[Foundation-l] Free speech

[Peter Damian]

My apologies for the Godwinism.  I am a writer, the idea of preventing 
someone expressing a viewpoint is reprehensible.  Disruption to the project 
of building a comprehensive and reliable reference source is one thing. 
That is a matter of a 'preventative block'.  Punitive blocks intended to 
prevent expression of ideas is another.  As you must all know, Larry Sanger 
was indefinitely blocked simply for expressing the wrong opinions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User%3ALarry+Sanger

By our own Phil Nash, in fact. The practice of a 'community ban' is simply a 
matter of a few admins getting together and imposing one.

On the comparison with China, that was naughty, I concede.  But imprisoning 
someone is the only way of preventing the expression of opinions in the real 
world.  In the virtual world, blocking is far simpler.  That is the only 
difference.  As a writer, I find the suppression of free speech far more 
painful and immoral and intolerable than mere incarceration.  If I were in 
prison and still permitted to write, that would not be an imposition.  Being 
prevented from writing is the worst crime of all.