[Gordonjcp]

> You might get racist boards, but then its easy to get rid of all of them at once.

You don't have to shut them down, you know. The British Government did this all throughout the 1970s to 1990s, where pubs (and later online services) where Republican terrorists hung out were very much left alone. They could have swooped in and scooped the lot up, but they didn't.

Because if they ever did want to scoop them all up, they knew exactly where to look, and why would you disturb that?

[btbuildem]

I've always thought that was the right way to handle it -- allow people to self-express, however abhorrent they may be. For the worst offenders, dedicate resources to make sure no harm is done (for example, monitor these watering-wells for any activity indicative of planning a terrorist attack, etc).

[AaronM]

It also turns into a game of whack-a-mole. You ban the boards and they just immediately come back under a different name.