It’s been said more than once than the Dope is very liberal, it certainly is.
Where can I find a good message board that happens to lean conservative?
Heh, I don’t really know. I lean conservative/libertarian, but strangely enough I can’t think of any forums that both have very smart people on them, and are not explicitly political in nature. I know a few that have intellectually bent conservatives on them, but they tend to be political sites rather than general-topic.
And for that matter, Imo, the Dope is more moderate than liberal. Snopes is liberal…
The net demographic being what it is, it is inherently biased against you finding such a place. It is like looking for a secular club in a Christian College.
Most of your searches off the beaten path will simply find liberals in conservative clothing, or far right wing nuts. Sites proclaiming a moderate-right ideology will be fractious, with factions breaking left or harder right, as per the individuals individual taste.
The rest wander about, much as you, seeking a home.
In short, I know of none. Start one up.
I lean right. Boards.straightdope.com is the best place on the web regardless of the majority of its member’s political leaning. You will find some of the best and smartest conservative voices arguing against some of the best and smartest leftist voices that you are likely to find anywhere. Well worth the time.
This question comes up fairly often here…
But the problem isnt to find a conservative board…the problem is to find ANY board, anywhere on the web, which is as good as this place. 
(seriously–there’s just doesnt exist anything like the Dope. There are a few similar sites–Fathom, SomethingAwful, the Giraffeboard. But they dont get anywhere near the number of posts that we have. Here, you can almost have a real-time chat–whatever subject you choose, you’ll get good,serious answers within an hour. Other sites just dont have the volume.
Wat? SomethingAwful is the 10th most visited forum on the internet. The SDMB (by the same site), barely cracks 100 (it’s at 96, and I was shocked it was even that high). Something Awful’s traffic is so high and their boards move so quick that they specifically ban “Hi, I’m new” posts.
I know non-SDMB sites (or specific well-defined fractions of sites) with a pretty good volume and signal-to-noise ratio, but they’re all limited to a single topic. That also limits most of their political leanings, in that politics isn’t what you discuss there so it never really comes up as a topic.
So that’s something else you have to deal with: Discussion boards that are good enough, and have a good volume, but are not about what you want to talk about. So, if you want political discussion, that rules out Hacker News (technology, start-up culture, business of technology and start-ups in general, geeky general interest) and the /r/sex subreddit within Reddit (some of the best-informed, most adult discussion of sex I’ve ever found online), for example.
Why would you want to be on a board where everybody is steering the car while driving down the highway at 80 mph using the rear view mirror as their guidance reference?
(Note to file: We can’t put it back to the way it was and the way it was wasn’t so great. Might as well look ahead.)
That link is amazing. I like their characterization of 4chan as a “Japanese culture message board.”
I suspect SA could be #1, if it weren’t for the paywall. But they like it that way.
4Chan is constantly at war with itself about whether it’s a board that celebrates Japanese culture, or is anti-Japanese culture with every fiber of its anonymous hate-filled soul.
Also internet memes.
ETA: I’m not sure SA could beat Gaia. Gaia is its own strange monolith of a forum with a ridiculously devoted fanbase – not to mention the site is set up in a way that encourages coming back for reasons other than the discussion. Its culture also doesn’t demand decent spelling and grammar, and is generally a little less abrasive. I don’t like Gaia much, nor do I go to it that often, but I don’t think SA could beat it if it wants to keep its current community.
Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? Once the culture gets to be a certain size, unless certain elements are actively kept out (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST), it begins to resemble a true microcosm of wherever it’s drawing people from. And, face it, in most of the world that includes Eurovision fans, people who think Tupac is still alive, and people who give consideration to Snookie. Any special culture is lost in the noise. Just like in the physical world.
The only solutions are to have moderation like we have here, for example, or to go the Reddit route and fission a new, smaller community (subreddit) off of the larger one.
In a different universe, Usenet has solved this problem both ways: Moderated newsgroups where every post has to be approved by a moderator (and you think this place is filtered!) and completely unmoderated newsgroups, which can be good or can be /b/ without image macros (alt.syntax.tactical, alt.usenet.kooks, meow wars…), which are extremely easy to create in the alt hierarchy.
I asked this question a while back and also got no answer. I occasionally lurk on the forums attached to this blog (read a few of the posts but be sure to pick your jaw up from the floor). There are some intelligent people there but also some really sexist bell-ends. I also lurk on ARRSE, which swings right-ish.
honest attempt, here: most conservo-right leaners who are really intelligent get lost in the screaming shouting ravings of the rest of the right. i know some really smart theological christians, but the places they hang out are over-run by a lot of “the bible tells you so, that’s why!” logic. they tend to want groupthink, agreement and a kind of insular, self-congratulatory substantiation of what they think. not challenges…no really even objectivity.
i feel like what i just said is really controversial sounding, but where i’m from (a deeply red state), you cannot bring any objectivity against the conservo-right without being accused of being the thing you are being objective about (this literally happened: at a dinner party, discussion over the 9/11 mosque came up. i just passively brought up a few points–it wasn’t “hallowed” ground–it was a burned out Burlington Coat factor–that it was a civic center with basketball courts–not a true mosque–and that the guy in charge said he would not do it if strongly opposed ((hint: he didn’t do it)). i got calls for a few weeks from people at the party saying they had considered what i said and were fine with the fact i was Muslim. really happened).
i know religion and conservative are not per se related–but i personally do not know any non-evangelical conservatives. i know tons of non-evangelical moderates, tho–(i’m a moderate).
so i guess it sort of brings up the controversial question: are moderate-libs inherently more thoughtful…?
why is it congregations of intelligence-seeking/truth-desiring freethinkers trend moderate-to-left?
It may be from your point of view. Personally I find it right leaning, mainly due to there being so many Americans.
Because reality is “moderate to left”. And because American conservationism is so narrow and far to the right that “moderate to left” comprises most of the range of human thought and opinion. Most everything is “moderate to left” as Americans label things. Or to put it graphically:
{Everything Else…}{American Conservatism}
If I was lookng for a board to discuss politics, my choice would be one at which different points of view could be discussed intelligently…just opinions discussed sans characterizations disguised as facts. No flames. No stupidity. No party-sponsored talking points. My views are conservative and I have no problem, and indeed enjoy, talking politics with those of a liberal persuasion. This assumes, of course, the above.
Many, if not most, of the members at firearms-oriented boards are conservatives. Those that aren’t are almost all libertarians. Thehighroad.org is very well moderated and keeps the crazies down, but they like to stay focused on guns. Armedpolitesociety.com spun off from the original High Road as a place for the members to discuss things other than guns and is still an active general discussion board. I doubt you’ll find a single liberal there.
The High Road also generally considers non firearm related political discussion off topic.
True. This board is, IMO, somewhat to the right of centre, of the real world.
Yes, which is exactly why I noted that they like to stay focused on guns.