I have been a lurker, here, for a while. I have watched quite a few of the discussions develop over a period of a few weeks. I find one can learn a great deal from quietly watching. I thought I would register and leave a few observations. But first we need to define what an internet troll is.

I like Wikipedia's definition. In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a forum, chat room, or blog), either accidentally or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

That is a good definition, but it does nothing to explain the purpose. The purpose of the troll is to stifle dissenting opinion. They want to stop any conversation where ideas which differ from theirs are expressed. The reason is to dominate the political arena by shutting up and out any differing opinion.

I do not know who manages this site, but my guess would be it is one of the left wing ideologues who try to dominate and ultimately shut down debate that disagrees with them. There seem to be quite a few folks (Tasine, Ginny, Old Gringo, oldroy and others) who attempt serious, fact based discussion. These people will present factual information with serious supporting links.

Which brings us to the trolls. I regularly see the likes of Kevyn, Brian Devon, Armegeddun, Hungry Freaks, Raylan Wolfe, retired669 and a couple of others try to shut down discussion with profane, off topic rants. Or they support their positions with a far left opinion site, such as addictinginfo or mediamatters and no real fact. They then call the opponent all sorts of vile, profane names.

Which returns to my point, that this site seems more oriented to shutting down comment from right wingers, than supporting an honest exchange of ideas. The question in my mind is, was OPP developed as a trolling site, to stifle Conservative speech, or did it devolve to that?

fob1959, Everyone has a slant or bent, as is obvious from your observations which were not entirely objective. Most notably excluding anyone with an, er, overzealous Right wing stance and by default approving the Right's "sources" of far right opinion sites.

If I were to say that there are an equal amount of crazies, haters, and trolls on both sides, I would likely be attacked by both sides for that comment. Each group thinks they are the injured party and the other side is stifling discussion by their extremism and troll-like behavior.

From the day I got here I have been attacked by many posters and never responded in kind, remaining civil. A few here of a different bent than mine recognized this and also noticed I agreed with them on certain issues; a mutual respect developed and a few even call me friend. Yet there remains a number of others who only respond with insults and name calling. They do not bother me. Being Insulted depends on intelligence and its nearness to truth.

The government doesn't need it's own site.

NASA is more than capable of monitoring every site including your emails and telephone calls.
Never mind the people they've hired to join sites, including game sites, looking for more recruits to infiltrate more sites. Then add to that, the very personal and complete details you have to give the government when you sign onto ObamaCare.

The realization comes, that there is nothing you can say or do that they don't know about or won't be able to find out about.

In this day and age the notion that the government has to create it's own web site to monitor it's citizens becomes absurd and laughable.

Especially when you look at how well the web sites created by the government work, have you tried to sign up for ObamaCare yet?

scott, the reason so many of you libs are getting attacked so hard from people on OPP like me iz because you all (OPP liberal-loose-noodles)cannot see the long term future of this country. just as you can't see the past of america, you all cannot see the long term effects of all this forced change that you want to impose on 'freedom.' alls you people can see is the short term effects (livin` for the weekend) of your actions and ideology which has absolutely no bearing on how to keep this country powerful so that we can, as we always have...help those in need. you can take that and twist it anyway you stupid libs do.