I see some confusion that is likely caused by lack of clarity on my part. So let me fix that:
1. There is NO discussion or disagreement around allowing general political discussion in the forum. This is not allowed.
2. There is also NO discussion or disagreement around allowing open discussion between members on the topic of tariffs. Those threads that were created were closed and remain closed.
3. The request by the moderation team was specifically addressed to me and the
closed thread I created. Here is the opening remark:
"The issue is that by turning the forum into a personal political soapbox as you are is leading the forum in a direction that we just can't follow."
[...]
More or less ending with:
"The three of us have conferred and are in agreement that your last thread completely undermined us and our mission as we see it. We don't want to give ultimatums to you, but for reasons stated above we feel that unless you delete the tariff thread , apologize for an error in judgement to the forum and the moderators then we collectively will have to resign, effective you rejecting our proposal to rectify."
Bolding mine. My answer is as that folks don't have to read my "soapbox." No one is making enemies of each other, except me. None of the consequences we normally worry about exists because of that thread as members can't go after each other. If me posting about issues that are near and dear to my heart bothers people, I can't do anything about it. Whatever the consequences are, I will accept and carry on.