[RedBeetDeadpool]

Other forums do not suffer from this particular political lean. Reddit mods in particular are known for authoritarian ban hammering because its the only way to quiet ideas that go against their worldview, and they often approach it as a holy war that they should control the information that is visible to the public eye so they can protect the public for them, and that the public themselves are unable to decide what is right or wrong by themselves. Political discussion is often so skewed on reddit the term hive mind is not only a term used to describe the website userbase, but also observable in real time.

Hacker news doesn't suffer from this, thankfully, the moderators do not think its appropriate to manipulate or outright silence any viewpoints dangerous to the reputation of their ideologies. Which is why we're allowed to have these types of discussions here in the first place. On reddit, however, I have written statements that have been moderated away I presume "for the safety of the public" as if the public could not decide on its own. Don't assume that everybody on the planet agrees with that kind of sentiment. Go out there and talk to your right wing nutjob friends. They have differing opinions. Just because you don't see them on reddit doesn't mean they don't exist, nor that they are not normal people with normal opinions either.

You can label it a conspiracy theory if you want. But that doesn't eliminate the presence of the facts from which the conspiracy theories have arisen, nor does it eliminate the the presence of covered up removal of those facts for the sake of engineering truth.

You are just unaware of the world beyond the veil of your lived experiences. But it doesn't help that your emotions are so tied to your defense of your ego.

[shuntress]

Again, I think you are conflating normal people having normal opinions with some kind of conspiracy that simply doesn't exist.

What is "the message"? What are the "viewpoints dangerous to the reputation of their ideologies"?

It also seems weird to directly compare HN, Reddit, and "other forums" as if they are all the same thing. Reddit has hundreds of millions of users and millions of subreddits. HN is probably fairly comparable to a mid-sized subreddit but neither is really that similar to a "classic" web forum.

[RedBeetDeadpool]

> Reddit has hundreds of millions of users and millions of subreddits. HN is probably fairly comparable to a mid-sized subreddit

Yes, since you're going to bring up a generalization in my argument in order to dismiss the whole thing, let me clarify it with more words than would have been acceptable in the first post. There are free-speechly(for lack of a better word, since liberal means authoritatian these days) run subreddits as well authoritatively run subreddits. Hacker news is like a free-speechly run subreddit with moderation to reduce spam but not opposing viewpoints. A whole universe of subreddits out there. I should have been more careful to keep my argument less leaky, but largely most mainstream subreddits suffer from an ideology protecting regime.

Well run or not is not, that's a matter of opinion. You probably think those reddits you defend run by authoritarian reddit mods who believe in silencing "viewpoints dangerous to the reputation of their ideologies" is well run. I happen to think it approaches the fervor, passion, hope, zeal, and spirit of the third reich.

What are these ideologies? Ive already mentioned one. Communal vs Capitalistic beliefs. Reddit moderating is a job for people who believe in contributing to the community, and thats a good thing inherent to human nature, but a gaping flaw when we move so far past dunbars number that it wouldn't even register when looking at the whole. These very good ideological beliefs thus left unchecked in an environment it wasn't meant for transforms into the thing we see today where communal maintainers feel threatened by non-communal actors and often take the dark side of abusing their power to maintain order through authoritarian means. A complete removal of discussion of outside ideas because they threaten an ideology that only works when everyone plays along.

I'm not here to discuss that topic of communism/capitalism or any other "ideologies" though. Just here to point out that the rules that govern the system self selects personalities that gravitate towards ruling through certain means. That's the "conspiracy" that is observable in real time.