Well it's pretty late and I might as well be drunk or stoned or something (my tiredness is on par with these conditions) so I'll post this out of the apathy that comes with the previously mentioned states of mind. So first off I'll state I like this forum because there are a lot of interesting and intelligent people here. Now what I'd REALLY like is to be able to converse with these people not exclusively on a virtual game. It seems every time a controversial issue related to Skyrim comes up (religion, racism, politics etc.) people eagerly respond to it and an interesting argument starts up...until it's closed. The latest instance is the thread about "Could Skyrim have handled real-world issues better?" which was closed after only two pages (they said it's closed for revision and I sure hope they bring it back because I missed out). I really appreciate the moderators and the forum rules and I understand that they're here to keep things civil which is totally fine. But just once in a while it would be nice to discuss other things that Skyrim. Of course the logical question that comes up here is "well why don't you just go on another forum to fulfill your controversial-discussion-needs?" It's because I want to discuss them with the people here, many of whom are excellent debaters, and some of whom I have had the honor of getting to know. So that is all, I meant no offense and this is just a suggestion.

There's the Community Discussion forum but I guess real world issues are still a no-no? :\

I skate pretty close to the edge on occasion but I've found if you are calm and are at least somewhat respectful of your fellow man you can explore quite controversial topics.

Even if debates are allowed, it's rarely visited. Skyrim is #1 these days. Post something in lore and watch it gather dust.

Isn't there a community forum to discuss those topics in? Why would u discuss real world politics in the Skyrim forum?

Oh and btw, r/ politics (reddit) is a great website to discuss all sorts of [censored].

That santorum guy (however you spell it) is a real ass hole.

Unfortunately things tend to get out of hand, during these discussions, and perhaps that's why strict regulation is needed.

I bet rohough will be here any second...

Because these topics tend to come up THROUGH Skyrim, which is a game full of controversies.
BTW thanks for the site.

Its just that they are hot-button issues that people often take a strong standing on. The discussion can quiickly get uncivilized as they try making real world comparisons to a fictitious setting.

in before lock!!! (assuming a mod wont lock this b4 i finish i am going to add some content to this post as an edit)

edit:
The problem is that things can get heated. I consider myself a very calm and timid person, but some discussions and some people really would bring out the worst in me. There was one individual who was very concerned about the magic in Skyrim being witch like and Satanic and I had to use every bit of self-control not to lashout at him. Just as fighting myself became almost unbearable a mod came along and locked the topic.

Here on the forums? Which discussion? Could you please give me the link as this has gotten me interested.
BTW, I guess a title like this will bring the mods running with sirens on.

Honestly, I'd be interested in a mod or beth rep's view on the subject.

Whoa, I had no idea there was a community discussion forum! This is great, now I never have to leave this site!

Before or after he\she locks it

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1352273-does-skyrim-use-real-witchcraft-magic-like-harry-potter-gamesmovie/page__p__20377026__hl__magic__fromsearch__1#entry20377026

The guy seemed nice
Misguided and overly religious? Maybe
But still nice and I would of really hated if I lashed out at him b4 mod locked it.

I know that EXACT feeling. I was standing in front of a shop a while ago, and a woman walked up to me. I was listening to music, so I didn't really care about her. A minute later, she waved at me, so I turned off the music, and asked what I could do for her. She somehow must've noticed that I the music I was listening to wasn't something we could put on par with a church choir, so she said: "Did you know that Jesus saves you? Saves us all?"

I almost exploded. Saying "Nope", I rather walked away and got some food.

Hey, theres this thing called the internet--you may have heard of it... You can find almost anything to your little hearts content.

Why would you come to a video game forum to talk about world issues? There are millions, if not billions of forums that may touch on those interests.
Myself, and many others come on here to discuss the game, not start a pissing contest over opinions we cannot change in others.

Yeah that’s just…Grrrr

So I am glad moderators are here to filter some things out for us, so that this doesn’t devolve into a uber flame war with me manning the flamethrower.

Do some moderators get overzealous? YEAP
But I would rather have them as 2x more overzealous than nonexistent.

You might want to edit out references to real-world drugs, be it alcoholic or other.
For the rest, try the community discussion section of the forum.
Its a haven for off-topic stuff.

Also don't forget that reddit is complete and utter trash, even worse than [censored] in its glory days.

That post was just too long to read...

Question answered - OT talk goes here: http://www.gamesas.com/forum/18-community-discussion/

Please remain within forum rules, though - no drugs, illegal talk, religion, etc