I’m afraid I’m going to have to call you on this one: you’re being just as partisan in your recollections, as the idiots on Democratic Underground who claimed the exact opposite.
The same talkboard you’ve just said was very anti-Israel, complained that, “Freepers have completely taken over the International section”. By that they meant, pro-Zionist.
Every time I looked at that section, it was totally dominated by trolls and troll baiters attacking each other, but some were pro-Palestinian and some were pro-Zionist. Trouble is, when baiters hijack a discussion, the extreme and hostile arguments drown out everything else.
Well over 95% of the GU denizens, myself included, never posted on the Israel/Palestine discussions and actively avoided doing so because it was common knowledge they’d been hijacked by trolls and extremists. Some of the regulars in International were professional bloggers.
Speaking only for myself, I stuck to USA, UK News and IT/Computing.
Half the membership never discussed politics or current affairs at all, and stuck to the media and sports discussions. So it’s a bit unfair to assume they had any view at all on Israel/Palestine, let alone a strong opinion one way or the other.
One of the longest and most prolific posters on the I/P issue, was an uncompromising Zionist. BenSolomon posted there for years without being banned.
Imagine a prolific pro-abortion campaigner escaping the ZOT. It wouldn’t happen. By implication, the Graun didn’t impose an anti-Zionist agenda on the talkboards because there’s no way someone like Ben would’ve been tolerated there if it had.
I posted in the Politics section and they were very pro Muslim and Pro-Palestinian. And, like all lefties, they were smug and self-righteous and a bunch of tattletales.
Now, I haven’t posted there for several years (my choice - I was reincarnated under another user name after my initial banning), but I know what went on there as I was a frequent user.
The place had deteriorated at the end. Too small a cohort saying the same things over and over.
I used to post on the London Standard board. The Islamists had it shut down because we told the truth about their “religion”. I occasionally went to the Guardian but like you said it was full of rabid leftists who had heir talking points and didn’t want a discussion.