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Notes -
QQ used to have politics discussion before, well, they banned politics back in 2017. It was not an echo chamber. It wasn't the most civil place, but there was actual discussion going on. But, as noted, it's over now. QQ still has people of most political persuasions (some SJWs, a lot of real liberals, a few alt-right; essentially-no true conservatives for the obvious reason); they just don't talk about politics. (Well, sort of. I keep getting away with it because I'm polite enough and moderate enough to frequently be a calming force, because I'm erudite enough to be able to avoid saying the magic "political" words while still getting my point across, and because I know when to take things to PMs; however, even I've gotten close to the fire on occasion and I don't recommend trying to pull that off.)
I did only say "used to be this". DWW's dead (as in, offline), QQ doesn't allow politics, and SB/SV/[whatever Jackie/Ritterin Sophia's board is currently called] don't allow moderates or rightists (NB: don't touch that last one with your real IP; Jackie's a doxxer). I suppose I forgot about Frozen in Carbonite, but I don't know much about it (there is similarly the slight issue that the admin, Horton, is known for black-hat hacking and acted like a man with a candy van when trying to get people to join up).
EDIT: Oh, and THASF/Train Dodger (the owner of DWW) wasn't a jerk. He was a little schizophrenic, and then a lot schizophrenic when COVID hit, but he was never an arsehole that I remember. Yeah, technically he's banned on the big three, but two of those were self-requested and the third was because of the aforementioned psychotic break (he refused to stop posting his Big Folder About COVID everywhere - this being the folder that popularised hydroxychloroquine, no I am not kidding - and so the QQ mods permabanned him).
EDIT2:
Most of them came back to SB and maintained dual accounts after The Observer resigned. Of course, that very capitulation did eventually lead to the PM scandal and third exodus, which is part of why I blamed SJ's tactics for that.
Incidentally: the first to flounce off SB during the Athene Affair was, um, me. SV would have happened without me, of course (Squishy and Ford had been cooking it up for months without my knowledge; they just went public early to capitalise), and I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't had massive existing issues with The Observer and some of the mods, but that was still not a great decision on my part; I'll cop to that.
I'm aware - I do recognise your name from SB. I am also, sadly, familiar with the other people you mentioned as well, though I had better avoid going to any more details.
I'm happy to talk more privately, but as far as it goes for the Motte, I think the upshot is that those boards aren't really good alternatives if what you want is nuanced political conversation on the internet. I am very sympathetic to wanting an alternative to the Motte; SB and its splinters just aren't that alternative.
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