What's with the Censorship at Democratic Underground?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

I've been posting to discussion forums since the mid 90s so I know that discussions can easily get venomous and childish. (I myself am guilty of this more times than I can count.) Maybe I'm naive but I thought the many deleted posts I'd see in a thread were because posters became overheated and used foul language toward someone, posted something that sounded like a personal threat, or because right wingers were posting for the fun of stirring up trouble. It wasn't until one of my posts was deleted for criticizing Obama that I realized that posts are deleted merely because the moderator disagrees with someone's point of view. (Now I see that people unrec threads to bury a point of view they disagree with.)

Am I being melodramatic when I say I find this disturbing? I think Democratic Underground is one of the best websites on the internet. I come here to find articles and points of view I won't find anywhere else. I don't think there is anyone who follows politics who isn't aware of this website. This is why it bothers me that dissenting points of view are being actively censored.

A few of my posts being deleted is no big deal to me. (I have a life.) I've been posting to forums for a long time. I know how angry people can get about politics and I'm good at phrasing posts in a way that they will be sure to push buttons when I'm passionate about an issue. But seeing a whole thread with many posts deleted because the moderator wanted to keep points of view they disagreed with out of the discussion is something else again. This is the kind of thing I'd expect from a conservative site like Free Republic where fascistic censorship is favored by all.

Am I wrong to expect better of Democratic Underground?

[EarlG]

1. If you click the "Alert" link on any post

you'll see a list of reasons for why a post can be removed. If you click the little question marks next to each one, you'll see a more detailed explanation. This is the list the moderators use when determining whether a post is acceptable or not.