Yeah, and it is just an absolutely *amazing* coincidence that this blog entry, written last August and not even on the main page of his blog any more, was posted here the very morning that the LF thread where it was mentioned was resurrected.
LF: A Response to Richard PoeDear Mr. Poe,
In regarding your latest blog entry Attack of the Nazi Trolls: A Lesson For Message Board Moderators, you have left your readers with a false perception of what Liberty Forum is intended to be, and how it actually operates today.
In a private email which I granted you permission to post onto your website, I said:
Quote:
This forum is a libertarian forum, and is devoted to the libertarian concept of unabashed free speech. With that principle in mind, most posters aren't libertarian as many fringe types have taken advantage of this policy (which includes a no-banning policy) to run amok...hence the preponderance of anti-Jewish posts on this forum.
This quote leaves much to be desired. It also leaves the impression that all the non-libertarians on this board are "Nazi trolls". That most certainly isn't the case. Although Liberty Forum was set up with the intention of being a discussion forum for libertarians, the libertarian principle of free speech takes precedence. With this in mind yes, most of our posters aren't libertarian....but that doesn't automatically mean that they're "Nazi Trolls".
Our membership includes posters with political views that span the entire spectrum: from left-leaning libertarians, Paleo-Conservatives, Neo-Conservatives, Islamic Theocrats, Socialists, etc.
John Deere, the owner and Administrator of Liberty Forum, welcomes this and believes it's a good thing since he feels that in a free market situation such as this the best ideas win out....and John Deere is of the strong opinion that libertarian ideas are best placed to win in a free market and free exchange such as Liberty Forum.
To continue, you posited this in your blog:
Quote:
Inevitably, Nazi trolls find your forum and begin probing your defenses. If you allow them to post messages, they immediately spread the word to other Nazi trolls and soon your message board is infested.
At that point, all the normal people stop posting. It's a bit like when a fight breaks out in a bar and everyone stops talking and turns to watch the fight, transfixed. Suddenly, your message board becomes an arena for Nazi trolls and people arguing with Nazi trolls.
Where you make your error is where you state: "At that point, all the normal people stop posting."
As stated above, not all the non-libertarians are "Nazi Trolls". Secondly, your suggestion that they aren't "normal" is quite subjective. But the main point is that while a few did leave Liberty Forum, the vast majority of those committed to libertarianism or anarcho-capitalism decided to stay since they value the concept of free speech, a concept inherent in libertarianism.
Many of us might not like much of the speech we see here every day, but we're committed to the principles laid down by John Deere in his Charter, and have grown attached to what we've built here. There's much animosity here, but there's also quite a bit of loyalty to both John Deere and to Liberty Forum in general, more than any other board I've been part of. And this crosses ideological, religious, ethnic, and cultural lines.
One last note:
The impression left with you is that the trolls here are "Nazi" in flavour. Yes, we do have some of that stripe, but we've also experienced trolls of other stripes as well including the notorious Zionist trolls that infect discussion fora much like their Nazi bete noires.
Max Soldo aka "thoughtcriminal"