I think part of the issue with Penny Arcade and the “dickwolf” controversy is that the authors have a very cynical, pessimistic view of human nature. There’s their somewhat famous Greater Internet Dickwad Theory, which posits that normal people act abusively, given the anonymity of the Internet. If I recall correctly, there was once some controversy about Microsoft trying to enforce some policy against homophobic slurs in Xbox chatrooms, and one of the authors of Penny Arcade argued that, while he was personally opposed to homophobic slurs, he thought it was completely pointless to try to stop it – citing the Greater Internet Dickwad Theory – and that Microsoft would simply be imposing censorship without in any way reducing homophobia.
