Comment by eitland
5 years ago
Reasonable people on both sides censor themselves (at least more than unreasonable people).
My theory is that this is why Full Name Required comments fields and also Facebook is way uglier than pseudonymous forums like HN and Ars Technica.
You chose and interesting and very moderated forums there... Aren't the worst places on the internet unmoderated pseudonymous forums? 4chan, the horrible bits of Reddit, and the like?
I honestly think its the opposite. When people don't have to stick to a side they'll actually discuss things without falling into a persona or clique. Then again there are trolls but they're rather easy to spot.
Old slashdot then. AFAIK and IIRC it was user moderated (and there was a fascinating system around metamoderation.)