There are plenty of places to bash America (the country I served in uniform and out for over 27 years) and my President on the internet. The difference is that I don't bump into those places several times a day.

Civility was one of the main reasons that I became involved with TZ. It has always been a nice place to spend time. At least until recently.

There are always compromises that can be applied. We could go back to repairing computers and tweaking software, and provide a link to a red meat political forum. That would provide a method for those that crave the battle to access a forum for their message. Taking it off the page will keep the rest of us from bumping into increasingly provocative topics. This isn't the only suggestion, however it is one to get the discussion started.

There is another underlying message here. Those voting to remove the political forum knew that they would be criticized as advocating censorship. They waded into direct criticism in order to get us back to our original mission. This is really bothering some or it wouldn't have bubbled up the way it did. If a solution isn't found, we run the risk of loosing some long time members that have contributed much to the core reason for TZ existing.