This is one of the reasons I love the BBS so much: excellent and engaged moderation.
Hear me out: this article is an example why aggressive suppression of hateful and threatening speech is necessary for actual free speech. There is no free speech if the “quiet” voices are suppressed by the obnoxious ones. Even microaggressions will stifle the voices of wonderful and creative and thoughtful people who are scared off by subtle racist or sexist digs and unexamined privilege.
Much of the toxicity of online spaces are because of this asymmetry. Nonexistent or lazy moderation turns online spaces into Nazi bars. Ironically, moderators afraid to censor toxic speech harm free speech more than overzealous moderation.
