One simple thing would be to disallow cross-posting. If !politics finds it interesting, people can go there to read it.

If something that seems apolitical turns into a political discussion, then perhaps it could be moved there? It’s important not to underestimate people’s desire not to read about politics, so erring on being too restrictive is fine in my mind. If it annoys people, tell them to post to !politics. I suspect a good number of people will just be subscribed to both.

Finally, I think you can find some fine lines by reviewing the articles that are posted. Anything about party politics or elections or politicians/parties criticising each other is politics. Luxon and Chippy commenting on flooding is different than them throwing even mild barbs at each other.

By reading only the headlines you posted it’s hard to judge. A moderator is going to need to review them.

I do have lots of thoughts on moderation as well as a lot of outdated experience. I’d be happy to share but when I’ve shared to em on /r/nz, people are generally pretty shitty to me about it. I think a lot of people like being able to shout at others and personally attack them so any threat to that is viewed poorly.

I think almost any news coverage can be politicised in the comments, especially with the level of polarisation and discontent in NZ, and the scale of social issues currently in the media spotlight.

I would consider all of the examples posted to be relevant to current affairs, and not necessarily politics focused (though I concede comments on them would likely stray into political debate almost immediately).

Politics to me should be more scoped to stuff like “David Seymour says <controversial thing>”, “PM Hipkins talks to us about <topic>” etc.