[pluckytree]

Then, a few years down the road, it’ll have slid down the slippery slope to include anything that could hurt someone’s feelings. This has been what’s happened to all of society over the past few decades and Facebook and Twitter will be no different.

[partiallypro]

People on Twitter and Facebook have already had temp bans for supporting Trump. That's no defense of Trump, but the minor things I've seen them being labeled as against Twitter/Facebook policy have been very minor. It's worrying to me as a free speech absolutist.

[JacobJans]

I used to agree with your basic sentiment. I'm still a strong believer in free speech, including speech that causes discomfort to those who hear it.

However, we live in a world that focuses violence on specific individuals, depending on their race, class, gender, religion, and a number of other factors. Our everyday actions are part of that system. Sometimes we help focus that violence, usually without realizing it. This is true of victims of violence as well as those who are not targeted.

What is our responsibility? Ignore the situation?

I'll tell you this: Feelings do get hurt, but the problem is not hurt feelings. The problem is the poverty & oppression baked into our system. A system that supports some people (definitely me) while making life incredibly hard for others.

Is removing hate speech going to stop these problems? Absolutely not.

Would I have any problem removing hate speech from the discussion community I run? Absolutely not.

Would the good people at Ycombinator have any issue removing hate speech from Hacker News? Absolutely not.

Does that hurt your feelings?

[dimino]

Each decision being made will be evaluated for its merits. "It's only a small change" doesn't actually work as rationale with this many people watching.

There is no slippery slope, it's a... grippy slope, because of all the... eyeballs.