I'm not accusing you of malice or of intentionally making it up from whole cloth, you could really believe you're seeing a lightly moderated balanced exchange of opinions in that community. But the truth is anyone who does follow that link and attempt to share "progressive and disagreeing views" will quickly discover that is not the case, so your characterization is just wrong. My best interpretation of your experience is just that you are just mistaken in your perception that you see open discussion of progressive and disagreeing views on /r/conservative. Just read the sidebar on the sub:
>a place on Reddit for conservatives, both fiscal and social, to read and discuss political and cultural issues from a distinctly conservative point of view.
And the further explanation linked in the sidebar:
>We are not a debate forum for left wing people. Conservatives can debate one another...We are not a place for explanation. /r/Conservative is for conservatives to discuss and share news with other conservatives
>We are not fair and balanced. We don't pretend to be unbiased. We don't pretend to give all commenters equal time. This is by conservatives and for conservatives.
I think that description contradicts the characterization you made of this community in your earlier reply as "welcoming progressive and disagreeing viewpoints." That's why I think you may just be mistaken about what you see being discussed, because by its own definition that community is not actually exposing you to equitable discussion of progressive or contradictory viewpoints.
I would agree Reddit and HN do skew to the left overall but that's entirely beside the point of whether or not /r/conservative is a community openly welcoming discussion from both sides of the aisle. I agree people can and should reach their own decision but in my opinion the subreddit's sidebar makes its purpose readily apparent and anyone's experience participating in discussion will likely line up to it. And again, this is all really tangential to that commenter's original reply to you, and I'm going to bow out now with the postscript that I would have liked to read your answer to their question.