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Comment by hhs | Hacker News Reader

This is good. I am, though, concerned about the negative externalities that could arise. Will this lead to new and stranger commercial activities?

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If you want a negative example, check out Voat. It started as a "less moderated/censored reddit" and quickly filled with actual nazis and other vitriol. A business cannot survive on "We accept hate speech" in the same way 4chan has never really been a business proposition; Nobody wants to look like they are supporting hate speech so advertisers won't go near it with a ten foot pole.

IMO, this is a good thing, and implies there is at least some decency in the world

So true, I can see that point, thanks.

"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all."

With respect, putting a bad idea in quotation marks doesn't make it a good idea. Mencken was extremely intelligent, but applied over-broadly, the concept embodied in this quote implies we should defend even murderers against the oppression of banning murdering.

I much prefer "Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."

On the other hand, a website doesn't need to be a good business proposition to be a good platform. In fact some might say being a good business proposition is outright opposed to the values needed in a good platform.

(In case it's unclean, I don't think Voat or the .chans are good platforms either.)

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