Spring Cleaning

Many of you who are not regulars are probably wondering what the heck is going on at RedState.

I’ll be blunt.

In the past year or so, the quality of diaries has really taken a beating, driven largely by a clique that resorted to recommending each others diaries and gaming the system.

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Unfortunately, over time, that clique became abusive to new users, those who disagreed, etc. Many of them, however, are people I consider friends. Many are long time users.

But something happened.

A handful of people got into the clique and it went down hill even further. The conspiracy addled content, abuse, threats, etc. skyrocketed. The general disrespect on the site went up.

New users and long time users not a part of the clique were unable to get their diaries onto the recommended list. They were shouted down in the comments.

More than once I put up a front page post on welcoming people into the community and encouraging, not berating, those offering content. It fell on deaf ears.

About a month ago, one user in particular got out of hand and, due to disagreements and being unable to be treated in the same way the user was treating others, the user threatened legal action against a front page contributor. Then the user started bypassing me and going to the management of our corporate owner to demand “fair” treatment. This is intolerable. Threats of any kind against the Contributors (all of whom are volunteers) must result in an immediate ban from the site, if this website is to remain in business at all. No one who calls themselves a conservative should need to have explained to them why this is so.

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RedState has long been unique among the right-o-sphere in that it really is a community. Anyone can post at RedState — diaries and comments. Over time we have become much more lax in what we let pass for comments and diaries.

That increasing laissez-faire attitude has been taken advantage of. Long time readers and new readers not in the clique have been complaining and staying silent. Those in the clique were and are convinced that we need them. Actually, we don’t.

I have finally had enough and decided we needed some spring cleaning. Sadly, some long time readers at RedState are no more. But after many subtle and less than subtle hints on my part to be more welcoming and less hostile, it was finally time to release the kraken and clean the place up.

I’ve given and given and been as lenient as possible. But of late it has been too much. Those of you who have complained — your complaints are heard and addressed.

Continue on please. Continue on.

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