Reply #534: If you want a suggestion on how to improve things...

[SanchoPanza]

Get rid of the Recommend and Unrecommend system.

It shouldn't be surprising that you don't get a lot of member support when your main forums have degenerated into a status quo where people think there is a direct relationship between their rec score and the validity of their arguments. There is nothing inherently wrong with disagreement, as you can't reach consensus without disagreement existing beforehand. What is missing here is the middle step; the necessity of convincing others who disagree with you. A few dozen people exclaiming "K&R!" after a topic is posted does not do this. I'm something of a dispassionate oberserver, and this has pretty much been the trend in the main forums since the primaries began. They've become a testament to argumentum ad populum, writ large.

Or, to use a favorite expression of the left in its criticism of right-leaning media, DU is now, for all intents and purposes, an echo chamber. Or a collection of echo chambers, if you prefer. Separating factions, real or imagined, into exclusive forums will not change this. In fact, it would probably make the problem all the more pronounced. Remove the functions that give these echo chambers any meaning and you may actually get somewhere.