What happened to the 'Polite' in APS?

[MillCreek]

I miss Jamis as a moderator.  In my opinion, the sort of personal attacks and insults that now occur in the Politics thread would not have happened on his watch.  In times past, there was recognition of a diversity of opinion that could be expressed without insulting others. Threads would be locked and people would be given time outs.  Whatever happened to Jamis?

[dogmush]

I'm FB Friends with him, and he's still around on the internet.  Not sure why he left here.  His profile has him last active in June.

I have also noted an increase in sharp words around here.  Perhaps it's lighter moderation, perhaps in symptomatic of the increasing divide in American Culture, perhaps politically minded folks are retreating farther into their corners and circling the metaphorical wagons.  Perhaps it's some combination.

I would note that just the "normal" social media platforms have gotten more rancorous in the last 12-24 months, so it's not too surprising that that eventually leeches out into other corners of the internet.

[Ron]

Once an election year is over things generally mellow out.

Jamis did OK as a mod but he was prone to taking his own personal shots as well...then locking the thread 

We started out as a very libertarian group when this place was first opened up. Even I self identified as a classical liberal back then.

[Ben]

Politics is really not the place to be discussing forum administration.