[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Not Insane

I was a member on a political site that had a "no holds barred" attitude about ad-hom attacks. One day they changed their rules and no longer allowed ad-hom attacks. At first, people got one or two week suspensions, but eventually a lot of members simply went away. They could not argue politics/culture without calling their opponents names and most of their posts could be summarized as "You're wrong and you are stupid and/or evil."

The whole place changed. And here's how: The conservative voices got louder and more numerous, and the far left kids went away, leaving in their place, the thoughtful liberals that could actually form cohesive arguments and, as a bonus, actually post in complete sentences.

i.e. it was good all around and became, in many ways, a much better and fairer discussion of current events.

In other words, it became another rightwing echo chamber for unsubstantiated looney-tune conspiracy theories to emanate from. I've been on those sites...... Hoo Wee, the things that come out of nowhere when the inmates are free to run unopposed in the asylum!