Political Stew
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Political Stew' [1] is a community-led political debate internet forum started by frequent contributors to the Lonely Planet Thorntree Talk Politics forum, which was closed in December 2004 due to the controversial nature of some of the discussions, and not being in line with the more conservative marketing strategy Lonely Planet were pursuing.
The forum has a strong sense of virtual community. In addition the membership is currently growing at the rate of approximately 10 new contributors per week, and with the well-travelled original membership, it has a culturally, ethnically and geographically diverse base from which to grow.
Frequent contributors to the site include economists, lawyers, students, self-employed business people, those in local and national government, and those employed by NGO's from countries as far-afield as Iran, the United States, Australia, Ethiopia and Russia.
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[edit] History
The earliest incarnation of Political Stew after the closure of the Lonely Planet site was founded by Greek user koolhass on a free host, Invision [2]. Due to the nature of Invision's copyright policy, which was deemed unnecessarily restrictive, although the site itself did not suffer from many technical faults, the site was hosted by a Greek debating community on debating.net [3]. Unfortunately, the hosts suffered from repeated Denial-of-service attacks and server downtime during the U.S. afternoon time zone and the decision was made to move to a paid server. A fund-raising drive was then held and the generosity of the members ensured that Political Stew would be free to choose a trusted host.
[edit] Richard Allan Bodine
The forum lost one of its most respected commentators in Richard Allan Bodine, posting under the handle Albodine, when his life was tragically cut short by cancer. Reflecting the esteem in which he was held, a fund raiser was held to contribute to the cost of his treatment, and after his sad passing, a further fund raiser was held to help pay for the costs of his funeral. The 'Famous Dishes' [4] branch of the forum, which exists to preserve classic threads contains more detail of this. 'The Lounge' branch of the forum, which contains threads with non-political content, was renamed 'Streeterville' [5], the name of his favourite bar.
[edit] Culture
Due to the nature of political debate, and the level of moderation historically, there has been on occasion, conflict between the moderators, administrators and users over certain hot-button issues. The forum traditionally has been at its best when moderated with a light-touch, and this is the common desire of the new team of moderators who were voted into their positions in March 2006, which made Political Stew one of the few Internet forums to give members the right to choose the people regulating their discussions.
Several catchphrases and words unique to Political Stew have evolved, the most famous of which are quack orff missie and low-class backpacking l00ser. Others include google bitch, where a member, in defence of one of their own arguments, demands another member google the information on the internet as they can not be bothered to provide a link; homophobians, a misspelling of the word homophobe and which has subsequently acquired the status of a meme; and going outside, where a member states that they are leaving the forum, often permanently. "Going outside" has achieved cult status as the member concerned traditionally posts a reason for quitting, with the end result often being the same member returning within 24 hours, and who subsequently is mocked by the remaining members. "Fuck you Hippy", or FYH, is used in many online polls for the more jaded members who couldn't be bothered to respond, or prefer to give a succint reply.
Another interesting aspect of Stew culture comes in the form of "handle whoring". Often times when certain "Stewbies" find themselves cornered and their political argument has completely derailed the "Stewbie" in question will register another handle to try and support their own failed argument. However, the poster who has decided to "handle whore" often times has such a distinctive posting style that it instantly gives away this faux attempt to try and support his own argument. "Handle whoring" on the Stew is reserved for the those who have no real sense of shame or dignity and is not a common practice for the vast majority of posters.
"Trolls" are also frequent visitors on the site, that is to say posters who deliberately intend to 'inflame discussion'.
[edit] The Future
Political Stew continues to grow its membership, and it is acknowledged by the administrators and the moderators that retaining a healthy core of posters and attracting new members is essential to its future success. With that in mind, a marketing strategy is in place as well as the desire to form a non-profit company in which ownership of the domain will be vested, to ensure that no-one person can control any part of its operation. There are many plans currently being discussed with a view to attracting new members, and providing an even better forum than the one current members enjoy.
[edit] Software Features
Political Stew uses phpBB, the free, open-source forum software which uses the php scripting language. The site currently uses a default installation of phpbb 2.0.x which a few security modifications.
Members are able to use the full range of phpbb posting functions, including the ability to use code.
[edit] Current Administrators
Muthafunky[6]
i_have_shiny_shoes[7]
jono in adelaide [8]
[edit] Current Moderators
Daejn [9]
eric84 [10]
Incognita [11]
pezworld [12]
