It's real value was that it wasn't an echo chamber ( which is rare these days) and only an arrogant fool could say they never changed their view to some degree because of someone with a very different viewpoints post.
'Off site aggro " ? Really. Wow.
The biggest tragedy, for me, is when people resorted to insult , personal attack and name calling just cos things weren't going their way.
I'd love it to resurface - a disclaimer maybe ? - 'views shared on this forum may well not reflect the site owners , and personal insult etc etc will result in a ban or worse' or whatever.
When someone goes too far e.g. Laurence Fox, they are ejected.
Healthy debate and free speech are in worrying decline. Some people are very intentional at getting open debate shut down, as they have much to lose from it.
So Mervyn , for example - I started off not liking you and your posts ( to be honest) but very much grew in respect for you and your views and it's clear to me that you are a very good bloke. I often fought Old Gunner's (self confessed) liberal wokeism , but discovered him to be a fine gentleman and so on. A few others I found it very hard to appreciate, but that's life innit. And obviously some people hate me and my views - I can live with that - we've just got to be true to who we are, but be respectful and at least try to see the best in one another.
