~~~ ADMIN INFO ~~~   This area will not be visible to the public for reading therefore members will need to be signed in to read topics.  As well, internet search bots will not be able to pickup these topics and re-direct the public here nor become part of a public record of our discussion on controversial issues.      The expected topics include politics and controversial issues.   The expectation is that these topics would be potentially of interest for others to discuss.   As a discussion sub-forum of topics that will likely have opposing views, there should be some words put to the first post in order to start a discussion.     This is NOT the place to be a dumping ground of topics, videos or pictures that just appear to be spam or propaganda of controversial ideas.  It is intended to be of interest to people wanting to use The Dao Bums as place to discuss challenging views but not to promote ideological or conspiracy points of view.    If history has shown a topic to be already in the Pit, any continuation would be expected in that thread, not in a new one.    If there is a pattern of a member(s) wanting to start topics with no words and/or they consistently get no interaction, or negative interaction, we might need to consider whether this is just too disruptive a tactic and not really discussion oriented nor intended.  In such cases, the threads could end up in the PIT/Chaos, warnings could be issued, or a member can lose access to this area, or some action can be taken.   While forum rules apply, the hope is the staff is not monitoring this area that much and doesn't need to be asked to intervene.   As in all forum areas, the Report feature can be used but we would highly recommend that those who are not able to easily discuss challenging topics or accept some criticism of the topic should just not participate.     We would like to see this as a place that welcomes the kinds of topics we have gotten in the past but we're not condoning a marked increase in such topics.  This simply represents a better place than Off-topic and the PIT/Chaos.