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I am new here and I’d like to understand how you define a POB issue on a site that focus on politics.

Politics by definition is a matter of personal ideas and opinions, at least in countries where people are free to express themselves.

What does POB mean here?

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Welcome to Politics Stack Exchange.

We handle "Primarily Opinion-Based" very strictly here, maybe even stricter than on most other Stack Exchange sites.

The reason is that we do not want to be a platform for ideas, opinions and political activism. Our idea of a politics Q&A site is a place where we can learn and teach how politics and political processes work. If we want to provide the most useful explanations, we need to explain them from a neutral point of view. Attempts to convince our readers of our personal opinions will just distract from that goal and prevent us from describing things objectively.

And we also expect questions to be written from a neutral point of view so that they do not encourage opinionated answers.

There are a couple people who mistake this website for a platform for political activism and post questions and answers which are written to promote specific political views. Such posts are usually received very negatively by this community. They often collect a lot of downvotes and close-votes and often get deleted. We in fact have a custom close-reason for questions like this: "promotes or discredits a specific political cause, group or politician".

Don't get me wrong: Free expression of ideas is important for a democratic society. But there are more than enough websites where you can post your political opinions. There is no need for any more of them. We do not want to become another battleground for competing political activists to have shouting matches. We want to be a place where you can learn about what these people are actually arguing about, equip you with the political literacy required to form your own opinion and help you to engage in these discussions in a constructive way in whatever way you choose is right.

So when is a question primarily opinion-based?

  • When it can not be answered without resorting to personal opinions. ("What is your opinon about the government of Arstotzka?")
  • When people with different political views would give very different answers. ("Is the Arstotzkan government oppressing their ctizens?")
  • When there are no "right" or "wrong" answers and the best answer depends on your personal views. ("How could Arstotzka become a better place to live?")

(this list is just a couple examples and doesn't claim to be complete)

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    I see, so probably my recent question is a POB one according to what you are saying. Where else could I ask ? Probably on Skeptics SE
    – user 66974
    Commented Nov 8, 2019 at 14:32
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    @user070221 Assuming you're referring to the sex scandals question, that would be off-topic on Skeptics.SE, as it doesn't refer to a specific notable claim but to a personal observation you've made (see their FAQ for a better explanation). You haven't received any close votes yet, so I'd say the question is fine here.
    – F1Krazy
    Commented Nov 8, 2019 at 14:53
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    @user070221 Primarily opinon-based questions do not fit into the Stack Exchange Q&A concept at all. If you want to publish your opinions, you could do so on Twitter, Facebook or a personal blog. If you want a discussion, you could start one on a website like Reddit.
    – Philipp Mod
    Commented Nov 8, 2019 at 15:11

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