First of all, I'd like to say that this post is not intended to spark a left/right debate.
There has been a fair bit of CI-related discussion since that board was hacked/assassinated/whatever to death, and it would appear that there are lots of people now posting on here who used to post on there, myself included, and I'd like to take the opportunity to analyse some of the differences between that board and this one, as neutrally and objectively as possible. There seems to be a much higher proportion of football-related talk on here than the kind of socio-political warring which took place on CI (via the CI Plus forum), and I'd like to investigate the reasons behind this.
As we know, CI had/has a reputation for being a haven for people perceived as being dinosaurs, ex-hooligans and far-right sympathisers, although I think the number of posters who fell into this category were perhaps not as dominant as some would have us believe. The fact is, there were quite a few of us who were in almost perpetual conflict with the "dinosaur" element on there, and my God, were we despised for it! Some of the righties even used to complain that we were the dominant and bullying element on there. The other myth is that CI was/is a board populated largely by "thickos and neanderthals", but this is way wide of the mark, as there were some very articulate posters on both sides of the divide. Certainly, I've seen just about as much poorly-written ****e posted on here in the short time I've been here as I ever did on CI; I think the problem is that some people automatically think that anyone with a right-wing mentality is a moron, which is both a foolish and dangerous assumption to make.
I, and others on CI, used to have constant run-ins with certain posters - and sometimes Admin - over what we perceived as unacceptable comments being made by some people on there, to which the response was always the old "freedom of speech" argument. Fair enough; as I said, I'm not posting this for a left-right debate, I'm just curious to understand why there were such marked differences between CI board and others.
What was it about CI which meant that views and opinions around subjects such as race/immigration and sexuality, which might be deemed too right wing and perhaps offensive anywhere else, were tolerated? Was it Admin? I always found this hard to believe, as the guy who ran/runs the board is - as far as I'm aware - not politically motivated, and almost certainly not rabidly right-wing, yet one poster was allowed to express some pretty disgusting views, such as denying the Holocaust, seemingly without being challenged by Admin.
Was it some collective mindset that simply allowed a momentum to build up, despite the fact that there were still plenty of posters who complained about it? I just find it interesting that some of the people who posted really right wing stuff on CI are now on here, but don't post as much of that kind of thing. Was it the prevailing mentality on there which allowed it; a natural hegemony? Or was it weak moderation? Or something else?
Perhaps a couple of the usual suspects could give their views here. One of the most notorious contributors on CI, who constantly started threads with race/immigration and/or sexual politics at their heart, currently posts on here. I'm curious to know what Reg thinks, although I suspect he's not that keen to share any bytespace with me, which is fair enough. His loss, I reckon.
It would also appear that Legions/Will is registered here too, even if he doesn't seem to post much. To be honest though, I'd rather the white supremacist, anti race-mixing, Holocaust denying **** would just **** off and die painfully, than make a contribution here
There has been a fair bit of CI-related discussion since that board was hacked/assassinated/whatever to death, and it would appear that there are lots of people now posting on here who used to post on there, myself included, and I'd like to take the opportunity to analyse some of the differences between that board and this one, as neutrally and objectively as possible. There seems to be a much higher proportion of football-related talk on here than the kind of socio-political warring which took place on CI (via the CI Plus forum), and I'd like to investigate the reasons behind this.
As we know, CI had/has a reputation for being a haven for people perceived as being dinosaurs, ex-hooligans and far-right sympathisers, although I think the number of posters who fell into this category were perhaps not as dominant as some would have us believe. The fact is, there were quite a few of us who were in almost perpetual conflict with the "dinosaur" element on there, and my God, were we despised for it! Some of the righties even used to complain that we were the dominant and bullying element on there. The other myth is that CI was/is a board populated largely by "thickos and neanderthals", but this is way wide of the mark, as there were some very articulate posters on both sides of the divide. Certainly, I've seen just about as much poorly-written ****e posted on here in the short time I've been here as I ever did on CI; I think the problem is that some people automatically think that anyone with a right-wing mentality is a moron, which is both a foolish and dangerous assumption to make.
I, and others on CI, used to have constant run-ins with certain posters - and sometimes Admin - over what we perceived as unacceptable comments being made by some people on there, to which the response was always the old "freedom of speech" argument. Fair enough; as I said, I'm not posting this for a left-right debate, I'm just curious to understand why there were such marked differences between CI board and others.
What was it about CI which meant that views and opinions around subjects such as race/immigration and sexuality, which might be deemed too right wing and perhaps offensive anywhere else, were tolerated? Was it Admin? I always found this hard to believe, as the guy who ran/runs the board is - as far as I'm aware - not politically motivated, and almost certainly not rabidly right-wing, yet one poster was allowed to express some pretty disgusting views, such as denying the Holocaust, seemingly without being challenged by Admin.
Was it some collective mindset that simply allowed a momentum to build up, despite the fact that there were still plenty of posters who complained about it? I just find it interesting that some of the people who posted really right wing stuff on CI are now on here, but don't post as much of that kind of thing. Was it the prevailing mentality on there which allowed it; a natural hegemony? Or was it weak moderation? Or something else?
Perhaps a couple of the usual suspects could give their views here. One of the most notorious contributors on CI, who constantly started threads with race/immigration and/or sexual politics at their heart, currently posts on here. I'm curious to know what Reg thinks, although I suspect he's not that keen to share any bytespace with me, which is fair enough. His loss, I reckon.
It would also appear that Legions/Will is registered here too, even if he doesn't seem to post much. To be honest though, I'd rather the white supremacist, anti race-mixing, Holocaust denying **** would just **** off and die painfully, than make a contribution here
