We can't have 'friendly and constructive conversations' about anything around here
They seem to turn into conversations about how playing video games invite demons into your soul and drives out God. How are you supposed to have a constructive consersation with that...
Well, it was constructive for a while, then turned into that -- and it entertained Moose, so there's always that. When faced with someone who believes that much of what troubles society can be attributed to demons, you could just say, "Sorry, but I don't believe in demons. Got anything else to offer in defense of your position?" I mean, the guy lobbed a rainbow softball pitch, just swing for the fences. No need to call him a moron -- let his own statements speak for him.
I don't think some of the comments in those two threads were anything other than flame-bombing. It's not really a discussion if all the participants just type out their opinions. If you can say why you believe something, that's a better post. Some people quite literally popped into the thread and said, "You're all racists. kthanxbye" -- just break the ToS and then bail out. That's the sort of behavior that make those threads difficult to enjoy.
Here's a suggestion: age verification for the forum, or age-restricted areas of the forum. If adults want to have an adult conversation about politics, they should be allowed to do so. Or selective banning from sub-forums; you only want to discuss keyboards, but somehow
cannot manage to stay out of well-labeled threads about non-keyboard topics? -- banned from Off Topic forum.
For some people it isn't enough to just stay out of a conversation, they have to make sure no one else is allowed to have the conversation. And that, to me, is just pointless censorship. If you want to live in a free and open society prepare yourselves to sometimes hear opinions you don't like.