Well, the days where one could post a less than astute and ignorant or demeaning comment without backing it up are no longer. Those asinine posts are now met with a barrage of well executed responses, backed up by various sources, many of which may be too long to read for the fly overs, and are considered, 'fake news,' much like our current administration's angle.
So the original posters will usually resort to name calling, changing the subject, or creating straw man arguments.
For example, this post:
http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/sho...t-gets-Slapped!
From the get go, the original poster already had to censor themselves in the thread's title. Always a great start.
Then, they assume that nobody on this thread has any knowledge on our court systems, specifically the 9th Circuit Court (forgetting to look at the Sports section of the board, which already has a tounge-in-cheek parody in regards to the 9th Circuit, meaning that some of us perhaps may have some knowledge in our courty systems). So after original posters get their words thrown back at them, and not having any angle of escape, they bring up Cathy Griffin and Chelsea Manning.
Rinse, and repeat.
If really cornered, they'll bring in Benghazi or The Email Server.
Of course, now you have the advent of the new 'old' member, who vowed not to get into the discussions in General Discussion, but it's my hunch that getting into discussions in General Discussion is what got them banned in the first place (You can look that up
those gems using the "search" feature) who post this:
....then posts in the General Discussion section, calling people 'internet cowboys,' thus
1. Not steering clear of General Discussion.
2. Throwing tomatoes themselves.
*
So, as you can see, things haven't changed much. It's just that the thinkers on the forum somehow got fed up, and are now more adamant to back up their thoughts with logic and facts, unlike years past where xenophobic, racist, and classist remarks were often overlooked in General Discussion.
If you want a good primer on what you've missed, as Brent said, go look at this infamous thread:
http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/showthread.php?84373-The-Confederate-Flag&highlight=Confederate