Seems crazy, right? The other day I was reading through diary comments here when I came across this little nugget of "information":
MLK was assassinated. And it wasn't by some lone nut with a gun. He was assassinated by gov't forces, probably CIA.
Okay, this is obviously conspiracy theory nonsense, but the poster (I am not going to name names, as I do not want this to be a call out diary, but you can see the comment in the hiddens section) decides to double down on the nonsense:
P.S. If what I posted is an HR worthy CT, then why in 1999 did a jury find that a conspiracy involving the gov't did kill MLK? Look it up.
The poster then goes on to "move the goalposts" about his bold claim and like normal conspiracy theory garbage, everything falls apart.
So, why did I feel the need to bring this up? Well, I'll explain below the fancy fold.
I have chosen to focus on this because it is an example of a greater problem on this site: users feeling free to post conspiracy theory nonsense here without seeing any repercussions. As a longtime member here, I have known for a while now that posting conspiracy theories on this site is a bannable offense. Hell, Markos has even written diaries from time to time as reminders that promoting conspiracy theories here will not be tolerated and is grounds for banning (note: I am in no way referring to the latest round of meta this week, so please do not drag that issue into my diary).
Well, sadly the user who posted the aforementioned nonsense is still around with full trusted user status. Sure, the guy's comments received hide-rates, but we're talking bannable offense here, not just a "DBAD" comment. It is a symptom of a greater problem at DKOS. I have seen other users in the past 3-6 months feel free to post ridiculous conspiracy theory based comments only to walk away unscathed as well. Due to the lax enforcement of the zero tolerance policy for conspiracy theories, more users are comfortable posting any kind of crackpot theory they wish, knowing that they will probably not receive any meaningful penalty.
As a professionally trained historian, it really bugs me to see comments here like the one referenced above. It's no different than the Holocaust deniers. As a reality based community, users who choose to post conspiracy theory garbage should be shown the door. There is no place for it here.