I guess this begs the question:
Do we really need a Politics forum here at Bladeforums?
The obvious answer is that no, we don't. This is a knife forum. It's one thing to branch from knives in particular to other areas of discussion (Gadgets and Gear for example) that, while not knife-related, involves peripheral hobbies and activities that knife enthusiasts also have a tendency to share. But politics? That's another matter completely.
OTOH, in one way, I feel that maybe we do need a Politics forum here. As I said above, it's good that it's there so political discussion doesn't seep and ooze its way into the rest of the forum, where it certainly doesn't belong. If we shut down the PA, I bet we'd start seeing political drivel clogging up W&C (a forum far too classy to tolerate politics).
Part of me wants to be rid of the Political Arena. Want to talk politics? There's countless forums and blogs out there to talk politics in. Go there. Unless the political issue you want to discuss directly involves knives, or at the most outside, issues of common interest to the knife enthusiast (such as gun rights), then it doesn't belong at BF.
The other part of me still thinks the PA is a necessary evil to have around. BF is a community, and it's natural for people to want to discuss politics with people they know and are comfortable with. Even if it has nothing to do with knives, it's a natural compulsion for people with similar interests to want to discuss other things. "Hey, I carry a Sebenza, you carry a Sebenza, what do you think of John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his VP running mate?" Sounds weird, maybe, but this kind of thing is inevitable.
I don't really have much in the way of suggestions for improving the Political Arena, should it remain part of BF. Unless there's some way of using the forum software that can allow certain people and restrict others. Very few people have been banned for actions in the PA, and this was always (to my knowledge) for violating the rules (hit-and-run/ctrl+v posting, direct insults, etc) rather than the posters' actual political views.
If I had to run PA, here's what I'd do:
1. Allow access only to members of certain post-count (say, 100 posts) in actual knife-related discussion rooms, like General Knife Discussion, Knife Reviews & Testing, etc (no spammy posts in W&C simply to boost one's post count). This would eliminate certain people who seem to post exclusively, or mostly, in the PA (of which there've been many). I don't know if the forum software can do this.
2. Ban people who violate the rules, but only from the PA. I don't know if this is doable by the forum software either; maybe through the Social Groups, or grant/revoke certain status (like paying members that have access to the Pirates Cove) to members who are allowed/disallowed into the PA.
3. Hang myself. Too much of a PITA to me, but I'm sure somebody would be up for it. However, even though there's 3 official moderators for the PA now, I don't know how long they'd want to keep it up with all the inevitable whiners who aren't allowed in by the first 2 constraints. They'd be bogged down with accusations and appeals.
You've boxed him in with a one word response when he's more familiar with an essay length retort. I'z ya crazy ? 
