Democratic Underground

An online political message board. Supposedly intended for liberals, it's home to nearly as many conservative disruptors as members of its target audience. In the case of the Gun Control and Right to Keep and Bear Arms forum, it's home to many MORE disruptors than genuine members. Some of these trolls last for years accumulating literally tens of thousands of posts before they are banned. Note that I specified 'banned' instead of 'detected', as the troublemakers are usually recognized as such far before they are eliminated. And for every slackmaster, dfk or jody that eventually gets tombstoned, there's a hack89, Lurks Often, or Far Center that remains.

The reason for this lax approach to enemies is not easy to discern. Perhaps there is some benefit (site traffic) to the owners in keeping around those who stir the pot. Ironically, in maintaining a liberal board where conservatives are tolerated, the website resembles an open forum whose members are nearly equal divided between the two sides. Which says a lot about the state of political discourse on the Internet.

Jimbo, I've been posting on Democratic Underground for ten years, and they haven't eliminated me yet!

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