20 Top Political Forums of 2007 [DU #2, FR #9 - Oh Please]

Pollyticks ^ | 6/30/07 | Staff

[Sleeping Beauty]

What follows aren't complete reviews of these sites and everything each has to offer. These are only reviews of their community discussion forums. I tried to stick to sites running traditional forum software, like phpBB and vBulletin, as opposed to comment blogs, with a few exceptions here for notorious blogs like Daily Kos, Huffington Post and Free Republic. Here you'll find forums on the left, forums on the right, and forums in the middle.

Thanks to everyone who took time to build forums and recruit members. Your efforts have helped foster debate.

1. Whistle Stopper Political Forums
Membership: mixed

2. Democratic Underground
Membership: left

3. Bartcop Nation
Membership: left

4. Daily Kos: State of the Nation
Membership: left

5. The Huffington Post
Membership: left

6. Political Crossfire
Membership: mixed

7. Political Forum
Membership: mixed

8. Debate Politics Forums
Membership: mixed

9. Free Republic
Membership: right

Simple but effective blog layout with comments posted on daily news items. Militantly territorial community, impatient with strangers, particularly left-leaning ones, but very active community. The "Freepers" are notoriously aggressive in print. If you're not ultra-conservative and you're aching for a fight, you'll find one here. The site excels as a breaking news source as well. Just know that you'll catch hell from the locals if you aren't ultra-conservative or libertarian. You've been warned.

10. U.S. News - Political Hotwire
Membership: right

11. Politics Forum (.org)
Membership: mixed

12. U.S. Politics Online
Membership: mixed

13. George Bush Forums - Topix
Membership: mixed

14. Democracy Forums
Membership: left

15. Political Forum - It's All Politics
Membership: mixed

16. 4Forums
Membership: mixed

17. Revolutionary Left
Membership: left

18. NoPC Forums (Nation of Political Conservatives)
Membership: right

19. Defending the Truth
Membership: mixed

20. Liberals Only
Membership: left

[ishabibble]

Where is Little Green Footballs? The Lefties hate them on a par with Free Republic. They get hacked, cyber-attacked, and Google bombed. I’d say that’s worth a mention.
Besides, it’s “Be Nice to DA JOOOOOOOOOOOS Week” in many parts of the Greater Middle East. Bus bombings have been suspended for the duration! The “lizards” are some of the funniest people in the blogosphere, and a keen wit is absolutely verboten in Leftie Loonie Land. It’s hard to laugh uproariously when you’re whinging...

Hot Air is a great site, too. But you know that they are never going to recognize an increasingly powerful minority woman who believes in the American Way. Smart, beautiful, wife and mother, author, lecturer. How the Lefties despise Michelle! She is what William the Pitts will never be, ever!

[deport]

#9?

---

As I read the info this isn’t a listing by rank of any kind but rather a ramdon list of mostly forum communities using basic forum formats with three what he calls blogs thrown in.

I wouldn’t put anything into the order by which the forums/blogs are listed.

[napscoordinator]

Congratulations FREEPERS! I never went to any of those other sites listed and never will. I am very happy with Free Republic!

[muleskinner]

I am not ultraconservative and definitely not a libertarian. I have found myself welcomed here.

Depends. Try posting a Giuliani article and defending anything positive. The Flying Keyster Monkeys will swarm on you like they did Dorothy and friends. They are eternally vigilant for any Rudy article. awww.

[napscoordinator]

We are red. It seems like we are below DU. Unless they switched the colors. I don’t see how you can tell who is who.

[Guenevere]

bttt

[Vision]

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/

I’ve never spent time there. Looks more like a blog.

[deport]

Anyway, FR statistics are not easy to find, i.e., they are completely hidden for a few years now. Sure wish someone would give us all a glimpse into the real numbers here.

---

Yep used to be you could read them and look at the growth and usage.... was interesting to review . Here are a couple of links to what was once available.

http://www.freerepublic.com/usage/awstats/

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/weekday-report?r=s
....daily signups are about the only thing left that is shown on a daily basis...

[Sleeping Beauty]

I never went to any of those other sites listed and never will.

Heh. I think I'm the only one who has never been to DU. I didn't even know about it until I read about it here.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

For some reason I could not get the Alexa.com graph to rate LGF. (Or do you say LFG?)

Did somebody say Morlock eating lizards?

[napscoordinator]

I’m with you. Although FREEPERS who have gone in the past have to be decontaminated...who needs to go through that trouble. lol.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Turn me on, dead man.

Sorry - Beatles flashback.

[b4its2late]

They should've mentioned getting zotted.....

[johnny7]

What is a local on the internet?

Earthbound...

[Road Warrior ‘04]

IMHO, the writer listed the forums in the order he reads or uses them, not from the membership numbers. It sure looks like the left is taking over the internet, according to the article.

[ishabibble]

I like LGF for the decidedly offbeat sense of humour, and I love the beach shots. But what makes it a regular stop for me is the kaleidescope views of Mr. Johnson, who, above all in the cyber realm, has that casual “take it or leave it” attitude that you will never, ever see in any of the Leftie sites mentioned in this article. Good Gawd man, they are just so damn important, why can’t the world see that? *the world at large does not like scary*

Hot Air is just a baby, so exciting and revealing. Michelle Malkin has really come into her own, her poise and maturity have been increasingly evident on her guest subs for O’Reilly.

A hallmark of the Lefties is tunnel vision. Michelle is aligned with many of the ideas of people like Anne Coulter and Laura Ingraham, but has her own unique stamp. The moonbats put her through hell as they have done with Anne and Laura, but I am always bolstered by that woman’s cheerful smile. She’s an optimist, IMHO, and that is an anathema for the Commie Kids. So they stumble all around her like the drunken moose who eats too many fermented apples. Stupidity begets danger, sort of...the drunken moose videos always show them careening through a nursing home or insurance office. That is what you see at the Leftie sites on this list!

[Road Warrior ‘04]

Free Republic: Over 200,000 registered users.

DU: 104,221 registered users. Plus this about DU: If the site suffers from anything serious it's bloat and an extremist membership.

[Pinkbell]

I like the comment about Huffington Post:

"Beware of trolls -- bands of bloodthirsty conservative trolls prowl the halls of Huffington Post, looking for posts to blast with gems like, "The Democraps and Nancy Peloozer are cowards!""

[Badeye]

‘It’s a bit hypocritical, I grant you, but site operators aren’t the only ones that do it. It happens in the “real” world, too.’

No doubt, but I noticed one ‘revelling’ in a one day blip after three years of dismissing it recently...and I still chuckle at the hypocrisy and evident desperation it underlined.

[MovieMogul]

No doubt, but I noticed one ‘revelling’ in a one day blip after three years of dismissing it recently...and I still chuckle at the hypocrisy and evident desperation it underlined.

I think I know exactly who you're talking about. And that site operator has a few other problems as well.