Politics Forum

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Everyone:

Here's what we plan to do concerning the Politics Forum:

1. We do plan to restart it, probably around the middle of August. But first we need to make sure that everything has calmed down and the posting can resume in a civil and courteous manner.

2. We do encourage vigorous debate. For instance whether the Israeli response was too strong is a fair topic, just like whether Hezbolah imbeds itself among civilians causing civiliain casulties is also a fair topic.

3. What we will not tolerate are posts designed to foment hate. These include posts, which are sometimes very politely written, that distort facts, create new facts, make references to very bad things that the poster quickly distances himself from but nevertheless leaves the idea out there, and often link to other sites that are clearly hate sites.

Our concern at Two Plus Two is that we have many young people (that is young compared to me) reading these boards who do not know or understand the history, and who could be misled down the road to hatred. Everyone needs to keep in mind that www.twoplustwo.com is a site designed to discuss poker and other forms of gambling. We are not designed nor do we have the capabilities to handle these other subjets as well as some other sites on the Internet. Thus if we error, we plan to error on the conservative side and make sure that this forum will not be a breeding ground for hatred. This will be the case whether you are pro Israeli, pro Palestinian, or pro some other subject.

So again, we do plan to reopen the Politics Forum, but we will wait until we feel that everything has calmed down. Expect to see it back up around the middle of August.

Best wishes,
Mason