Exactly, as long ad it's legal, everything should go. Imagine HN banning posts about some topic because it rubs the majority's sensibility the wrong way. Without freedom of speech the Internet as we know it wouldn't exist. That's far more important than sheltering someone from what they may find offensive or objectionable.
That is not how Reddit works. There is some entirely legal things you could print in the USA that are against Reddit's rules. They do not allow publishing of personal information. They have already said "This is legal speech, but we don't want it here"
Maybe that's the point? After all, isn't the response to "someone is publishing material I disagree with" usually "well thanks to free speech rights, you can disagree with them publicly, and if you have a good point, people will agree with you"?
Do creepy, sexually harassing people deserve to be free of the consequences of their free speech? No. Free speech means the government can't ban it, it doesn't mean you are immune to the social consequences.
If free speech protects you when you post sexy photos of minors, then surely it should protect the free speech of someone who names you.
>..then surely it should protect the free speech of someone who names you.
There is another good reason for a sitewide ban on personal info, that being that if the internet is good at one thing, it's generating outrage. Outrage + Large amount of anonymous people = witch hunts. And I don't care if the guy's a serial rapist (which he isn't, not that you could tell with the acid-dipped keyboards in play) witch hunts are never a good thing. Accusations are thrown and innocent people's lives are impacted based on the flimsiest of evidence sometimes. Best to ban that outright and let people organize their raids elsewhere.
I also assume it would put them (the site owners) on shaky legal ground.
Reddit bans four things that I know of. Personal info, illegal pictures of minors, exploits targeting the users, and spam. There are very good justifications for every one of those.
I agree that witch hunts are bad, but so is the creepshot/jailbait stuff. Another thing the internet is good at is niche niche sexual interests, producing, distributing and promoting these sexual interests. This can be good (how many LGBT people have found out they aren't alone thanks to the internet), and bad (child porn). Should we not tackle the other things that the internet is bad as well?
