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 1725 times)
TheReckoning
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« on: April 21, 2021, 09:26:26 PM »

A while back, I made a post asking if Atlas had less active users than it had in its earlier past. I found out that statistically, the answer was no- there are actually more active users now (although not by much).

However, I think I figured out what gave me the illusion that Atlas had more users in the past. Looking back at old threads, I see a lot more blue avatars, yellow avatars, and “nones” than I do now, and left-wing talking points seemingly dominated threads a lot less. This makes me think that, while there are more Atlas users today, a lot of them are just generic Red avatars who have more or less the same ideologically consistent left wing beliefs. They all just blend together into one giant poster in a way that older posters don’t seem to.

Is this also just an illusion? Additionally, has Atlas also just shifted to the left considerably since its inception?
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Хahar 🤔
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« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2021, 09:43:53 PM »

Yes, your perception is accurate. I wrote about the reasons for this here and here, but the briefest explanation is that there's no longer any real place for Republicans on a message board that has intellectual pretensions like this one because Republicans have nothing to say. Nobody is interested in hearing white nationalist propaganda and it feels ridiculous to try to even offer it up and thereby insult the intelligence of everyone you're posting at, and there's no conservative position beyond that nowadays.
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YE
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« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2021, 10:12:20 PM »

RL polarization has trickled down to the forum.
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« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2021, 10:14:31 PM »

Rich hawks go to whichever party is friendlier to them.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #4 on: April 21, 2021, 10:32:02 PM »
« Edited: April 21, 2021, 11:05:09 PM by Virginiá »

I think part of it is basic demographics. Considering that young people are, overall, >60% Dem-leaning by presidential vote, and that these kinds of forums skew heavily towards college educated (or those on their way), you're looking at a much more Dem-leaning demographic. This is even more relevant in an era where both parties see little in common on just about everything, but even less than on political issues that interest them. A structural imbalance this sharp on a forum in the era of Donald Trump (even post) is exceedingly difficult for Republicans to weather given what Trump did to the GOP. I don't think this forum would ever likely be 50/50, but it probably had a better shot at maintaining a closer split had Trump not run in 2015.

Xahar really hit the nail on the head better than anyone else could. To highlight that with a recent specific example of modern discourse:  The conservative opinion that Donald Trump, the man who leaned heavily on the DoJ to investigate his political rivals, attempted to rig the census to boost Republicans, attempted to cripple the USPS in order to make all-mail voting unfeasible (due to common conservative belief that more voters hurts them), and generally went about as far as any modern president has gone in leveraging federal power to win an election, and then sent a mob of supporters to storm the capitol to shut down the EC certification, only "lost" the election because of massive fraud centered exclusively around battleground states he lost, implying he actually won in a landslide but had it stolen from him. Democrats counter this by saying that there is literally no evidence of meaningful amounts of fraud and that nearly the entire Republican Party now believes this lie simply because Trump stated it, and it of course fed into their pre-existing beliefs that elections they lose are stolen. Where does this fit in on a forum centered around political cartography and election results? This is literally YouTube comments section-level drivel. It's hard enough to believe millions of people, in the context I described, fully believe this. Not only is it difficult to have hope for America if this is the level of stupidity and gullibility present into the electorate., but it makes debate and the general exchange of information between said people ridiculous.

I think that touches on what Xahar says - that mainstream GOP opinion has become nothing but endless cultural grievances, troubling levels of racism and and nonsense conspiracy theories. There just isn't a whole lot to talk about unless you're already a partisan Republican, and the level to which others would have to suspend their disbelief to talk to people who in one way or another supported Donald Trump for years without getting irritated is just too steep. This is part of the price that must be paid for putting such a belligerent hypocritical agitator into office.

A while back, I made a post asking if Atlas had less active users than it had in its earlier past. I found out that statistically, the answer was no- there are actually more active users now (although not by much).

I don't mean to get too off-topic, but more than double the active users is considerably more than 'not by much.'
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PSOL
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« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2021, 11:12:56 PM »
« Edited: April 22, 2021, 12:11:16 AM by PSOL »

It’s not just Republicans being affected, a lot of anti-establishment voices on Atlas also left for AAD. Libertarians and third party supporters also got ran off as well.

For people with thick skin and are powered by spite, they survive but contorted and unable to interact with others due to fear of dropping the spiked chain mail. All others leave and take their contributions with them.
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🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸
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« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2021, 12:00:45 AM »
« Edited: April 22, 2021, 12:03:52 AM by 🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸 »

We used to have a strong libertarian contingent.  Most either joined the Left or left the forum.  The shift of youthful energy from Ron Paul c. 2007 to Bernie Sanders c. 2015 must be related.  Young people over time focused less about freedom from war and surveillance, and more on making government a source of socioeconomic advancement and affirmation of their identities.

The forum seemed to get nastier and more cynical in general around 2012-2013 or so, in a way likely to reinforce groupthink.  I think that's about when culture war issues really started to be framed more as all-or-nothing propositions in our politics (ex. the claim that Romney was waging a 'War on Women' as a major theme of the Obama campaign), and this supercharged by the Great Awokening and its reactions.     So then many on the right and the dissident left (who may be seen as traitors to the left/liberal cause) have gotten the message their views are not especially welcome here and interesting thoughtful discussion is impossible.  That trend has only increased.  Moderators gradually increasing the grounds for censorship and banning has contributed to it as well.
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PSOL
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« Reply #7 on: April 22, 2021, 12:10:20 AM »

We used to have a strong libertarian contingent.  Most either joined the Left or left the forum.  The shift of youthful energy from Ron Paul c. 2007 to Bernie Sanders c. 2015 must be related.  Young people over time focused less about freedom from war and surveillance, and more on making government a source of socioeconomic advancement and affirmation of their identities.

The forum seemed to get nastier and more cynical in general around 2012-2013 or so, in a way likely to reinforce groupthink.  I think that's about when culture war issues really started to be framed more as all-or-nothing propositions in our politics (ex. the claim that Romney was waging a 'War on Women' as a major theme of the Obama campaign), and this supercharged by the Great Awokening and its reactions.     So then many on the right and the dissident left (who may be seen as traitors to the left/liberal cause) have gotten the message their views are not especially welcome here and interesting thoughtful discussion is impossible.  That trend has only increased.  Moderators gradually increasing the grounds for censorship and banning has contributed to it as well.
The mod actions does have some truth to it, the mods have made it clear that they’re dogmatic believers of the horseshoe.

Still, am conflicted at times whether I can understand their actions, but no doubt has some interesting and needed discussions been surpressed.
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« Reply #8 on: April 22, 2021, 08:34:45 AM »

IDK. I do remember Red Eagle Politics once tried to get a lot of his viewers to make accounts in an attempt to have a lot more Republicans to balance out the site's Dem leanings.
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TheReckoning
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« Reply #9 on: April 22, 2021, 09:25:02 AM »

I think part of it is basic demographics. Considering that young people are, overall, >60% Dem-leaning by presidential vote, and that these kinds of forums skew heavily towards college educated (or those on their way), you're looking at a much more Dem-leaning demographic. This is even more relevant in an era where both parties see little in common on just about everything, but even less than on political issues that interest them. A structural imbalance this sharp on a forum in the era of Donald Trump (even post) is exceedingly difficult for Republicans to weather given what Trump did to the GOP. I don't think this forum would ever likely be 50/50, but it probably had a better shot at maintaining a closer split had Trump not run in 2015.

Xahar really hit the nail on the head better than anyone else could. To highlight that with a recent specific example of modern discourse:  The conservative opinion that Donald Trump, the man who leaned heavily on the DoJ to investigate his political rivals, attempted to rig the census to boost Republicans, attempted to cripple the USPS in order to make all-mail voting unfeasible (due to common conservative belief that more voters hurts them), and generally went about as far as any modern president has gone in leveraging federal power to win an election, and then sent a mob of supporters to storm the capitol to shut down the EC certification, only "lost" the election because of massive fraud centered exclusively around battleground states he lost, implying he actually won in a landslide but had it stolen from him. Democrats counter this by saying that there is literally no evidence of meaningful amounts of fraud and that nearly the entire Republican Party now believes this lie simply because Trump stated it, and it of course fed into their pre-existing beliefs that elections they lose are stolen. Where does this fit in on a forum centered around political cartography and election results? This is literally YouTube comments section-level drivel. It's hard enough to believe millions of people, in the context I described, fully believe this. Not only is it difficult to have hope for America if this is the level of stupidity and gullibility present into the electorate., but it makes debate and the general exchange of information between said people ridiculous.

I think that touches on what Xahar says - that mainstream GOP opinion has become nothing but endless cultural grievances, troubling levels of racism and and nonsense conspiracy theories. There just isn't a whole lot to talk about unless you're already a partisan Republican, and the level to which others would have to suspend their disbelief to talk to people who in one way or another supported Donald Trump for years without getting irritated is just too steep. This is part of the price that must be paid for putting such a belligerent hypocritical agitator into office.

A while back, I made a post asking if Atlas had less active users than it had in its earlier past. I found out that statistically, the answer was no- there are actually more active users now (although not by much).

I don't mean to get too off-topic, but more than double the active users is considerably more than 'not by much.'

Certainly not nearly as much as other corners of the internet.
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« Reply #10 on: April 22, 2021, 09:45:51 AM »

I think part of it is basic demographics. Considering that young people are, overall, >60% Dem-leaning by presidential vote, and that these kinds of forums skew heavily towards college educated (or those on their way), you're looking at a much more Dem-leaning demographic. This is even more relevant in an era where both parties see little in common on just about everything, but even less than on political issues that interest them. A structural imbalance this sharp on a forum in the era of Donald Trump (even post) is exceedingly difficult for Republicans to weather given what Trump did to the GOP. I don't think this forum would ever likely be 50/50, but it probably had a better shot at maintaining a closer split had Trump not run in 2015.

Xahar really hit the nail on the head better than anyone else could. To highlight that with a recent specific example of modern discourse:  The conservative opinion that Donald Trump, the man who leaned heavily on the DoJ to investigate his political rivals, attempted to rig the census to boost Republicans, attempted to cripple the USPS in order to make all-mail voting unfeasible (due to common conservative belief that more voters hurts them), and generally went about as far as any modern president has gone in leveraging federal power to win an election, and then sent a mob of supporters to storm the capitol to shut down the EC certification, only "lost" the election because of massive fraud centered exclusively around battleground states he lost, implying he actually won in a landslide but had it stolen from him. Democrats counter this by saying that there is literally no evidence of meaningful amounts of fraud and that nearly the entire Republican Party now believes this lie simply because Trump stated it, and it of course fed into their pre-existing beliefs that elections they lose are stolen. Where does this fit in on a forum centered around political cartography and election results? This is literally YouTube comments section-level drivel. It's hard enough to believe millions of people, in the context I described, fully believe this. Not only is it difficult to have hope for America if this is the level of stupidity and gullibility present into the electorate., but it makes debate and the general exchange of information between said people ridiculous.

I think that touches on what Xahar says - that mainstream GOP opinion has become nothing but endless cultural grievances, troubling levels of racism and and nonsense conspiracy theories. There just isn't a whole lot to talk about unless you're already a partisan Republican, and the level to which others would have to suspend their disbelief to talk to people who in one way or another supported Donald Trump for years without getting irritated is just too steep. This is part of the price that must be paid for putting such a belligerent hypocritical agitator into office.

A while back, I made a post asking if Atlas had less active users than it had in its earlier past. I found out that statistically, the answer was no- there are actually more active users now (although not by much).

I don't mean to get too off-topic, but more than double the active users is considerably more than 'not by much.'

Certainly not nearly as much as other corners of the internet.

For a specialist online message board, the vast majority of which have been in decline, it is pretty impressive growth.
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Torie
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« Reply #11 on: April 22, 2021, 10:11:18 AM »
« Edited: April 22, 2021, 10:15:57 AM by Torie »

I don't want to start a sh*t show here, but in observing the action in the Cave, while "perhaps" there is some bias in the moderating decisions against, well let's characterize the cohort as more "edgy" right wingers/MAGA fans/culture warriors, etc., when it comes to actual sanctions, I find both YE and Virginia make a conscious effort to try to be fair and not be biased against those with whom they might disagree ideologically. Another way to put it, is that I have not taken any exception to their sanction decisions since my return.
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« Reply #12 on: April 22, 2021, 11:19:07 AM »

Yes, your perception is accurate. I wrote about the reasons for this here and here, but the briefest explanation is that there's no longer any real place for Republicans on a message board that has intellectual pretensions like this one because Republicans have nothing to say. Nobody is interested in hearing white nationalist propaganda and it feels ridiculous to try to even offer it up and thereby insult the intelligence of everyone you're posting at, and there's no conservative position beyond that nowadays.

This is partially true. I think it is wrong to say that Republicans don't have "nothing to say" or that they can't articulate any positions beyond white nationalist propaganda. I certainly do think that many in the Republican base subscribe to insane conspiracy theories, racism, and the like, and the quality of the forum would be degraded if we had those types posting here. However, I also do think that we do seriously run the risk of becoming an "echo chamber", and many left-leaning posters on here do seem to express intolerance or discomfort with reading or seeing views that they disagree with. This is to say nothing of the fact that we do have right-leaning posters on here who are capable of making substantive contributions to the forum.
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Former President tack50
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« Reply #13 on: April 22, 2021, 11:23:36 AM »

Despite being a super short answer I find myself in agreement here the most with YE (and with PSOL's argument with ties in nicely with his). Polarization has trickled down to the forum and has made every poster here way more partisan. I think people tend to mention Kavanaugh as the turning point, though I suppose it is something that has gradually grown since 2015.

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.

Remember some demographics would also be the kind that would push Atlas to the right, like being whiter than the young US population or being supermajority male (upwards of 90%!)

I also definitely don't think something like 45% of the US population are far right, borderline neonazi white supremacists. If they are tbh Americans should all be packing their bags and moving somewhere else and I would be insanely pessimistic about the future of a country where nearly half the population is like that Tongue (with the outcomes being dictatorship, civil war, or both)

Finally, I will note PSOL has a point too (which ties in very nicely with YE's argument about polarization). If you think about it, Atlas hasn't really become more left wing compared to say, 2012; when there were lots more maroon avatars or their predecessors, with far left rethoric and what not. It's not like Atlas is now less ideologically diverse because we have a ton of rose Twitter socialists, instead Atlas just has a ton of partisan generic Democrats (I often talk about the "red avatar blob" which is true) The modern Atlas poster isn't really more left wing, it is just way more partisanly Democratic and pro-establishment. I can think of very few left wing anti-Democratic (or skeptical of Democrats) posters (PSOL indeed being the highest profile one, a couple of maroon avatars, but that is it).
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Former President tack50
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« Reply #14 on: April 22, 2021, 11:26:49 AM »

A while back, I made a post asking if Atlas had less active users than it had in its earlier past. I found out that statistically, the answer was no- there are actually more active users now (although not by much).

I don't mean to get too off-topic, but more than double the active users is considerably more than 'not by much.'

Certainly not nearly as much as other corners of the internet.

For a specialist online message board, the vast majority of which have been in decline, it is pretty impressive growth.

Yeah, for a site that looks straight out of 1999, in a kind of website (forum board) that has been in steep decline for a decade now, the fact that Atlas has managed to not just remain steady, but even to grow and be almost twice as large as it used to be is mighty impressive.

I don't know how she has done it but she has managed to have the site grow and full congrats to Virginia and the mod team on that; as well as to the entire Atlas community for making the site such an attractive place to post in.
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Хahar 🤔
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« Reply #15 on: April 22, 2021, 11:44:03 AM »

Finally, I will note PSOL has a point too (which ties in very nicely with YE's argument about polarization). If you think about it, Atlas hasn't really become more left wing compared to say, 2012; when there were lots more maroon avatars or their predecessors, with far left rethoric and what not. It's not like Atlas is now less ideologically diverse because we have a ton of rose Twitter socialists, instead Atlas just has a ton of partisan generic Democrats (I often talk about the "red avatar blob" which is true) The modern Atlas poster isn't really more left wing, it is just way more partisanly Democratic and pro-establishment. I can think of very few left wing anti-Democratic (or skeptical of Democrats) posters (PSOL indeed being the highest profile one, a couple of maroon avatars, but that is it).

This isn't accurate. This forum has never been a sympathetic place for the hard left, for the straightforward reason that nothing is more electoralist than discussing election maps. Beyond that, Democrats on this forum have shifted in similar ways to young Democrats in general in this country. Maroon avatars didn't exist a decade ago and there was no perceived need for them. Sentiment among left-of-center posters was universally effusively supportive of Barack Obama during the 2012 campaign. The Bernie Sanders movement dragged people to the left here as it did everywhere.
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The Mikado
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« Reply #16 on: April 22, 2021, 11:47:33 AM »

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 openly 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.
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« Reply #17 on: April 22, 2021, 11:57:09 AM »

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

The question of course then turns to why is he not welcome now when he was welcomed for a very long time and when a very significant amount of the US (circa 25%?) thinks like him Tongue Not like I think he should not have been banned, but still.

(And of course whehter a political forum should allow all kinds of mainstream politics)
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« Reply #18 on: April 22, 2021, 12:05:55 PM »

I don't want to start a sh*t show here, but in observing the action in the Cave, while "perhaps" there is some bias in the moderating decisions against, well let's characterize the cohort as more "edgy" right wingers/MAGA fans/culture warriors, etc., when it comes to actual sanctions, I find both YE and Virginia make a conscious effort to try to be fair and not be biased against those with whom they might disagree ideologically. Another way to put it, is that I have not taken any exception to their sanction decisions since my return.
I think that's broadly accurate, and that most of the frustration with "the mods" recently stems out of the individual deletion of posts on a handful of boards (especially when deleted with no record) rather than any disagreement with YE or Virginia's decision-making. But when it's a busy and important board being moderated in that manner, that can still have the effects PSOL & Shua are talking about.
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« Reply #19 on: April 22, 2021, 12:17:07 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 openly 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.
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« Reply #20 on: April 22, 2021, 12:18:43 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 openly 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
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« Reply #21 on: April 22, 2021, 12:28:14 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.  
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The Mikado
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« Reply #22 on: April 22, 2021, 12:38:32 PM »

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

The question of course then turns to why is he not welcome now when he was welcomed for a very long time and when a very significant amount of the US (circa 25%?) thinks like him Tongue Not like I think he should not have been banned, but still.

(And of course whehter a political forum should allow all kinds of mainstream politics)

He wasn't banned, he did the "lock himself out of his account with a randomly generated password to make sure he'd never come back" thing. Totally voluntary.
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« Reply #23 on: April 22, 2021, 12:56:48 PM »
« Edited: April 22, 2021, 01:23:37 PM by Geoffrey Howe »



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.
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« Reply #24 on: April 22, 2021, 01:19:11 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.
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