People have different ideas about

[MineralMan]

North Korea. They are all entitled to them.

[likesmountains 52]

1. Sure, but maybe they don't have to share so many of their um..thoughts with us.

[NutmegYankee]

2. It's a message board.

And you can always trash threads.

[Autumn]

3. In his infinite wisdom, Skinner set in place trash thread and ignore.

You don't have to read posts you don't like.

[Sherman A1]

4. Precisely

and I have found both to be very useful of late on a couple of topics.

[MineralMan]

5. Why not? It's a discussion forum.

People should share what they want to share. Nobody's forced to click on anything here.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

6. They are entitled to their opinions on how we deal with the problem...

Not whatever paranoid fiction they make up about the problem in their minds... with absolutely no facts to back up their claims.

[MineralMan]

7. Actually, there's nothing about DU that prevents

such posts. People speculate all the time here about all sorts of things. Why would the Korean situation be any different. If you believe someone is wrong, you can simply post a reply.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

8. From the TOS:

"Don't go overboard with the crazy talk.

Democratic Underground is not intended to be a platform for kooks and crackpots peddling paranoid fantasies with little or no basis in fact. To accommodate our more imaginative members we tolerate some limited discussion of so-called "conspiracy theories" under the following circumstances: First, those discussions are not permitted in our heavily-trafficked Main forums; and second, those discussions cannot stray too far into Crazyland (eg: chemtrails, black helicopters, 9/11 death rays or holograms, the "New World Order," the Bilderbergers, the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, alien abduction, Bigfoot, and the like). In addition, please be aware that many conspiracy theories have roots in racism and anti-semitism, and Democratic Underground has zero tolerance for bigoted hate speech. In short, you take your chances."

I'd like to see kooks and crackpots claiming the administration is just making up shit about NK to go to war shown the door.

[MineralMan]

9. Try alerting, then, if you think someone is doing crazy talk.

I think you'll find that very specific criteria apply. Look at the list of examples.

[99Forever]

10. Of course they are.

Even lies, war mongering, and the beating of the war drum.

At the same time, those that would rather many thousands, possibly millions of innocent, noncombatants lives not be put at risk because the egotistical heads of states and their war machines can't act like decent civilized adults and stop rattling their sabers and dial the rhetoric and threats back, can call the warmongers out for their insanity.

That's called debate and it beats just letting the evil shit happen silently.

[MineralMan]

11. I include all ideas, not just some.

DU is good, that way. Everyone's ideas can be posted.

[HereSince1628]

12. Which doesn't mean opinions can't be stratified by measures of quality

variously expert opinion...
legal opinion
medical opinion
political/journalistic opinion
the opinion in Molly's Bar

or

well informed opinion
well reasoned opinion
empirically based opinion
uninformed opinion
off-the-wall opinion
biased opinion
propagandized opinion

etc.

[MineralMan]

13. Of course not. Anyone can reply to any post they can see.

If a DUer disagrees with another DUer's position, the reply button is just below every post.

[HereSince1628]

14. I stated that with respect to skills important to reading and comprehension

A person wouldn't have to make a reply to have made an assessment of the quality of opinion they've encountered.

Indeed, opining an assessment of quality is usually in direct opposition to the purpose of employing the argument mitigating intention of the phrase "everyone is entitled to their opinion". Such reply may not be in the interest of peace.

Without, or prior to, posting a reply a critical thinker/reader would consider the quality of opinion within the conversation.