Based on feedback from this post, we’re going to trial pushing for more politically controversial posts to go in !politics instead of !newzealand.
We’re interested in seeing where users think the line is. Which of these recent posts do you think belong in !politics?
- Frustration mounting as high school teacher strikes roll on - 1News
- All Whites game abandoned after alleged racial abuse - RNZ
- ‘Random’ group of Kiwis caught protesters who lit Parliament fires - 1News
- Teacher struck off after refusing to use student’s pronouns - 1News
- New additional ETS scheme floated in review of carbon market - RNZ
- Migrant workers being exploited, Queenstown Citizens Advice Bureau says - RNZ
- Operation Pakari: More arrests of people linked to Mongrel Mob, 85 charges laid - RNZ
- Auckland surgeons must now consider ethnicity in prioritising patients for operations - NZ Herald
- This RNZ story is probably more complicated than first thought - Stuff
- Teacher struck off after refusing to use student’s pronouns - 1News
We’re not able to move posts to another community at the moment, but we’re thinking of locking posts that should be in !politics and asking the OP to cross-post them there. Do you think this is the best approach?
I think almost any news coverage can be politicised in the comments, especially with the level of polarisation and discontent in NZ, and the scale of social issues currently in the media spotlight.
I would consider all of the examples posted to be relevant to current affairs, and not necessarily politics focused (though I concede comments on them would likely stray into political debate almost immediately).
Politics to me should be more scoped to stuff like “David Seymour says <controversial thing>”, “PM Hipkins talks to us about <topic>” etc.
See this still comes down to interpretation, and even how the headline is worded. The article in #5 features a video with James Shaw and Peeni Henare discussing the start of the ETS and focusses pretty much solely on the government. Stuff’s headline for the same story, Government thinks its climate policy is planting too many trees, sounds far more like politics too.
Agreed, it’s a very fuzzy boundary. I guess my point/view is that the boundary is so wide as to make the distinction meaningless in most cases.
The only kinds of posts I can think of that are unlikely to become political are non-news, non-rant posts like photos of NZ scenery or general discussions about activities or hobbies.