OI

[Impulse97]

why do we have an OI and why do people get sent there?:hammersickle::trotski::hammersickle:

(Whoo Hoo I can post links now! Yay!)

[hatzel]

Because it just seems to be the done thing on these types of forum. Not just on leftist forums, they also have an OI section on Stormfront, and a variety of other political forums. I guess the reasons are three-fold. One is because it's fun for us to be able to debate with non-leftists, so having people with other opinions there in OI is good for us. The second reason is that there might be non-leftists who enjoy debating things with us, and we're just being super kind and letting them do that. The third reason would be that this allows us to put forward our ideas to them, just in case they see the light and decide to come over to our side :rolleyes:

As for why people get sent there...well, we don't want to let non-leftists have free access to the whole board, as that might ruin it for the rest of us. If we're having some leftist discussion and we just have people there saying "you're wrong, all these ideas are stupid". Therefore, they have to be limited to their own section, which we can enter if we're feeling in the mood for hearing people saying "you're wrong, all these ideas are stupid" :) You'll be sent there if you are found on the boards to have expressed opinions which do not fit in with RevLeft's policies, and therefore don't fit their definition of a leftist.

I can tell you, these policies are a bit of a point of contention for some people (those in OI, mainly :laugh:) who feel that RevLeft's definition of a leftist isn't strictly all-encompassing, and that it's a bit authoritarian or something. That is to say, there are restricted people who self-identify as revolutionary leftists, as well as those who are happy to admit that they have a different stance. Browsing OI for a while should give you an idea about which individuals are clearly non-leftists, and which ones are leftists who just happened to hold one or two opinions which go against RevLeft's axioms. They'll be more than happy to tell you why they're restricted, though, if you ask them...it seems to be a really big point of issue for them, "all I did was say..." :closedeyes:

And congratulations on posting links! You're now officially not a complete n00b, and can be trusted with the almost sacred task of directing us members to other corners of cyberspace. Huzzah!

[synthesis]

The main reason, in theory, is to allow the rest of the board to engage in relatively specialized discussion without getting sidetracked by objections of the most basic nature possible. Of course, it is also used punitively and/or arbitrarily at times.