Why Forums Ban Political Talk: A Recipe for Division
Most tech forums have rules against discussing political beliefs and arguments in their forums. Those rules are there for good reasons.
People come to tech forums not expecting or desiring to debate political opinions, but rather to discuss and hear information about tech.
Because of the limited nature of forum discussions, political discussion in forums (as in social media) tends to be dogmatic, include stereotypes, name-calling, and a lack of tolerance for other views. It is often divisive, unkind, hateful, and comes with an us-versus-them mentality that demonizes those who hold other views.
Unfortunately, many political groups have turned into “us-versus-them” tribes where free thinking or disagreement is not allowed. Dave Gray, writing in his book Liminal Thinking, Create the Change You Want by Changing the Way You Think, points out that people often look at the same situation and have very different understandings. He says these arguments are based on different beliefs, “But because people confuse their beliefs with reality, they say the other side is stupid, evil, or crazy. That’s a belief, too, and a very dangerous one.”
Recently, I saw an example of this mentality in a popular Mac tech forum where two participants discussed the relative merits of similar apps. A third person came into the discussion, saying that one of the apps shouldn’t be used because the company that sponsored it participated in a social media platform that the writer politically disagreed with. When I suggested that was a personal opinion (in an attempt to indicate it was not a proper topic for the forum), the writer responded that Americans might think that way, but in his country, they “named fascism.”
This brief interchange perfectly illustrates why political comments are inappropriate in tech forums. One short response included both negative national stereotyping and political name-calling.
Politics Disguised as Tech Commentary
I’ve noticed that more tech writers seem to be hawking their personal political views on tech platforms based on very tenuous tech connections.
A recent article in a Mac tech group argued that Apple was obligated to do more to promote gay and trans agendas. What does this really have to do with discussing tech? Likewise, a couple of years ago, some writers used the tech community to advocate a cancel culture boycott of Twitter because they disagreed politically with the new owner.
These articles used a tenuous tech connection to justify the author’s use of a tech forum to promote their political beliefs and agenda. The tech platform was hijacked to allow the writer to publicize their political beliefs.
The “Everything Is Political” Argument
When this topic comes up, people sometimes attempt to justify sharing their political beliefs on tech platforms by saying that “everything is politics.” While this might be true in the broadest of terms, it does not justify making political arguments in tech settings.
Freud would argue, for instance, that all human behavior has its basis in sexuality. But that doesn’t mean it is therefore appropriate to discuss the details of sexual behavior in all settings.
Just because politics touches many aspects of life doesn’t mean everything is political in a practical sense. This logic is a slippery slope—it implies no space is off-limits for political discourse, which undermines the value of having apolitical common spaces like tech forums.
People come to tech forums to exchange knowledge and insight about technology, not to be drawn into ideological battles. Respecting audience expectations is a form of courtesy. Just as we don’t talk politics at funerals or yell stock tips in yoga class, we shouldn’t inject politics into unrelated tech content.
Most of us who follow tech forums, podcasts, and articles do so seeking information and with the expectation that the content will be about tech, not the writer’s personal political beliefs. If we want to read divisive political discussions, thousands of sources are available, and we can all readily find them.
Protecting Common Ground in Tech Communities
One of the benefits of most tech communities is that they’re places where people from diverse backgrounds and political beliefs can come together based on their common interest in tech and productivity.
We can accept and respect each other as people with a common interest in a topic. Bringing politics into this realm, with its name-calling, stereotyping, and inherent divisiveness, destroys this sense of a common interest community.
Let’s preserve spaces where people can collaborate on shared passions, not ideological purity tests.
Take Your Politics to the Appropriate Platform
If you feel strongly about political issues, there are plenty of appropriate contexts in which to take action and forums in which to express your views.
But please don’t preempt tech groups to push your political agenda. Just because we can bring up politics everywhere doesn’t mean we should. Respecting a space means honoring its purpose.
If I’m in a room full of people talking about how to improve productivity with their Mac setup, I don’t want that conversation derailed by political grandstanding. Let’s stay on topic—and respect each other by doing so.
Tech communities work best when we come together over a shared interest, not when we try to sort each other into ideological tribes. We don’t have to agree on everything to learn from one another. But we do need to protect the spaces where respectful, focused discussion is still possible.
AI Note: I wrote this blog post myself, using my own words for the initial draft. I used AI only to suggest headlines, section headings, and improvements to the text.
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