>It has some lightly-moderated pressure valves, but the more topical forums keep a leash on discussions without chilling the conversation.

I really hope this is a joke. The moderators at something awful hand out bans and "probations" (arbitrary length bans from posting only) like candy and take personal offense when questioned why.

Here's a fun game. Click on a random username to look at their "rap sheet" and see how many times they've been hit with various punishments. You can click on the incident to go to where and when it happened. Then try to figure out which of the site or board rules they broke to get those black marks.

The wrong opinion in the wrong place will be punished just as harshly as on some of the more echo-chamberey subreddits, except worse since you can be globally banned and be out real cash for your trouble.

All punishments apply sitewide. At least on Reddit if a moderator who feels personally insulted at your posting bans you, it's only from that sub.

Something Awful is not my favorite website.