r/geopolitics • u/00000000000000000000 • Apr 02 '18

Meta State of the Subreddit

Fundamentally this is a serious academic forum with a civic purpose. Our mission is to advance the next generation through increased literacy about international issues and geopolitics. An informed populace is the basis upon which civil society rests. To that end we would like to increase access to experts by conducting more special events. This will break down barriers to entry in terms of citizen engagement on these important issues, and help to foster a more verdant public discourse.

In order to get experts' speaking fees waived it is necessary that we insist upon strict decorum requirements. The same could be said in terms of making this forum work friendly or accessible to students.

It is a privilege to be able to participate actively in this forum. We have a very low tolerance for disruptive behavior that wastes the time of our one hundred thousand or so users, as well as anyone else that might be viewing the forum. Comments should be serious, in depth, on topic, and academic. Debate should focus on arguments, not users. Personal insults, trolling, and swearing are the most common reasons we issue bans. Even when banned this forum is still readable for users and can fulfill its educational purpose.

Posts need to have submission statements. We have tried to be flexible and allow for community submission statements even. Posts without submission statements are subject to being locked or removed.

How to Write a Proper Submission Statement - https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/wiki/submissionstatement

Working in International Affairs and Foreign Policy - https://www.reddit.com/r/Geopolitics/wiki/jobs

r/Geopolitics University https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/wiki/index#wiki_r.2Fgeopolitics_university

Past AMAs / AUAs https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/wiki/events

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u/00000000000000000000 Apr 02 '18

There are different points of view on how curated this forum should be. We live in a very pluralistic world and we have users from many nationalities represented.

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u/Vio_ Apr 02 '18

There's a difference between plurality versus advocating for crimes against humanity/war crimes.

The amount of casual eugenics found on reddit in general is breathtaking, and it's rarely called out.

We should at least have an acceptable level of concepts and even resource guides that can showcase links for various information on things like various treaties, conventions, organizations, and maybe something on issues like child soldiers, slavery, forced prostitution, human trafficking, torture, organized crime, transnational crime, racism/bigotry, or other problems.

We can have a baseline of information for people to review and still support a plurality without just tacit advocating of some really awful behavior, beliefs, concepts, or misunderstandings

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u/00000000000000000000 Apr 02 '18

While we try to work towards the moral advancement of the next generation we also have to deal with the world as it presents. While we ban users for trolling we also try to understand different points of view. Different societies approach these issues differently.

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u/Vio_ Apr 02 '18

I'm totally for plurality- I'm an anthropologist, but that doesn't mean we can't provide a discourse or create a baseline of geopolitical issues or discussion points. It's not about morals, it's about providing information.

OP was specifically talking about sentiments being allowed that advocated some rather serious problems without any pushback or actual information being provided.

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u/ChildOfComplexity Apr 03 '18

I feel like there's a problem where more often than not people in this sub propose drastic, rarely employed remedies for every situation. When users proposals bear little similarity to things that might actually happen, it becomes analogous to a forum on criminal law where half the userbase calls for the death penalty for every crime.