I have frankly radical political beliefs and am outspoken about them: getting banned and censored is not a hypothetical situation for me but an experience I have actually had many times.
Nevertheless I remain committed to preventing the growth of nationalist, racist, and genocidal movements, and I've come to believe that this requires moderation of large-scale public internet forums.
There is no fair, reasonable, effective content-neutral strategy here. All moderation is ideological, including the choice not to moderate at all. And every choice within that constraint will have consequences. We are better off looking at the consequences we want to prevent and working backwards, than we are starting from a specific ideology and moderating the way it demands.
"No moderation at all" isn't a virtuous abstinence from making this choice or being responsible for the outcomes, it is just one option among many, and one I find to have unacceptable consequences.
Nevertheless I remain committed to preventing the growth of nationalist, racist, and genocidal movements, and I've come to believe that this requires moderation of large-scale public internet forums.
There is no fair, reasonable, effective content-neutral strategy here. All moderation is ideological, including the choice not to moderate at all. And every choice within that constraint will have consequences. We are better off looking at the consequences we want to prevent and working backwards, than we are starting from a specific ideology and moderating the way it demands.
"No moderation at all" isn't a virtuous abstinence from making this choice or being responsible for the outcomes, it is just one option among many, and one I find to have unacceptable consequences.