[vannrox]

From the liberal elite in Boston...

[Joe Bonforte]

Still, no one has really found the right formula for conducting a political discussion.

Untrue. Lightly moderated boards like FR and LibertyForum work pretty well. You can't stop the idiots from wandering in, but if you keep the signal-to-noise ratio high enough, they eventually wander away.

Blog board discussions seem to do pretty well also. Again, the board owner can stop the obvious slop.

[dighton]

What a bunch of sissies.

;-)

[Vidalia]

"Nicholas Thompson is a Markle Fellow at the New America Foundation."

No mention of FreeRepublic?

Nicholas Thompson also just fell off of a New England turnip truck...

[demlosers]

As a Markle Fellow with the New America Foundation, Mr. Thompson focuses on the Internet’s impact on innovation, from open-source software to cancer research — to democratic reform in Africa.

Mr. Thompson was previously an editor at The Washington Monthly and has also contributed to The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Slate and The Washington Post, among other publications.

He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University where he earned degrees in Earth Systems, Political Scienc, and Economics.
Recent contributions:

G8 Summit: Africa and the Information Age

AuthorBiography

[bfree]

Once again, leftwing censorship must be the answer. This article is rubbish.

[Billthedrill]

I don't honestly see a great deal of difference between the discourse quoted above and normal political bar conversation, which is all a chatroom is. It isn't, actually, so much the moderators on FR that maintain the level of discourse so much as it is the fact that it is a very well-established board with a population that tends to enforce its internal - sometimes unwritten internal - rules with a blowtorch and a sledgehammer.

I have been told that it is an intimidating board for new users, and rightfully so. One does occasionally get to enjoy the sight of a clueless chatroom warrior wandering in, throwing down a contentless vanity post after two days' membership, and wondering why the roof falls in. I liken it to a freshman attending a fraternity party with his own paddle and a large "Kick Me" sign stuck to his back - he's perfectly welcome and no harm is intended but he shouldn't be surprised if he takes a godawful shellacking. There are times and places where one should not tempt fate.

That aside, I've been very pleased with the general cordiality here on FR despite heated differences of opinion on nearly everything. It's about the last place remaining where you hear the equivalent of "hush, child, the adults are talking."

You moron. My butt itches.

[swarthyguy]

A limited article. If he had read about some of the invective and prose hurled around in some campaigns in the nineteenth century, he's wouldn't judge so glibly. And even some of the Hamilton and Burr election shenanigans.

And I think more journalists would be well served by following certain threads on current events.

[cornelis]

FYI

[irv]

Political Internet boards tend to attract people with unusually shaky conversational skills.

This one's funny. I suspect he may have done as much as ten minutes research for this article.

... popular computer programmer and hacker site slashdot.org - break(s) into far fewer shouting matches

No. I may have overestimated the amount of research. By about a factor of 10.

Slate staff members remove irrelevant posts from their boards

Oh! His research was done at Slate! All is explained.

But I'm sure he would ignore this neanderthal, contentless response from an armchair commando with poor conversational skills.

[IronJack]

I would bet dollars to dingoes that if the Net were owned by LIBERAL political sites, this same writer would be touting cyberspace as the next social phenomenon. It is only because the Right commands the Internet that this effete is waving it off so cavalierly.

But this tidal wave will inexorably swamp him and his complacent cronies. They are dinosaurs, and we are the comet.

[j_tull]

Quick-scanned the article to look for the FR critique. When I didn't see it, pressed the "nothing to see here, move along" button. NO serious study of politcal message boards could exclude us. Guess I'm FRelitist.

[Fledermaus]

What did you expect in a YAHOO chat room?

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Political chat on Yahoo sounds like the norm from the mainstream press and the Demonrats on TV.

[fight_truth_decay]

"Yahoo! and Slate staff members remove irrelevant posts from their boards, and messages with curse words are automatically deleted'............since when..been to a Yahoo Politics or Washington chat room lately..??

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Nothing to see here, move along.

Y'all know what to do;-)

[finnman69]

On AOL in the Newss & Politcs community (Keyword NEWS CHAT) the Podium is a real drag down war room with plenty of knucklehheaded LW kooks and RW conservatives battling back. Also, there is a Rush limbaugh radio room show daily 12-3 ESt (News Radio room) that is moderated and fun for bashing liberals.

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm?

Isn't this the same group who said, "and the American people want ...???

And to this very day, they still have no idea what the America people want - because it is not in any way, shape or form related to what THEY want.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

FR has already solved this problem. The lefties are a bunch of crybabies.

[d101302]

at a university round table or in Harvard Square over tea and scones

To a liberal elitist, this the standard for discourse to which all others must be compared.

"Oh," he laments, "if only the wretched brutes crawling through the putrid slime of the internet swamp could reach up and grasp the shining chalice of my magnificent Brahmin intellect."

[Revolting cat!]

Mommy, I want a degree in Earth Systems too!