Has anyone been banned from Steve Hoffman Forums?

If you think Hoffman's forums are bad in this regard, go have a look at Hydrogen Audio. The people that run that website are insane when it comes to what you can or can't post.

I was reading some posts on computeraudiophile.com and one of the posters started talking about an experiance they had on Hydrogen. He was new to the site and responded to a pole someone was taking. It was asking what your favorite music player is. He put down jriver and they almost kicked him off the site because of it. The moderators didn't like the fact that you have to buy jriver. They said it was insulting the other members. They gave him a warning that if something like this happens again, they're closing his account. All he did was take part in a pole. I would have never believed that story but he did provide the post and email he got from the moderators. I was still curious so I went over to hydrogen myself and found the post. He was telling the truth.

AL doesn't miss anything.

As much as we may not like it, moderators are allowed to moderate their threads. It's not a free speech issue. That web site is someones property, and the owner can do as he wishes with is as long as he doesn'the break any laws. And its not against the law to moderate a thread.

I have no idea what professor you're talking about that said Americans are anti intellectual, but the context in which you are using the term implies that it's just another way of saying someone doesn't agree with you. If someone doesn't agree with you then they must be wrong. You did go to some college in NJ, and everyone knows that's where all the smart people come from.