This place is called "Reader Rant", and ranting by readers is common. Definitely a liberal lean here. Discussion is possible and the level of civility is pretty good. There's lots of non-ranting here, too. Ad hominem attacks are scarce and outright insults (especially of the vulgar lowbrow type) are nonexistent.
I used to sometimes drop in on RWN (Right WingNut) sites to see what was going on and, I suppose, under the delusion that I could win an argument or two. What I learned is Bonhoeffer's Theory - you can't fix (or even fight with) the kind of stupidity his Theory explains. I'd give examples and descriptions but I'm not that good at it. Here's a for instance at the general level:
One site calls itself "Conscious Debate". The irony is that there is nothing 'conscious' about what they talk about and there is no debate, or discussion, or argument about anything. You must conform with the groupthink - they are immensely skeptical about newcomers, even if you conform to the groupthink, and at the first whiff of being a little bit different (like speculating that you knew a liberal once who wasn't a full-on Nazi, pedophile, Satan worshipper out to destroy America) they ban you.
I mentioned recently another one called the "Original Liberal Forum" where they pride themselves excessively on total free speech - No Holds Barred! There are some Lefties there, who I think are all diehard Baters, except for one who reminds me of Scoutgal (calls herself Scout, in fact, and is always trying to make sane and fact-correcting posts). The Lefties like to link to news articles that debunk the RWNs, and then there is a lengthy dust-up exchange of insults, lies, strawman accusations, deflections, and general unhinged drunken sailor brawling. I gotta admit, the speech is free - maybe because it is absolutely worthless! I watched it for a few weeks and out of thousands of posts (they are prolific!) I didn't see a single sane, civil, positive exchange of opinion. Bonhoeffer's Theory proven in spades.
