You could make those foul votes public so that others could see if mobbing or brigading is going on. Just like in polls you can see who votes for what.I agree, it is an important topic that we should be able to discuss. However, over the past few days, there have been over 30 foul votes from the off topic section. There are a few people that should probably be sin binned, at the very least, if we go by the number of votes. The problem is that I know next to nothing about these topics. Should I be binning/banning people if I'm not really sure what they're getting banned for? Or do we just let the majority decide? I can usually look at votes and can confidentially decide if they're valid. With this, I'm looking at some votes and I have not got a clue.
On top of my limited knowledge around these subjects, I also have zero interest in moderating them. It's enough work having to deal with the issues between users over Spurs. Imagine me having to trawl through multiple foul votes for political issues. I am not the person to be chairing these debates and therefore, I don't feel, this is the site to be having them.
I may open them up again, but for now, I'm just tired of it.
Also, threadmarks...