How free is FreeRepublic.com?

[scottxyz]

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/12/27/173837/60

By felixrayman

Free Republic is an online story and discussion site similar to Kuro5hin.org, but with an explicitly conservative bias. The site proclaims itself to be "an online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web." Intrigued, I proceeded to offer some comments to stories there, addressing some factual errors and dissenting with some conservative views. The result was a quick lesson in the right-wing view of free expression. The experiment left an open question - where do you go on the web to engage conservatives in open debate?

[Dob Bole]

1. Very true...

but the same could be said of DU. We don't have conservatives debate us here. There are probably chatrooms for political debate.

[scottxyz]

3. I don't think FACTUAL posts are often removed on DU

You have to really violate on of the forum rules to get a post deleted on DU.

What this article appears to be saying is that a simple liberal factual rebuttal on FR would get deleted quickly.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

24. Speaking as someone who was once banned from D.U....

I can tell you that isn't true. In fact, GOP sympathizers who simply post uncritical references to articles that even moderately defend conservative thinking are in danger of being tombstoned here.

Probably members of both forums will consider this an insult, but I find the D.U. and F.R. quite comparable in tone and content. Go into either, do an ideological inversion (e.g. substitute "Clinton" for "Bush" and vice versa) and you won't be able to tell the difference. Hell, go into the "Democratic Primary" forum and you'll find more vicious attacks on fellow Democrats than in a lot of Freep forums.

Now Skinner himself is a cut above all this. But unless he puts in a real moderation system like Kuro5shin or Slashdot to help weed out trolls and me-too ideological 'ditto heads' who do little but post unoriginal partisan one-liners, he's stuck with a site that is less than the sum of its parts.

I think he knows this too.

- C.D.

[slack]

9. We don't have conservatives debate us here

from my european viewpoint, this really sounds funny.
I think DU is a liberal place, but you also talk of jesus, death sentence, suv's, and so on. In Europe, these are all fundamentalist topics. And I don't like to start with patriotism. The average american patriotism is far away from european standards. In Europe many people think there are only two right wing parties in america, the fascist new-world order type like bush&co. and the other like the far right parties in europe. I think Nader would be perhaps popular in Europe. Even Kerry would be seen as a conservative rich mans guy in the political right side.

Sorry for mistakes and bad expression. ;)

[stldemocrat]

10. well yeah

I agree we have all these politicians running around waving the flag here, meanwhile healthcare is a privilege and not even a right like in Europe. We spend all our money on bombs to drop on the third world instead. Europeans have a rich past to be proud of also -- all the progressive ideas came out of Europe, and were implemented there first. We really need to follow Europe's leadership.

[kispoko]

18. hmm....

-all the progressive ideas came out of Europe, and were implemented there first.


all of them?

[stldemocrat]

22. ok

maybe not all...

[rwheeler31]

2. Good question.

nt

[wuushew]

4. Why does that article link to DU?

And a quick test showed that there are sites with a left-wing bias that are just as cowardly as Free Republic when it comes to allowing an actual debate.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=963909

[democracyindanger]

7. Read the posts by

"felixrayman"

that's the handle of the article's author.

this has been posted before. the problem is, he doesn't describe what he said on DU, and his posts were deleted. so for all anybody knows, he was perfectly reasonable--or an ass. he didn't detail the exchange, and refers to it only as a 'quick test,' so nobody knows.

du's not perfect, but the burden is on him to prove his point. referring people to a post where his messages were deleted only proves they were deleted.

[corporatewhore]

5. well there are calls for purgeson GD04 of the more lefty types

[wuushew]

6. Skinner has given his word that no purges will occur

Only a rightwing coup among the DU administration could affect such a change.

[AngryYoungMan]

8. Was his stuff PURGED or did he get the equivalent of a DU tombstone?

It's an important distinction. A bunch of us argued with some asshole this afternoon who came in saying he "wanted to debate" and ended up slowly pissing everyone off. He started by asking legitimate questions and a bunch of us answered in detail and then slowly lost our patience and started ignoring and calling him a troll. (Can't find the thread.)

My point being that that wasn't a "purge" or anything remotely like it. We all said "Welcome to DU" and engaged in civil debate.

[kysrsoze]

25. Ehhhh.... it's really not too bad here. By and large.....

people listen to, and debate on issues. I've seen some pretty good arguments from time to time. It's not as if everyone agrees on everything here. If someone wants to argue about whether NAFTA is a good thing or whether the invasion of Afghanistan was warranted, they should feel free and I don't think their posts would ever be removed.

However, when people with 10 to 20 posts come on this board and start saying, "You know we should all be thankful to Bush for getting us out of the recession" or "What's so bad about a constitutional amendment against gay marriage if 70% of the U.S. supports it?," that's enough. I have no tolerance for such blatant baiting and such obvious shallowness/stupidity. That's just planting yourself to piss people off and if those people get flamed, fuck 'em.

[hexola]

11. In real life - they would just kill you dead.

...the result was a quick lesson in the right-wing view of free expression.

They are very frightend of people who aren't "like-minded"...

The experiment left an open question - where do you go on the web to engage conservatives in open debate?...

DU! - at least you can have an actual debate here...the Freepers are here...lurking...

The right, as represented by FreeRepublic, is doomed...I worked for, and helped get a REPUBLICAN elected to a local office last November...but my voice has no place at Free Republic...

[charliebrown]

12. If you want open debate and open warfare...Go to Yahoo

Yahoo boards are pretty much open. You might go with Dems talking or other times Repukes. It is a gamble but you can find a debate or arguement there for sure.

[bonemachine]

13. I enjoy the US Politics Boards

On www.beliefnet.com.

They are good clean fun, slightly moderated, and you find everyone from anarchists to fascists.

[hexola]

14. Is there a way to use yahoo that makes sense?

I agree somewhat - but its not threaded - an too many noisemakers...it's good for brief live debate when a story breaks - but useless soon after...

Is there a way to use it that I'm missing - or another tool that helps?

[Lugnut]

15. If there is

I haven't been able to locate it. The format is horrible IMHO.

[charliebrown]

17. You Are Right Lib56

There isnt a Board I have found that is truly open. Thats why I said it was OPEN and Warfare. LOL Yahoo boards are nasty, I havent gone in 4 months.

[bonemachine]

23. I still say

You should check out this board:

http://beliefnet.com/boards/discussion_list.asp?boardID=425

[sharkbait2]

16. I post at Capitolgrilling.com....

... some debate but also a decent amount of flame...

[The Night Owl]

19. Fun with conservatives...

http://pub84.ezboard.com/flastrefugeofthesanefrm2.showMessage?topicID=2435.topic

[maggrwaggr]

20. they're all psychotically delusional over there

George Bush could be fucking a goat on the 50 yard line of the superbowl, live on television and they would say that he's a "U.N. plant body-double" or that it was the "liberal media MAKING it look like Bush is fucking a goat" or some such nonsense.

The last time I saw people so out of touch with reality they were seriously schizophrenic.

[KG]

21. the author obviously didn't read the rules at DU.

this isn't an open debate forum. RWers aren't welcome here and the owner make no bones about. that's a good thing coz if i wanted to hear the RW BS all i gotta do is turn on my TV.

[kysrsoze]

26. Exactly. There is a HUGE difference between someone with...

conservative views and someone who's a right-winger. The huge clue is that a true conservative will actually consider others' viewpoints while the RW nutjob will just continually argue the same points over and over again. It's pretty easy to spot them.