Ideally this would be a place that is laid back and friendly. Their is plenty of opportunity to be ugly, sarcastic and demeaning on the OT board. And that is the intended spot for political convo. I was careful with my thread tags in the title and purposely left out politics but I have shared my personal viewpoint in what was hopefully a very honest and respectful way.
There were multiple people who asked for this, and at least one asked for it a couple of years ago. I thought it was time to break out as I really want to keep our little community intact. If someone checks in to see what's happening with the weather and has to wade through 40+ posts just to find something weather-related, I'm sympathetic to that.