If you’re still in contact with any of these people, feel free to invite them to take a guest membership here.
We have had, in the past, some extremists post here. We do not prohibit such people from posting here, as long as they play by our rules, as set forth in the Registration Agreement and Forum Rules. That is to say:
(1) they don’t advocate actions that are illegal in the U.S.
(2) they follow our guidelines on copyright
(3) they don’t insult fellow posters outside the Pit
(4) etc.
Our past experience has been that the extreme-view folks that have come here have been unable to abide by these rules. We’ve had actual examples, over the years, of all them. Sometimes, they are banned by the moderators: the worst, undoubtedly, was the self-admitted pedophile who used our boards to try to set up a relationship with a teen-age board participant. Sometimes, they are hounded away by members: racists advocating “racial purity,” for instance, tend not to really want discussion with those who disagree with their position. Sometimes, they’re merely pawns; I remember one who just copied-and-pasted material from racist websites without attribution (thus violating our copyright rules) without ever having a thought of his own.
I quite agree, it would be interesting to have calm, quiet, rational discussions to understand why some of these people feel as they do. The board rules, policy, and moderatorship do not (repeat, NOT) automatically exclude people just for holding extreme beliefs… unless/until those beliefs cross the line of the rules we impose on everyone.