The main reason I think a containment thread would be better is that it removes any element of uncertainty from the rules. As it stands posts that are not themselves super politically charged or short on technical details can still get deleted or scolded because of the nationalist emotions they provoke. This leads to people being afraid to ask reasonable questions or post decent articles since it's not possible to predict whether someone will start a flame war over it. I say this not as an insult to moderator capability but to make a point of how hard it is to keep online nationalists at bay without extremely clear rules. So I think a blanket ban on all chest thumping with a dedicated containment thread would work better.
I understand this ultimately isn't my call to make and that this is not a moderation methodology thread, so I'll just leave it there.
I've thought about that as well, but honestly, I think having some fear about posting "decent articles" is probably a good thing, because "decent articles" are few and far between.
That isn't to say someone would receive a warning (let alone a ban) for posting bad quality articles, but if someone were to consistently post such articles only despite multiple prior warnings and deletions then that would be a red flag to us.
There's also the fact that in this thread (and in the forum at large), there are only really some users whose posts in a given thread can be viewed as informative or constructive for the purposes of learning.
It may seem somewhat cold hearted, but I think there are some occasions where some members can actively benefit the forum more by actively posting less because their contributions are either actively neutral at best (taking up space) or actively detrimental at worst (taking up space and also derailing a thread) -- avoiding posting bad quality articles and nationalistic gloating and being afraid to do so would be rather useful.
For example, in this thread I rarely post or contribute, and prefer to observe and read mostly, because I know that for the actual topic at hand my base of knowledge is generally not able to give much information that is of use to anyone.
Even the last few posts from me here are about content/moderation norms that I was tagged for.
If people feel particularly strongly about wanting some sort of "valve" for shitposting then that's something else, but I personally think people should have a bit more fear and discipline instilled with regards to carefully assessing whether an article is worth posting and whether a joke or a gloat or grievance is worth writing to begin with. This isn't Twitter/X or reddit after all.
