I find Common Dreams to be aligned with my progressive values and appreciate their coverage of issues that get little space in the mainstream media. I have followed Common Dreams for many years and remember well when comments were suddenly discontinued. I remember reacting to this with relief as the comment war had reached very ego-filled, spiteful levels.
I will continue to appreciate the coverage. In a world where the imminent disasters associated with climate change and the loss of democracy are overwhelmed by so many distractions, I value the kind of issues that get coverage on Common Dreams. Keep it up.
I really support the issues that they cover. It’s an aggregation of news curated from other sites.
There is one thing I wish they’d change. There is a negativity bias here. It doesn’t bother me as much in the mainstream media, but there needs to be some awareness that too many negative stories crush the very hope out of activists.
If you keep reading about failures to meet climate goals for example, you might shut down. Outrages are important to cover. So is hope.
I used to blog on Common Dreams for years. In the leadup to Obama's election, I was critical of Obama. I was regularly attacked, insulted, and belittled there for my views. After Obama was elected, I made some critical comments. A moderator came on and insulted me for my views. When I returned an insult, I was promptly banned from the site.
So, Common Dreams is fine with insulting commenters but will ban you if you insult them back. They are about promoting their party line and anyone daring to deviate will eventually run afoul of moderators and get banned.
I had a similar experience on AlterNet and Raw Story where I was banned for no reason other than criticizing the Democratic Party from the left.
Common Dreams is a "progressive" news site that doesn't do its own journalism but does a decent job of aggregating reporting from other sources. Unfortunately, it often appears to be a psyop masquerading as progressive media.
CD routinely publishes "outrage" articles slagging Biden and the Democrats, but they are light on articles detailing the far worse corruption and dangers of Trump and the GOP.
About 65% of their commenters are trolls posting anti-Biden/anti-Democratic talking points, even if the article is about GOP malfeasance.
There are some extremely nasty stalker commenters there who flag comments and follow commenters around attacking them with ad hominem. The worst one has a phony screen name of "Aleph Null."
Their moderators routinely censor discussions not due to violations of CD comments policy but to block comments about Zionism, overpopulation, theocracy, the "both parties are the same" false equivalencies, etc.
They don't notify you of the censorship--you just notice that entire discussions have disappeared.
I've lost all respect for CD and will not give them my money any more, nor will I waste my time commenting.
There really isn't a reliable source of original progressive journalism online anymore.
If you want to hear authentic, sincere, and intelligent progressive news, listen to the Thom Hartmann radio show.
Since the 2020 election, I've been censored consistently by CD, for having committed the sin of challenging the Biden administration... from the Left.
As of today, I've had six different, consecutive accounts removed, because I dared to challenge CD's endless pieces kowtowing to the Democratic misleadership. At no point did I use foul language, insult fellow posters, nor include links in my posts. The latest trick used by CD's censors is to auto-delete any account from a given IP address.
So everyone should be aware that Common Dreams is a DNC front organization, and no sort of leftist website, at all. Hypocrisy reigns, on a website which purports to be "a truly people-powered and reader-funded news outlet that exists to inform and inspire those fighting worldwide for a better future."
It is difficult to rate because I loved the site for two reasons. The first reason was that I read articles by great writers like Ralph Nader, Chris Hedges and Alan McCloud, The second reason was that I could read and write intelligent comments with other like minded people on the site. But just recently without warning or an explanation, CD ended their comment sections. Unfortunately I don't think I will read it anymore as the elimination of interacting with fellow progressives has come to a close. Instead I will need to set up my own version of CD (Progressive Dreams?) so that people like myself have a forum to discuss these life or death issues that the MSM avoids at all costs. It is quite sad as I have introduced this website to Nobel laureates, professors, politicians and students around the globe, but now all of us will have to find a replacement where we can share our views online with the rest of the Progressive community. To 'Yunzer, Gandolf, Old Goat and everyone else I have conversed with over the years, I hope to see you on another website soon! Cheers, Space Cadet.
After being solicited many times, and playing the "find the article as it is jumping around" game, I thought it was time I donated. Not long after that donation, without warning of any kind I have disappeared like a Mafia hit took place. Sorry to those who didn't appreciate my open-mindedness about "Good Democrats".
And a hearty goodbye to friends I enjoyed.
I often railed against censorship on this site, now I really know how it feels. I feel the years invested could have been shown more respect. Naive? Perhaps the world IS uglier than I thought. It would be nice to be able to read comments even if banned from making them.
Common Dreams is manufactured, allowable dissent. Just like NPR and our other allegedly progressive news sources, there are little to zero actual progressive ideals supported. Instead CD supports the continued crimes of Dems and Reps, the two allowable sub-chapters of our one party political system. NPR, just like CD is largely supported by the very same far fringe pro war corporate money. None of these sites should be allowed to be a "not for profit". They do not serve the public good. They are textbook misinformation managers, the sole purpose of which is to control dissenting opinions, and to de-legitimize, de-platform and erase abilities of any actual progressive, socialist or contrary thinkers from presenting rational evidence that contradicts the fairy tales they spin. This is far worse that the outright insanity of some of our media, but it is all part of a bigger play, in which these forms of media, and control of commentary strictly define what is allowed, and what is not. In our very near future, the consequences for saying these words I write, will include more severe penalties. CD support the ideology, and total information control doctrines of our military and corporations. They are certainly not in adherence to their written mission statements, and in fact do quite the opposite. In a world where money rules and written words can be erased forever by many powerful, untouchable people, this will soon be the rule for all on line interaction.
Leftist / real progressive activists should not put their $ anywhere near this site.
If you are to the left of Neo liberal Democratic corporatists or even breathe a critique of Bernie or "the squad" -from the left- you are banned and or your comment is removed.
Commondreams.org represents everything that is wrong with the Democratic Party and elite liberals for that matter. They allow their little thugs/commenters that enforce the Neoliberal Democratic Party line to abuse and break the "guidelines" all day long but if you take a position against the neoliberal democrats, or speak your own observed truth about the failing and betrayals of the Democrats you are bounced out or the comment is just removed.
Phil Ochs and Kwame Ture was right about liberals being gate keepers of real societal change and Commondreams.org is yet another tool of neoliberalists.
They are a really awesome non profit group with great information. It’s a great place to go for honest news not by corporate media. I’m really glad I stumbled across their site! Most everyone on here reviewing this group are all butt hurt bc they got their comments deleted so they’re trying to blast them for it. Bunch of babies!
I'm a climate activist and an engineer / scientist.
I've dedicated my life to fixing climate change.
As such I do the math and know some things that disagree with the "renewables-only" zealots who want to immediately shut down nuclear power.
And therefore all my comments get deleted off CommonDreams because-- they are in denial.
I work and invest in solar power, love wind power, and if they were sufficient to fix climate change before it fixes us, I would be a renewable only zealot. But they miss the mark.
IF you wish to support a group that sensors and limits free speech by commenters who routinely hold more insight and knowledge then the authors of their own articles then by all means spend freely.
My experience has been that the comments portion of Common Dreams has been the most informative and educational portion of my internet reading and time after time I have seen brilliant commenters censored or they just "disappear". This leads me to assume that Common Dreams purpose is to collect those dedicated to truth, freedom of speech and knowledge into a tightly controlled corral in their attempt to keep the two party system facade alive.
With their recent decision to completely censor their commenters and totally control the comment portion of their organization with an in-house commenting system, I fear all value to this group has been lost. It is all about controlled propaganda now on the internet which is the last free space humans have to communicate freely without borders.
Sad commentary today when truth and freedom are corralled into smaller and tighter spaces, fending off the ever growing mass of power fueled by money. It is an obvious attempt to destroy such sediments. When truth and freedom are feared, killed, or silenced it only means one thing...........that the opposite is desired.
common dreams has engaged in censoring political speech in its comment thread for years. i was one of those folks banished from communicating w/ open-minded, freethinking people b/c my views did not conform to traditional politics. on its face, this seems innocuous. however, the commondreams webpage claims to represent progressive values. being exposed to facts, links and arguments from many perspectives/ideologies is fundamental to understanding how the "progressive left" thinks. censoring unpopular opinions (or popular opinions that do not conform to the editor's picadillos) is not progressive. in fact, this is regressive, reductive, conservative politics. neutralize alternative points of view and then claim there is no alternative - i believe we've seen this kind of thinking in the past. commondreams receives the bulk of its funding from democratic leaning foundations, but lies to its potential fund raising base when it claims they (the broad base) represent the bulk of commondreams funding. it is disingenuous to not reveal this fact, while soliciting money - as it is disingenuous to herald the rights of free expression while censoring opinions one doesn't subscribe to.
Forgive the bluntness, but...f#*k Common Dreams, for the only thing common about this site is that those who are "disappeared" from their comment section, are never given a chance to contest their removal, let alone are they told "why."
And yet...the infamous site pet Siouxrose, who ironically butted heads with nearly all who were banned, remains to this day to bash and belittle any who dare to question the wisdom of those writers and their beliefs whom the site owners deem worthy of printing.
In others words, any who question the wisdom of keeping one's lips tightly attached to the ass of the Democratic Party.
Again, my apologies for the language, but if being "candid" is what you desire from any who are to give a review of the site Common Dreams---I believe that the use of profanity would be a given.
CD's largely one more hypocritical outrage business in an endless sea of them. I've been banned 3 times by these clowns--or, more likely, clown, since it was probably Big Craig in all 3 cases--and my crime was largely mixing it up with democrats who were probably donors.
I think the site can tolerate a reasonable difference of political opinion, but as Brown himself openly admitted in their comical "investigation" of a single idiot poster, they basically dance to the tune of large money donors. I'm still shocked the dude not only admitted it, but was actually bragging about it.
In any event, it's nothing to get worked up about because for radicals, hacking off people with cash is a way of life, and this is one of the consequences. Sure, teh hypocrisy is obnoxious, but these guys are no different than almost any other operation out there making a living selling outrage to political junkies.
Bottom line is fairly simple: if you just get unlucky nough to draw the attention of someone who is an officer or operative from the Democrats or is a larger donor, you're probably toast. If not, you'll probably live to agitate another day.
I do confess that, like many of you, I'm completely baffled by the SiouxRose Cloak of Internet Invincibility. I've never encountered a worse person on political boards before that managed to never be banned. I'd love to actually get the story on that--not conspiracy speculation, but the truth.
Anyhoo, if you're thinking about donating to a political agitation operation, there are far better ones to do it with than CD. They're decent retailers of other people's work, but contribute absolutely zero of their own work to any cause nor do they contribute a unique environment for activists to exchange ideas and discover each other. they're simply another business out to make a buck or 200,000 from keeping people mad all day.
According to the site administrators of Common Dreams:
"Our Mission: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good."
Except, this statement is not true. In fact, I think a more apt slogan for Common Dreams is this:
"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket."—Eric Hoffer
I’ve been a long-time reader of Common Dreams, allegedly a “progressive” site, and over the years I have come to determine the site is not what it purports to be. Though it’s not quite classified as “mainstream,” it serves as another establishment internet medium to keep those who self-identify as “liberals” clinging to the coattails of the Democratic Party, a decidedly non-progressive cabal of neo-liberal political operatives, and, like its counterpart, the Republican Party, comprises one half of the two-party fiction that most people think of as oppositional. In reality, both factions serve elite capitalist and imperialist interests at the peril of the “common good.”
In other words, Common Dreams functions very much like NPR and The Nation. It pays lip-service to populist causes favored by liberal “progressives, such as diversity and the environment, but in truth, Common Dreams has a vested interest in maintaining the Democratic Party status quo, which entails pleasing its politically-connected, Big Money donors, none of which are denoted as funders and backers on the Common Dreams website.
Big Money, politically-connected donors and the “common good” are antithetical concepts, just like capitalism and democracy. This inconvenient truth is not lost on the administrators of Common Dreams who clearly understand this, which is why they disguise their fealty to their Big Money donors in a cloak of populist rhetoric and neglect to mention them on their website, which is dishonest. From the website, this deception: “Common Dreams is funded by the pooling together of thousands of small donations from our readers.” Left unmentioned is that Common Dreams receives the bulk of its funding from wealthy patrons and foundations.
Thus, to maintain its populist credentials, it is essential for the site to 1) maintain the false notion that all of its funding comes from its quarterly fundraising drives, i.e., from its pool of loyal readers, and 2) publish some articles that recognize and are even critical of some inherent “flaws” within the existing capitalist power structure, while it pushes the false dichotomy of two-party, electoral politics as the only viable vehicle for liberal progressives to achieve “reform” of such “flaws” through their continued support of the Democratic Party.
Vigorous debate within the comments threads is encouraged, but ONLY within permissible parameters. Those who attempt to reveal to other readers the vast discrepancy between Common Dreams’s quarterly, reader-pooled fundraising efforts, which annually total approximately $200,000, and its combined, aggregate annual revenues of approximately $600,000, which include money received from foundations and wealthy benefactors, are censored.
Furthermore, those whose radical or independent political views veer too far outside of the parameters of permissible thought, i.e., express opinions considered too far to the “left,” will find themselves subjected to censure and, if necessary, complete censor.
Like our government’s political class, Common Dreams does not appear overly concerned with small-time donations from its horde of individual commenters (the CD “masses”, if you will). On the contrary, individual members of the comments crowd are expendable, as Common Dreams cares mainly about its politically-connected, Big Money patrons, just as our kleptocratic political class acts as State Capitalism’s courtier on behalf of Wall Street, the Pentagon, the intelligence apparatus and large transnational corporations.
Common Dreams doesn’t want the majority of its readers to figure this out; however, especially since site polls indicate that most of its readers have been conditioned through mediums such as Common Dreams to support and vote for Democratic politicians as “lesser-evil” alternatives, especially when juxtaposed against the Republican candidates. Thus, individuals who post comments, which point out Democratic Party complicity—bipartisan consensus—in system-wide corruption, or who voice vigorous support of third-party candidates or point to the complete futility of elections as a viable mechanism for progressive change, are disproportionately among those whose opinions are disapprovingly shunned as the “unserious,” irrational rants of “cynical purists,” and, should they persist, are typically targeted for attack and/or censor.
Implicit in Common Dreams’s unwritten policy of arbitrary, hair-trigger censorship of left-leaning critiques, is a fear or threat that maybe… just maybe by allowing some of these dissenting viewpoints to take hold within its comments threads, some of the Common Dreams faithful, who may be politically undecided prior to an upcoming election, might just put two-and-two together and decide that the Democratic Party is not only just as bad as the Republican Party in waging class warfare against the public-at-large, but possibly even worse—a “more effective,” as opposed to, a “lesser-evil.”
Censoring or banning those who intelligently, articulately, and rationally point out the complicity of the Democratic Party in a two-party conspiracy against the public temporarily eliminates this threat AND contemporaneously sends a loud and clear message to anyone else in the comments threads who might be thinking of voicing dissident views that they, too, can be “disappeared.”
Common Dreams’s administrators clearly understand that eliminating a few voices here and there, sans explanation, is an effective means of silencing further inconvenient and unorthodox opinions, even if only temporarily, while maintaining the illusion that the site seeks progressive unity.
It is important to note that serial suppression of independent political opinions cannot possibly be reconciled with any serious commitment to progressive politics on behalf of the “common good,” i.e., democracy. In fact, it would seem the antithesis.
Thus, though Common Dreams portrays itself as a progressive website, it’s obvious to me that for purely political purposes, Common Dreams periodically culls its public comments forum of intelligent, persuasive voices, particularly prior to an upcoming election of importance, and especially if those voices are gaining traction in exposing the fraud of two-party adversarialism, which could hinder voter allegiance to the Democratic Party’s preferred candidates. Such a practice on the part of Common Dreams would appear in conflict with the IRS Compliance Guide for 501(c)(3) Public Charities concerning political campaign intervention:
"On the other hand, voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that would favor one candidate over another, oppose a candidate in some manner, or have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates, will constitute campaign intervention."
Recently, Common Dreams issued a new spate of banishments. None of the myriad people who have been banished without notice from commenting, either recently or in the past, violated the tenets of the site’s posted Comments Policy. On the contrary, the single, glaringly apparent and defining criterion used against those who have been unceremoniously expunged is political bias.
The only individual who, conspicuously, is never subjected to even the threat of censure or banishment is a commercial astrologer, who also self-identifies as a “mystical visionary” and “published” author and who, as of this writing, has amassed, just since Common Dreams formed its approximately two-year-long association with Disqus, nearly 18,000 comments, all of which are exclusive to Common Dreams. To point out that this woman is a daily fixture at this site would be an understatement, as she treats this site as her personal blog, with the apparent blessing of the site administrators. It should be noted, too, that this individual’s avatar/screen name matches and identifies her with the name of her easily accessible commercial website.
Unlike those banished without warning for positing unorthodox political views, the commercial astrologer routinely—daily—violates the site’s stated Comments Policy, with total impunity. Written complaints by other commenters of her voluminous site violations are ignored. For many, the question looms, “Why?”
Per the Common Dreams Comments Policy, the following delineated site prohibitions make-up this commercial astrologer’s standard modus operandi within the comments threads:
• Slander, personal attacks or abusive, hateful, offensive, or racist language or material (Unsubstantiated allegations that other commenters are “paid to post;” vicious, bullying tactics, unwarranted accusations of “anti-Semitism”, etc.);
• Comments off-topic to the article (e.g., astrology);
• Intentionally inflammatory rhetoric;
• Links to inappropriate or unrelated content (e.g., her articles at astro.com);
• Identical, repetitive comments posted on multiple articles; and
• Blatantly promotional content.
I mention this because it would seem these posted comment prohibitions were developed specifically to maintain a certain level of civil decorum among the site’s commenters and to prevent certain disruptive, unethical, offensive and intentionally divisive behaviors. Ostensibly, site guidelines are necessary to ensure that the site maintains lively, interesting, and intellectual discourse from all perspectives without devolving into an echo-chamber of one individual’s megalomania, paranoia, political agenda and unrelenting self-promotion.
Yet, in spite of these posted prohibitions, I have witnessed these violations on the part of the commercial astrologer exacerbate,unaddressed for a number of years.
Tellingly, this commercial astrologer focuses the majority of her vituperative propaganda (character defamation (libel); abusive, hateful language; and intentionally inflammatory rhetoric), against those individuals who generally end up banished from posting further commentary based solely on their political views.
This does not appear to be a coincidence.
In fact, it has become increasingly apparent to me that the commercial astrologer and Common Dreams may have established a possible quid pro quo arrangement to implement purposeful propaganda techniques with the goal of discrediting or intimidating people from voicing comments that serve as indictments of the two-party status quo, and, in particular, the role played in it by the Democratic Party.
Intelligent, rational and independent political opinions that conflict with Common Dreams’s unstated, but obvious allegiance to and support for and from the Democratic Party and some of its Big Money players, sponsors, pundits and business interests are routinely expunged.
Along with a coterie of acolytes, the commercial astrologer acts as the Common Dreams gatekeeper of permissible political opinions and as its reliable, obsequious apologist for its stable of moderate, “progressive,” liberal-lite political writers. Through the use of abusive intimidation tactics and classic propaganda techniques, the apparent objective is to incite divisiveness in effort to silence dissenting opinions that do not inure to the support of the Democratic Party and/or its affiliate pundits, many of whom also post articles at Common Dreams. Anyone voicing criticism of the Common Dreams line-up of liberal-lite, “progressive” writers will eventually be subjected to attack, degradation, and unsubstantiated accusations of being a “right-wing shill” who is “paid to post.”
When these bullying tactics cease to quell the “problem,” the individual subjected to denigration is often “disappeared,” by the site administrators along with access to all of his or her recent commentary. This is a pattern familiar to anyone who has visited Common Dreams on a fairly regular basis.
Acting as the site’s attack-dog, the commercial astrologer is permitted unlimited run of the comments forum, a public, tax-exempt platform, which conveniently provides her access to a captive audience of thousands of potential customers, to both overtly and subtlety advertise for her various private business interests, which include, but are not limited to, her self-published books, movie scripts, charts/readings, numerology services, workshops, career guidance, relocation services, and relationship compatibility. In addition to peddling her own version of junk-thought to the public, this commercial astrologer frequently provides both overt and subtle plugs for other questionable commercial purveyors of junk-thought, which include David Icke and Michael Greer.
Yet, despite her repeated Comment Policy violations, which in no way comport with Common Dreams’s paean to the “common good,” the commercial astrologer remains a site fixture.
Her ubiquitous presence at this site leads me to believe that she quite possibly functions as a Common Dreams “insider,” who is permitted unfettered use of this public forum to peddle her various manner of junk-thought, perhaps, in exchange—quid pro quo—for serving as the site’s guard-dog of permissible opinion.
In my opinion, this arrangement does not appear coincidental, nor does it seem “incidental.” If true, this sordid arrangement could be a violation of the IRS Compliance Guide pertaining to private benefit and inurement. To wit:
"A public charity is prohibited from allowing more than an insubstantial accrual of private benefit to individuals or organizations. This restriction is to ensure that a tax-exempt organization serves a public interest, not a private one. If a private benefit is more than incidental, it could jeopardize the organization’s tax-exempt status."
There is no explanation that could possibly justify why the administrators of this site, who profess as the site’s mission to stand for the “common good,” would permit the use of this site’s public comments forum to inure to the benefit of this one individual’s private interests, while also allowing her free rein to sow discord and perpetually bully and defame their other commenters unless her continued presence and divisive behavior are, in fact, intended and deliberate, i.e., desired, condoned, and actively promoted by the site’s administrators.
Based on my years of reading and analyzing the commentary at this site, this is the inescapable conclusion I have drawn from this set of circumstances. Of course, only an IRS investigation can confirm the validity of this speculative assessment.
Needless to say, Common Dreams’s mission statement is a lie. Perhaps at the time of its inception, the administrators actually did intend the site as a source to “ignite change for the common good;” however, this clearly is not the case today. Instead of promoting methods for its members to come together to organize, the site prefers atomization, as anyone who attempts to exchange contact information will be subject to censure.
In summation, it is my opinion Common Dreams has degenerated into just another politically-connected, money-making racket, and as one longtime, anonymous commenter succinctly put it:
"The site is a lucrative cash cow for Craig and his colleagues. It’s effectively a cyber-Veal Pen front for the Democratic Party, thinly disguised beneath a non-denominational (i.e., non-partisan) philosophy promoting moderate progressive liberal-lite lesser-evilism".—Anon.
Indeed.
I agree with the various commenters that CD censors a lot of people. But CD censors a lot less people than other liberal sites like Alternet or the Guardian. While I understand the frustration of some commenters about banning because of criticizing Sioux Rose, I find many of her posts very informative. I do agree she quickly criticizes others without giving it a lot of thought. But I disagree with complaints about her relationship to Trudeau and Ickes.
Trudeau may have had run ins with the law over his diet book, but most of his problems with the book came from attacking big corporate food companies, who reacted. The FTC banned Trudeau's Mega Memory tapes, although no doubt exists as to their effectiveness and their use of memory techniques known for centuries. The many time world memory champion, Dominic O'Brien, has a set of CDs on memory that use many of the same techniques. Try them.
My larger complaints with CD come from its insistence of publishing articles by democratic party hacks on a regular basis, despite the consistent comments from the readers complaining about this. In 2016 they will support the democratic candidate.
I enjoy reading the comments on CD, invariably more interesting and observant than the articles.
CD does a good job of reprinting some less radical articles, but avoids publishing articles by effective critics of the democratic party.
Unfortunately, CD refuses to publish articles by any really trenchant thinkers, except very occasionally.
Common Dreams routinely blocks independent progressives too critical of the Dem establishment and CD article-selection practices that support it. By "blocks" I mean suspends their accounts to delete their comments and so that they can no longer comment.
Its primary source of donations is from wealthy funders of foundations who made a killing as corporation owners and execs, and may help explain the AIPAC corruption of the Dem establishment.
Its new website uses a Madison-Avenue-lie to claim "Common Dreams is funded by the pooling together of thousands of small donations from our readers" and "We are...100% reader supported."
Further, as is well known among experienced commenters using the site, CD has long refused to enforce commenting policy routinely violated by a commercial astrologist who aggressively attacks independent progressive commenters and recklessly alleges they are paid right-wing trolls. The same commenter is a long-time friend and business-beneficiary of the infamous huckster and convicted felon Kevin Trudeau, the incontrovertible proof of which can yet be found in a recent-enough "Trudeau Channel" you-tube video of the two of them in commercial action.
In accord with Guidestar's community guidelines (ie policy) I have not entered that commenter's user name or other identifying information. Instead I would urge any foundation or individual contemplating a donation to Common Dreams to investigate this matter for themselves and consider the potential for publicized allegations of violation of 501c3 law in the conduct of CD vis-a-vis that commercial commenter. At issue is what explains CD's long failure to enforce policy. Is the commercial commenter "donating" to CD and helping it purge dissident commenters, quid pro quo for the commercial value of publicity on CD? Only an IRS investigation could determine that. As it is, there is clearly the appearance of potential for impropriety, which most 501c3's avoid like the plague. Thank you for making it possible to bring this to the attention of your users, who turn to these reviews for just such information as I have now provided.
There being a spate of CD commenting-blockings of outspoken independent progressives in recent days, including that of one who made mention of the business relationship between Trudeau and the aforementioned commercial commenter, you are apt to receive more such unfavorable reviews of Common Dreams.
Review from Guidestar
For over 30 years I have been directly involved with numerous social issues, including agriculture/food systems, environment, education and the health field. I have always tried to obtain the most honest diverse information regarding whats going on in our country/world. I have continually subscribed to at least 8-10 alternative press news sources (ie. Utne Reader, Mother Jones, Alternet, Grist, The Republic, etc.).
I have tremendous respect and trust in the sources of information found in Common Dreams, particularily via the openess of their sources and the author of the articles. Hopefully Common Dreams can continue way into the future to give authentic perspectives on what is really going on in our world, but also share the great visionaries and their inspiration.
I have two Ph. D.'s and yet i gladly chose to work for minimum wage in the public school system in order to hopefully create some positive change in paradigms. For me, Common Dreams is critical for our survival as humans- no exaggeration!
Hunter Lilly, Ph.D'
This website censors posters that they do not agree with. I had used CD as a source for news and a format to exchange thoughts and commentary with fellow progressives. I have multiple sclerosis and require periodic rest throughout the workday, so I used this 'down time' to read and post. I had noticed that several frequent posters seemed to suddenly disappear, but I had no idea they were being censored for their opinions! Then the editors presented the results of a survey of on-line readership on their presidential preferences for the 2012 election. The results indicated an overwhelming vote for Obama. This just didn't jibe with the opinions expressed on-line at all, which were very overtly anti-Obama and in support of third party candidates. I am a social worker by profession, (MSW) and took a basic statistics class in grad school, and thought that the format of their 'survey' was ridiculously unscientific, easy to skew, and stated that I thought their methodology was unsound in a post. The post was censored. I re-posted it. Censored again. The third time, I was censored and precluded from further comment, and when I was bold enough to ask why, there was no response. The people managing this site are censors. They have no business being in a role promoting community interaction. The damage they have inflicted on the progressive community over the years is not insignificant. Please do not contribute to this injustice.
"We do not censor comments for their political opinion. Period." Craig Brown This is simply not true. I have been censored and had my IP blocked several times four years ago. When I inquired as to why, none of my emails were ever answered.
Common Dreams is one of the most dishonest non-profit organizations I have ever come across in my entire life. DO NOT contribute any money to this group -- unless you want to support censorship. Craig Brown, the Executive Director, runs Common Dreams to support his Democratic Party allies. To that end, his editors consistently (1) distort news stories to make them favorable to the Democratic Party and (2) delete comments that do not match his political views. He regularly banishes commenters who criticize the policies and actions of Democratic politicians, and then banishes anyone who dares mention his practice of censorship on the website. He gives no warning in advance of banishment, and offers no explanation about the banishments after the fact. Indeed, he does not respond in any way to inquiries about his banning of commenters. (It is abundantly clear that the banishments have to do with the content of the remarks, because those banished have not violated any of the written comment policies -- while many people who HAVE violated the comment policies by posting intentionally inflammatory or insulting or libelous or racist comments have not been banished. Tellingly, during Obama's campaign for president in 2008, many people were banished from Common Dreams for declaring that they did not support his candidacy; the same thing is happening on Common Dreams right now in 2012-- people who don't support Obama are getting banished.) Worst of all, Craig Brown erases the entire comment history of people he has banished, removing every trace of their existence from the site, including the responses of other people who replied to their comments. This behavior is straight out of George Orwell's novel, 1984, in which the workers in the Minstry of Truth destroy historical records and throw the true facts down the memory hole. In this way, Craig Brown is even WORSE than the editors of the mainstream media whom he criticizes for manipulating truth--at least they don't go back and change all of their past editions by deleting articles. Craig Brown also makes it impossible for readers to come together to organize by refusing to let people exchange email addresses or any other contact information. In fact, if you try to do this, you are certain to get banned. Craig Brown then has the audacity to announce publicly: "We do not censor comments." This is a blatant lie, and Craig Brown lies like this because he knows that if his donors knew the truth about his rampant and vengeful censorship practices, they would stop giving him money. That is exactly what should happen, though: people should stop giving Common Dreams any money at all until Common Dreams agrees to stop its politically-motivated censhorship practices and agrees to restore all of the deleted comments. This is particularly important to commenters like me, who posted over 400 comments during a two year period, and then had them all erased over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2011. Many of my comments were quite lengthy and involved hours of research and investigation -- as it was my goal to provide accurate and up-to-date information to the readers of Common Dreams. I frequently got positive feedback from other community members for my work. Several writers who publish regularly on Common Dreams even let me know how much they appreciated my comments. Regarding DONATIONS to Common Dreams: there seems to be something fishy going on. The income for 2011 for CD is about $600,000. But Common Dreams says in its donation appeal letters, "We rely on small contributions from our readers" and "Did you know that we survive entirely on the generosity of our readers? Thousands of small donors who keep our small staff churning out news & views for the progressive community, 365-days a year. Common Dreams is truly a grassroots community. " Well, let's do some calculations. Common Dreams runs fundraising drives four times a year, and raises $50,000 each time. That comes to a total of $200,000 from small contributions from its readers. CD also lists $50,000 in income from foundations. That leaves the majority of its income -- a whopping $350,000 to be exact -- unaccounted for. I would like to know who makes the sizeable donations to cover this amount. In summary, Common Dreams does not live up to its stated mission to bring the progressive community together to organize for change for the common good. In fact, its activities are often in direct contrast to those ideals, particularly when it behaves in clearly partisan ways to promote the election of Democratic Party candidates above all else. This overriding goal encouraagesCommon Dreams to lie to its community and to the general public and to its donors -- which ultimately serves to weaken the progressive cause and promote dishonesty in our society. PLEASE, if you have money you want to donate to progresive causes, don't waste it by giving it to Common Dreams.
My experience is similar to the other commenter. Any comments, no matter how civil, within-policy, and on-topic, are deleted, always without explanation, if they cross a certian line to the left of US liberal orthodoxy. In particular, any comment mentioning that Commondreams will delete comments is rapidly deleted, even when on-topic. Commondreams never replies to e-mails requesting clarification on this hypocritical policy.
CommonDreams is supposedly committed to transparency but engages in unwarranted censorship of commenters whom, without violating the site commenting policy, are censored and prevented from participating in the group discussion. They are NOT transparent about when they apply the censorship, and commenting on the censorship is a sure way of finding yourself banned. They are NOT responsive to enquiries by their readership nor do they practice journalistic integrity by stealing articles/resources off the internet without proper citation. Frankly, I find their unwritten editorial policy to be Orwellian in nature.
Review from Guidestar