I'm not sure how many of you may or may not visit the Ars Technica ( http://arstechnica.com/index.ars ) website--namely the OpenForum ( http://episteme.arstechnica.com/6/ubb.x) they host.  It's one of the largest and older tech communities on the 'net.  The site does have some subscriber benefits.  One of the big ones is The Soap Box ( http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=frm&s=50009562&f=28609695 ) board.  You can view it all you wish, but you must be a subscriber to discuss matters there.  While I am an active poster across the rest of the site (great place to visit to ask about something technical / discuss tech issues in the given boards), I've been nothing more than a lurker at The Soap Box.  I read around it fairly often and have so for the last couple years.

My question is more directed at those who may be familiar to the site / those who read The Soap Box regulary.  It's quite irritable to go there anymore.  It *is* a fair ground for anyone to discuss issues pertinent to the board.  But when an overwhelming majority of the voices there are pompous, stuckup and needless to say liberal++, it's disheartening to see the brave few who go in there with a view that's fairly right of liberal and watch them get beaten down.  As a whole, the board denizens on The Soap Box stop at nothing to make sure people right of center are tagged as ignorant, uneducated fanatical hicks.  Does anyone else here read this popular forum.  Does anyone else feel you're reading an extension of Democratic Underground (at least when talking about the views) when they visit The Soap Box?  It's bothersome mostly because of how the general left elitist view comes across as "obviously right for any educated person."  Anyway, I don't get too worked up reading it.  If I did, I'd be subscribing and posting, but I don't think they need to be getting my money.

Oddly enough for how liberal the place is, it leans a lot more toward Second Amendment rights than away in the discussions I've seen and of those who have participated.  Social issues--another story.

I used to post there alot back in the day.

Yeah there is definately a leftist bias, that is the reason I chose not to pay to have access to the soapbox.

Hell I think the guy who runs it is a bit of a tard too.

I remember once some guy posted info on how to block ads and he got banned for it, cause the owner thinks people who block ads on his forum are stealing from him.

Because of that I vowed I would not pay to support that particular forum, and I also made sure to block his ads too.