Here We Are - Discussion on Rule 11 changes

[Zardoz]

I really don't understand what this has to do with anything.

What does the forum being international have to do with someone addressing a specific question for one person about something that is (1) legal where he is, and (2) would have no effect on anyone else where it may NOT be legal?

For example, we have had folks here mention being gay. Well, there are actually still countries where that's illegal. Heck, you can get HANGED for that. Shall we say that's not allowed to be talked about? No, we should not.

I just don't get -- honestly -- how legal stuff that bears on the topic of the forum can't be talked about because some people don't know how not to click on a thread on a topic they don't like.

Tony

As Tony said, we have quite a few gay folks on the forum. And while he's right that there are still countries where that's illegal, a better analogy is the topic of gay marriage. Same sex unions are not 'legal' everywhere, but where legal they happen. And we've had quite a few discussion and photo threads about said marriages here in my time on the forum. Now gay marriage can be a social/political powderkeg just like firearms, and I know we have folks here that come down on both sides of the issue. I'm cool with it, but I know some folks on here are not .

Here's the thing; lets say somebody puts up a photo of their same sex union. Now while that photo has a lot of potential for rule #5 violations, as long as the comments are from folks who I guess are OK with it- kept to "nice kilt", "good luck" etc. the issue won't come up.
Now if somebody commented that the event was destroying the fabric of society, (and again I assure you there are folks here that have said that sort of thing elsewhere) that post would get flagged as the rule violation, and rightly so. I'm pretty sure that has never happened though, either out of fear of being labeled a homophobe or just knowing how to be civil, these folks always seem to ignore the topic or at least hold their tongues.

So if I were able to come on here and say something about the again potentially 'problematic but legal where I live' topic of firearms; "hey I found a new IWB holster that works great with my kilt" and post a photo of said holster and what it carries, I'm sure a lot of people would say "nice holster" or "is that a Colt" etc. But unlike the gay marriage thing, folks who think stuff like "possession and use of lethal weapons is nothing short of an obscenity" never seem to hesitate to throw their opinion in the mix, I guess they feel like they're among friends here. And that is when the thread goes bad.
But unlike our marriage thread where the blame is on the troublemaker, in threads about 'weapons' the OP likely to be blamed.