Shit
.. here we go again.
Trigs your thread is beyond hijacked at this point. Comps fault again lol.
You cannot regulate speech, even "hate speech,"
Because "Someone" has to decide what hate speech is, and everyone has a different line in the sand.
Therefore, all speech is OK. (and if you directly incite violence etc, yell fire in a theatre, etc... there are laws for that and you can be held accountable.)
More importantly, in order to think, you must be able to state what you think, even at risk of being offensive. Otherwise, you are unable to express your own thoughts, which is a fundamental human right. (At least it ought to be... the USA is unique in making it law)
For example, the famous case of Liberals defending the KKK's right to free speech. And I'd rather that true racists be allowed to speak their nonsense anyway - making themselves visible and subject to critisism... but its even more important now that "racist" can be applied much more broadly. Again, subjective. Where is the line. And who draws it.
As good way to think about it, ask "does this still work if the other side is in power"... for example if the "Orange Felon" was our PM... would you support him regulating what he considers to be hate speech? No, of course not.
Well, if we set that precedent, whats the difference?
In an internet forum context, you guys are obviously free to regulate it because its on your own server. However, you still risk the hit to credibility. In situations like the above, where someone with moderator powers decides that something is offensive (especially later admitting that it was because he was being "grumpy") and telling him to stop - you risk creating an environment where only approved thoughts are allowed. If moose actually thinks something was stupid, whether or not it was stupid, whether or not you think its stupid, he can call it stupid... otherwise he has lost his right to express his own thoughts. Sure you are allowed to censor him, (your site your rules) but its not right.
So, the simplest policy is to allow it all. The mistake on the left is thinking people need to be protected from words. They dont... Sticks and Stones: words will never hurt you.
If you are wrong, people can tell you that you are wrong, and thats how discussion happens and ideas get refined. But you are still allowed to be wrong, mean, "toxic", whatever.
Funny that this was originally a Liberal value. Its another thing that switched somewhere along the line I guess, as part of the "government knows best" mentality. In Canada thanks to our wonderful Liberals we actually have censorship laws on the books, and its going to get worse as they start being enforced. It starts with hate speech and ends with being arrested for criticizing those in power. We just chose the same path as the UK where this is already happening, so look there for examples.
Also... I am still playing the face up Aces.