Is Atlas significantly less ideologically diverse than it was 10-15 years ago?
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  Is Atlas significantly less ideologically diverse than it was 10-15 years ago?
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Author Topic: Is Atlas significantly less ideologically diverse than it was 10-15 years ago?  (Read 1723 times)
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Computer89
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« Reply #25 on: April 22, 2021, 01:22:15 PM »

Part of the problem is the type of Republican Atlas used to attract is exactly ground zero for going NeverTrump/leaving the GOP. If you're a right wing ideologue of the previous era who was thoughtful and read a lot of more theory minded people like Jonah Goldberg and Bill Kristol, you probably followed them right out of the GOP.

Then, for the Trumpers, changing cultural mores. How long would Statesrights, a poster with Confederate stuff in his sig who was o

penly not cool with blacks or gays, last on the forum now? And yet States was basically an ur-Trumper and I have no doubt he went Trump hard, but despite being one of our top all time posters, he'd not be welcome here now.

Atlas is almost the inverse of real-life situations for me.  Here, I find it super easy to fit in.  But it was incredibly difficult for me to co-exist with the College Republicans society in my undergrad.

What were the issues you faced with the College Republicans society? I'm assuming it's because you're generally moderate and seem to lean somewhat left on social issues, but I would like to hear more

You summed it up quite nicely.  

Granted, I got along with pretty much everybody on a personal level.  I actually spent quite a bit of time with some of the guys (I was one of...three(?) women) away from the club due to Greek life.  

But ideologically, it was sometimes difficult to fit in and there were more than a few members who branded me a party traitor due to my outward disdain for figures like Donald Trump or Jim Jordan.  


TPU is even worse lol , I remember going to one of their meetings and anyone who didn’t favor privatizing Social security and Medicare were branded as socialists
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Geoffrey Howe
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« Reply #26 on: April 22, 2021, 01:22:42 PM »

It is interesting to note the results of the Atlas mock-election results. In 2008 it seems John McCain won a landslide. Now, obviously, the Democrat wins a landslide. I doubt that is all attributable to ‘NeverTrumpers’.

Looking at some old threads, it seems that there were far more right wing or libertarian figures than there are now. Perhaps this is because characters who spent a lot of time online back then are rather different from those now.

I wouldn’t say there is a lack of viewpoint diversity here, but certainly standard American left wing positions get the most applause and much is centred around a broadly large d Democratic perspective.
In 2008 the link got posted somewhere (Free Republic?) and those users bombarded the site to vote in the mock election. Same thing happened in 2012 with some libertarian site, which is why Johnson won. Neither should be considered representative of where the forum was at the time.

Ah, thank you. I shall change my post.
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The Free North
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« Reply #27 on: April 22, 2021, 01:27:58 PM »

I dont think ideological diversity is the bast way to put it. I've (somehow) been posting since 2012. Back then there were lot more interesting people like Opebo or that super communist guy (TNF?). Dems were still the majority still I think. 

Nowadays i've found its not just that there are more Dems but you have a lot of the worst kind of dems, the sort of upper-middle class, reddit reading, college educated, moral majority types who don't really have anything interesting to say and are super critical of anyone who doesn't think like them and super annoying to read/talk to.

John Dule is probably the best poster we have still. BRTD as well. The international election board is quite good too and I actually learn a lot from reading that. My interest in US politics has waned admittedly.
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« Reply #28 on: April 22, 2021, 01:56:41 PM »

It is interesting to note the results of the Atlas mock-election results. In 2008 it seems John McCain won a landslide. Now, obviously, the Democrat wins a landslide. I doubt that is all attributable to ‘NeverTrumpers’.

Looking at some old threads, it seems that there were far more right wing or libertarian figures than there are now. Perhaps this is because characters who spent a lot of time online back then are rather different from those now.

I wouldn’t say there is a lack of viewpoint diversity here, but certainly standard American left wing positions get the most applause and much is centred around a broadly large d Democratic perspective.
In 2008 the link got posted somewhere (Free Republic?) and those users bombarded the site to vote in the mock election. Same thing happened in 2012 with some libertarian site, which is why Johnson won. Neither should be considered representative of where the forum was at the time.

I doubt it given that democrats still had the party registration edge
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The Mikado
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« Reply #29 on: April 22, 2021, 04:56:25 PM »

Nowadays i've found its not just that there are more Dems but you have a lot of the worst kind of dems, the sort of upper-middle class, reddit reading, college educated, moral majority types who don't really have anything interesting to say and are super critical of anyone who doesn't think like them and super annoying to read/talk to.
 

"Moral Majority types" Huh I don't see most Democrats as huge fans of Jerry Falwell.

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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #30 on: April 22, 2021, 06:15:04 PM »

I don't know whether it is necessarily any more ideologically diverse, but the American contingent (ever a super-majority of posters) is certainly vastly less diverse in partisan terms than was the case back then. The reasons for this are much as expressed by others already. The forum is also less weird, more influenced by mainstream culture and mainstream political concerns, this largely reflecting the fact that it is a lot bigger and easier to find than it once was. This means that there is less toleration for 'extreme' political perspectives, so even though they can be found in the roster of active posters, they are less likely to become established forum 'characters'.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #31 on: April 23, 2021, 06:56:41 AM »

I disagree with Virginia that demographics dictate this, since conservatives on Atlas underperform even what pure demographics would dictate. I even made a thread about it here. It is very easy to see why Atlas shouldn't be majority Republican/conservative based off of demographics, but do Atlas conservatives even reach the estimation of 30% or so? I definitely don't think 1/3 of the forum voted for Trump but I may be wrong.

I don't think it fully describes the partisan makeup of the forum, but it makes a large contribution. Also consider that north of 30-40% of this forum (depending on the time and poll you use) is LGBT, which is a heavily Democratic group - male or female.
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Penn_Quaker_Girl
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« Reply #32 on: April 23, 2021, 07:00:22 AM »

I disagree with Virginia that demographics dictate this, since conservatives on Atlas underperform even what pure demographics would dictate. I even made a thread about it here. It is very easy to see why Atlas shouldn't be majority Republican/conservative based off of demographics, but do Atlas conservatives even reach the estimation of 30% or so? I definitely don't think 1/3 of the forum voted for Trump but I may be wrong.

I don't think it fully describes the partisan makeup of the forum, but it makes a large contribution. Also consider that north of 30-40% of this forum (depending on the time and poll you use) is LGBT, which is a heavily Democratic group - male or female.

Has there ever been any insight into why this forum has a significant LGBT presence?
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Former President tack50
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« Reply #33 on: April 23, 2021, 07:13:26 AM »
« Edited: April 23, 2021, 07:23:16 AM by tack50 »

I disagree with Virginia that demographics dictate this, since conservatives on Atlas underperform even what pure demographics would dictate. I even made a thread about it here. It is very easy to see why Atlas shouldn't be majority Republican/conservative based off of demographics, but do Atlas conservatives even reach the estimation of 30% or so? I definitely don't think 1/3 of the forum voted for Trump but I may be wrong.

I don't think it fully describes the partisan makeup of the forum, but it makes a large contribution. Also consider that north of 30-40% of this forum (depending on the time and poll you use) is LGBT, which is a heavily Democratic group - male or female.

Has there ever been any insight into why this forum has a significant LGBT presence?

This is purely anecdotal experience but every other political discussion board I've been to has had similar demographics to Atlas. Those being 90%+ male and no less than 35% LGBT (indeed the Spanish politics forum I used to comment on was upwards of 40% LGBT and only had 2 women as regular posters)

Internet spaces in general have always seemed very men dominated to me (but I have a massive bias there for obvious reasons Tongue ).

As for LGBT people, the theory is that in general LGBT people tend to be more politically active, and that includes discussing politics more online, though it isn't limited to that.
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Former President tack50
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« Reply #34 on: April 23, 2021, 07:22:24 AM »

I don't think it fully describes the partisan makeup of the forum, but it makes a large contribution. Also consider that north of 30-40% of this forum (depending on the time and poll you use) is LGBT, which is a heavily Democratic group - male or female.

Oh it absolutely is a huge contribution; I am not denying that. My question is whether Republicans/Conservatives match at least the demographics they should have on paper.

Indeed for the LGBT example, if that was the only factor, you could expect perhaps something like this

65% of Forum is non-LGBT, splits 48% Conservative
35% of Forum is LGBT, splits 20% Conservative

Result of that would dictate a forum that is roughly 38% Right of centre if I am doing the math correctly. (of course, sexual orientation isn't the only demographic that matters)

Most factors do indeed benefit the left being a majority, the question is how big should it be Tongue Back on the thread I linked Torie made this analysis for instance:

Forum factors favoring the Pubs: (1)white and (2)male.

Forum factors favoring the Dems: (1)educated, (2)young, (3)nerdish, (4)foreign, (5)urban, (6)secular, (7)unpartnered/unmarried  and (8)LGBT.

So the score is 8 to 2.

Now, I don't know if nerdish people split left of centre and I always exclude foreign posters from my calculations, but it would still remain at 6-2.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #35 on: April 23, 2021, 07:24:07 AM »

Has there ever been any insight into why this forum has a significant LGBT presence?

I don't know. I used to wonder if it was because the forum developed a large group of LGBT users by chance some time ago, and then that kind of kept it going in perpetuity by signaling to unregistered LGBT lurkers/new users that it was a friendly space for them. But that still doesn't explain how it originally happened, so still a chicken & egg problem.

Another reason might be that LGBT youth are more likely to face social stigma and depression and as a result are more lonely and isolated than average. That would push people online to and into communities where they feel accepted. But, then again, nowadays that is less noteworthy because most people are online to some degree. Old-style forums like this are a lot less common, but only because the internet is constantly evolving. Massive "forum 2.0" sites like Reddit boast huge active user numbers. At any rate, I think all of this would be more relevant 15 years ago, when the internet was still somewhat novel to many people.

It's an interesting question but I don't think there is an easy answer.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #36 on: April 23, 2021, 07:28:47 AM »

Oh it absolutely is a huge contribution; I am not denying that. My question is whether Republicans/Conservatives match at least the demographics they should have on paper.

Indeed for the LGBT example, if that was the only factor, you could expect perhaps something like this

65% of Forum is non-LGBT, splits 48% Conservative
35% of Forum is LGBT, splits 20% Conservative

Result of that would dictate a forum that is roughly 38% Right of centre if I am doing the math correctly. (of course, sexual orientation isn't the only demographic that matters)

I would be interested in seeing areas of study for future/existing college graduates here. That might help shed some light on partisan identities. Some professions attract significantly more conservatives on average, and vice versa.
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