How does moderation differ from censorship?
People have been arguing this issue since moderation was first proposed as a mechanism for Usenet newsgroups around 1980. Some people see no difference between the two, some see moderation as good and censorship as evil, and other points of view abound. Before continuing, go find a dictionary, and look up “censorship.” While you’re at it, look up “editor” and “referee.” To me, one way to view this issue is that while someone may want to post their messages to an audience, that audience may have chosen to have a moderator select which messages they will see, and thus the desire of an individual to post a message is outweighed by the desire of a multitude to have messages moderated. An analogy to moderation is that of a publication whose editor is paid by the publisher and (indirectly) by the subscribers to decide what to print and what not to print. Is the editor a censor? How about the newspaper that puts all the sports stories in one section, all the local news in another, and keeps t
