Is that a new guideline, by the way? It wasn't there in the old days -- presumably it postdates the "flag" feature.
In any case, I don't like that guideline much. Complaining about offtopicness is, in my opinion, the best substitute for downvoting. Sure, it means that every political story acquires a boring "!HN" thread, but that's exactly the point: the boring thread is the punishment for the story, and is designed to suck out all the oxygen from the _actual_ political debate which would otherwise ensue.
I know I post rather a lot of comments complaining about political stories. This isn't because I'm not interested in politics -- it's actually because I'm very interested in politics and have to actively stop myself from getting involved in internet-based political arguments (something I swore off many years ago as a waste of time).
In any case, I don't like that guideline much. Complaining about offtopicness is, in my opinion, the best substitute for downvoting. Sure, it means that every political story acquires a boring "!HN" thread, but that's exactly the point: the boring thread is the punishment for the story, and is designed to suck out all the oxygen from the _actual_ political debate which would otherwise ensue.
I know I post rather a lot of comments complaining about political stories. This isn't because I'm not interested in politics -- it's actually because I'm very interested in politics and have to actively stop myself from getting involved in internet-based political arguments (something I swore off many years ago as a waste of time).