't.  I am always curious why people think they need to share that information.  Why does anyone think that the first thing that another person needs to know about them is who they supported in the last election?  It seems kind of socially clueless.

For the same reasons you see Drink Coca-Cola signs everywhere: See enough of those and you might drink Coca-Cola. See enough Hackenbush for President bumper stickers and you might vote for Hackenbush.

Personally, I don't put political bumper stickers on my car. My dad had his car vandalized after he put one on his car, and I really don't want to be accosted in a parking lot by another person because they don't like it (or like it, for that matter).

1995hoo

I've never understood the appeal of political bumper stickers applied as they're intended to be (that is, as stickers on a painted surface) because by definition most of them will be outdated soon enough but can't be easily removed and they then gradually fade, peel, etc, and wind up looking dumb. I still regularly see cars with both McCain/Palin and Obama stickers (funny, the Obama ones seldom include Biden). I think all of those look kind of dumb because they're obsolete and they're generally fading. If I ever feel any motivation to put a political sticker on the car, I'll tape it inside the rear window so I can remove it after the election (regardless of the outcome)–or, in 2016, I got a magnet instead because the Libertarians offered those as an alternative to stickers (I still removed it the morning after Election Day).
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

oscar

My bumper stickers are useful to more easily distinguish my blue Prius from all the others in my community, especially when there are others in the store parking lot (once there were two others right next to mine), though I have non-political stickers to do that job. Also, to remind people that not all Prius owners conform to political stereotype, or that there are non-Democrats in Virginia's bluest county.

I still see Kerry for President bumper stickers left over from the 2004 campaign. They are of course rather weatherbeaten.

I don't normally remove (with a heat gun, to soften the adhesive) political stickers until the next campaign rolls around, especially when I oppose plans to run again by the politico for whom I had previously voted (that's happened twice). For some of my "hold my nose" choices, the sticker went on shortly before the election, and came off the day after.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

1995hoo

^^^

Regarding distinguishing a car from similar ones, back in the 1980s my father had a silver 1982 Accord (he later sold it to me). That was perhaps one of the most ubiquitous cars on the road at the time, so to make it easier to distinguish at the mall or the like, he took an expired Fairfax County decal (orange, if memory serves) and put it in the top corner of the rear window. It worked great....until one year at state inspection time the guy made him remove it because "your car has only one sideview, so that sticker is obstructing your view." That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, of course, but it turns out the inspection regulations did indeed say that cars with no passenger-side mirror aren't supposed to have any decals or stickers in the rear window. (Stupid rule, since the sideview mirrors aren't supposed to show you what's behind you....) Enforcement of that was seriously spotty–I had the standard university-name decals in the rear window of that car and they never caused it to fail inspection.

My father has never liked bumper stickers, so maybe I inherited my view on them from him.

BTW, the bumper stickers I think are dumber than political ones are the "my kid made honor roll" or the like. Spencer Gifts (a store I sometimes visit for off-color birthday and Christmas cards) had a response in the form of a sticker that said something like, "This pedophile had sex with your honor roll student." I laughed, but never in a million years could I imagine being stupid enough to put something like that on a car.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

US71

I have a Jefferson Highway sticker and a Pig Trail Byway sticker on the back of my van.  My previous van had a "I support the right to keep and arm bears" bumper sticker, but the SCA vendor I bought it from has disappeared.
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

abefroman329

Quote from: 1995hoo on June 02, 2018, 09:14:39 AM
I've never understood the appeal of political bumper stickers applied as they're intended to be (that is, as stickers on a painted surface) because by definition most of them will be outdated soon enough but can't be easily removed and they then gradually fade, peel, etc, and wind up looking dumb. I still regularly see cars with both McCain/Palin and Obama stickers (funny, the Obama ones seldom include Biden). I think all of those look kind of dumb because they're obsolete and they're generally fading. If I ever feel any motivation to put a political sticker on the car, I'll tape it inside the rear window so I can remove it after the election (regardless of the outcome)–or, in 2016, I got a magnet instead because the Libertarians offered those as an alternative to stickers (I still removed it the morning after Election Day).

I think some people leave them on after the election to show they were pleased/displeased with the results of the election. That seemed to start around 2004.

abefroman329

Quote from: 1995hoo on June 02, 2018, 10:11:21 AM
^^^

Regarding distinguishing a car from similar ones, back in the 1980s my father had a silver 1982 Accord (he later sold it to me). That was perhaps one of the most ubiquitous cars on the road at the time, so to make it easier to distinguish at the mall or the like, he took an expired Fairfax County decal (orange, if memory serves) and put it in the top corner of the rear window. It worked great....until one year at state inspection time the guy made him remove it because "your car has only one sideview, so that sticker is obstructing your view." That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, of course, but it turns out the inspection regulations did indeed say that cars with no passenger-side mirror aren't supposed to have any decals or stickers in the rear window. (Stupid rule, since the sideview mirrors aren't supposed to show you what's behind you....) Enforcement of that was seriously spotty–I had the standard university-name decals in the rear window of that car and they never caused it to fail inspection.

My father has never liked bumper stickers, so maybe I inherited my view on them from him.

BTW, the bumper stickers I think are dumber than political ones are the "my kid made honor roll" or the like. Spencer Gifts (a store I sometimes visit for off-color birthday and Christmas cards) had a response in the form of a sticker that said something like, "This pedophile had sex with your honor roll student." I laughed, but never in a million years could I imagine being stupid enough to put something like that on a car.

The less incendiary one is "My kid beat up your honor roll student."  I do find the "my kid made honor roll"  ones to be pretty smug.

froggie

QuoteMy bumper stickers are useful to more easily distinguish my blue Prius from all the others in my community, especially when there are others in the store parking lot (once there were two others right next to mine),

Isn't that what license plates are for?

AsphaltPlanet

The idea of bumper stickers just kind of make me laugh:

<internal monologue>"What an excellent lane change that driver just made... maybe I should vote for Ross Perot too..."</internal monologue>
AsphaltPlanet.ca  Youtube -- Opinions expressed reflect the viewpoints of others.

1995hoo

Quote from: froggie on June 02, 2018, 11:09:32 AM
QuoteMy bumper stickers are useful to more easily distinguish my blue Prius from all the others in my community, especially when there are others in the store parking lot (once there were two others right next to mine),

Isn't that what license plates are for?


My father's rationale for it was that the orange decal in the window made it easier to see which car was his from a distance that was far enough that you couldn't see the license plates (bearing in mind it wasn't uncommon to see ten or more similar-looking cars parked in close proximity because of that model's popularity at the time).

I suppose nowadays an easier way is just to hit the button on the remote to set off the car alarm, assuming doing so won't cause problems for other reasons. Wasn't an option on the Accord back in the 1980s, obviously.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

bandit957

Might as well face it, pooing is cool

bandit957

Might as well face it, pooing is cool

bandit957

I had a "UNION YES" sticker on my bike. They do make "UNION NO" stickers, but I've never seen anyone dare to use one.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

abefroman329

Quote from: 1995hoo on June 02, 2018, 11:23:47 AM
Quote from: froggie on June 02, 2018, 11:09:32 AM
QuoteMy bumper stickers are useful to more easily distinguish my blue Prius from all the others in my community, especially when there are others in the store parking lot (once there were two others right next to mine),

Isn't that what license plates are for?


My father's rationale for it was that the orange decal in the window made it easier to see which car was his from a distance that was far enough that you couldn't see the license plates (bearing in mind it wasn't uncommon to see ten or more similar-looking cars parked in close proximity because of that model's popularity at the time).

I suppose nowadays an easier way is just to hit the button on the remote to set off the car alarm, assuming doing so won't cause problems for other reasons. Wasn't an option on the Accord back in the 1980s, obviously.

Remember the little antenna toppers they used to make? They had one that loooed like the Union 76 ball and one that looked like the Jack in the Box clown head. They were also intended for people to be able to easily find their cars.

1995hoo

Quote from: abefroman329 on June 02, 2018, 01:30:19 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 02, 2018, 11:23:47 AM
Quote from: froggie on June 02, 2018, 11:09:32 AM
QuoteMy bumper stickers are useful to more easily distinguish my blue Prius from all the others in my community, especially when there are others in the store parking lot (once there were two others right next to mine),

Isn't that what license plates are for?


My father's rationale for it was that the orange decal in the window made it easier to see which car was his from a distance that was far enough that you couldn't see the license plates (bearing in mind it wasn't uncommon to see ten or more similar-looking cars parked in close proximity because of that model's popularity at the time).

I suppose nowadays an easier way is just to hit the button on the remote to set off the car alarm, assuming doing so won't cause problems for other reasons. Wasn't an option on the Accord back in the 1980s, obviously.

Remember the little antenna toppers they used to make? They had one that loooed like the Union 76 ball and one that looked like the Jack in the Box clown head. They were also intended for people to be able to easily find their cars.

Heh, it's funny you mention those, because this thread made me think of the episode of the Simpsons where Homer met his long-lost bastard half-brother who owned a car company and asked Homer to help design a car for everyman. Homer wanted one of those little balls put on the antenna, not that you'd have needed any help finding that monstrosity!

"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

jon daly

The only political car bumper sticker I've seen recently that I liked was a KENNEDY/JOHNSON one on some 1960 vintage car that a guy was driving on I-95 south of Providence. But its vintageness was its appeal; not its political statement.

J N Winkler

I think bumper stickers are partly a matter of cultural norms as well as personal preference, the culture in question being that of your subgroup rather than your country as a whole.  I don't allow bumper stickers, stick people, dealer identification, etc. on my cars because I consider them non-U, but I try to be tolerant of other people's bumper stickers and recognize that some (especially the nonpolitical ones) are in better taste than others.

I don't rely on stickers, decals, license plates, etc. to pick out my car in a parking lot.  Parking nose-in is the norm, so I am usually in the minority parking nose-out, especially in parking stalls where this is impossible without reversing in.  The Toyota Camry I use as a roadtrip vehicle was the top-selling sedan in 2005 (433,703 units sold, just behind the Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado), so I often see vehicles that match its body style and color inside and out, but matching grille and taillight configuration are somewhat rarer, and matching wheel style, trim level, and engine are much more rare.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

abefroman329

I once saw a bumper sticker that read "CAUTION: This Vehicle Makes Frequent Stops At Your Mom's House."  It was so juvenile, I laughed and laughed.

Takumi

Quote from: jon daly on June 02, 2018, 02:09:10 PM
The only political car bumper sticker I've seen recently that I liked was a KENNEDY/JOHNSON one on some 1960 vintage car that a guy was driving on I-95 south of Providence. But its vintageness was its appeal; not its political statement.
There's an old Ford truck on my street with Nixon and Reagan/Bush stickers. Given the age, they might be original.
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.

oscar

Quote from: froggie on June 02, 2018, 11:09:32 AM
QuoteMy bumper stickers are useful to more easily distinguish my blue Prius from all the others in my community, especially when there are others in the store parking lot (once there were two others right next to mine),

Isn't that what license plates are for?

That helps, if you've memorized your plate number.

I just bought a new car (still keeping the Prius), which is also common in my area and nondescript. I still haven't memorized its plate number. So I intend to add at least one sticker, to help me spot my own car. I'm looking for an apolitical magnetic sticker I bought but couldn't use on my Prius (aluminum hatch, plastic bumper cover), and slap it on the new car's steel hatch to help me with the transition.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

abefroman329

I remember my last license plate in DC was EH 5858. It was easy to remember, because "eh"  was exactly how I felt about living in DC by that point.

webny99

Quote from: hbelkins on June 01, 2018, 10:33:56 PM
In just about every aspect of life, things such as age, seniority, education, experience, knowledge, status in the community (this does NOT mean economic status), your personal history, and so on, these things are taken into account into how rigidly the rules are enforced. Different people get leeway with certain things and that's just a fact of life.

But that's not a good thing, is it?
It depends on the specifics, of course. Age, experience, etc., can rightfully affect rule enforcement in certain cases, but with regard to politics in signatures, or really any rule on a roads forum, you can't make a case that experience ought to make you exempt. You should have no more difficulty complying than anyone else; any argument to the contrary can only be rooted in selfishness.

QuoteUsing your logic, cops should write speeding tickets to everyone who goes 1 mph over the limit because a rule is a rule.

That's a complete strawman. My logic isn't that rules should be enforced strictly; rather, they should be enforced consistently. Lenience for everyone is OK, and strict enforcement for everyone is also OK. What isn't OK is different people getting different treatment (which is what this thread ultimately addresses).

QuoteGet back to me in about 25 years and tell me how you feel about the matter then.

If anything, I'll be even more convinced that injustices that exist should be fixed.

NE2

Quote from: webny99 on June 02, 2018, 08:22:36 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on June 01, 2018, 10:33:56 PM
In just about every aspect of life, things such as age, seniority, education, experience, knowledge, status in the community (this does NOT mean economic status), your personal history, and so on, these things are taken into account into how rigidly the rules are enforced. Different people get leeway with certain things and that's just a fact of life.

But that's not a good thing, is it?
It is when you're privileged.
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".



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