I'm sure I'm not the first: in re Freeping

I posted ONE ARTICLE on Freerepublic. I was honestly interested in what they thought about the media's reaction to a report that Halliburton won a bid for Katrina relief, and the thread AND my posting privileges were pulled -- no joke -- within five minutes.

My intent was not to troll or flame, but to have a discussion.

Now, there are a lot of bllheaded, arrogant jerks on this site, too, but do articles and threads get pulled so easily here, as well?

revealed I am a lesbian.

I don't know how to answer your question, though. The rules are pretty clear: if your ideology is clearly different from what the rules say, you're tombstoned. That's how I'd paraphrase it.

I have clicked on 5-7 links to the site posted by DU'ers. I found their lack of logical thought to be quite disturbing. I would not want to "Waste my beautiful words....." on them. (credits to Babs).

more than frustrating or angering, it's downright scary. i realize it's a private message board, and i realize they don't want people stirring up troble, on any discussion forum, but come on! all i did was post the article and then say "this could look bad, i suppose" and befor i even had a chance to respond, my posting privileges were revoked. Honest to God, I wanted to have discussions with people to get some insight to how they think. Not out of malice or anything. I guess I got that insight loud and clear.

I'd been frustrated trying to engage people on Ann Coulter's forum before, but just wanted to try and talk to people. I'm not naive enough to think that I could reform anyone, but was curious nonetheless. It sucks.

and currently post. The mood is subtly different lately.

Can you link to your banned thread?

they removed the damn thread.

let me try, though...

someone did reply that some of them are more progressive and it'll take time to get the others to come around, then provided a link to "Freeper hugs" When I clicked on it, there was a photo of David Letterman pointing at the camera with the caption "You're An Idiot!"

Also got a PM telling me to go fuck myself. All I did was post the article.

If you are posting something from a right wingnut like Coulter, you would likely be posting flamebait, but an objective posting on some issue that is intended strictly as a discussion probably wouldn't get you banned. People at DU have a very wide variety of issues which are personal to them, and not every topic is going to be welcomed by every other poster.

But let's face it: the right of free speech is obviously more alive here than at Freepland.

I'm not on here every single day posting, but a couple times a week. It's very rare that I see something pulled so easily. Like I said, I still believe there are a lot of closed-minded people on here, too, but at least were allowed to engage in conversation.

I was really shocked. And I can't find a way to email the moderators and complain. Does anyone know how to do that? I'd love to see their response...