boppin
macrumors 65816
No, those weren't political forums. Some of them were about religion—like the "Friends of Jesus" forum (a Swiss group, likely affiliated with the Protestant Church) or whatever they called themselves—as well as forums with no set topic. Back then, people could still talk to each other civilly; that was 20 years ago. Things are completely different these days.
The provider of these for free forums was the German company named Parsimony and someone. I'm sorry. Can't remember everything.