[JohnFen]

I agree with your concluding statement, but I don't think that the goal of moderating discussions is to get people to stop thinking particular things or to make them "good people."

The goal is to encourage actual communication.

[ThrowAway1922A]

I don't think you can pile everyone into a handful of platforms and get good communication. There's too many opposing viewpoints, too much crossover, and too much intermingling.

Forums didn't have the same issue because they were often single/few topic websites and you could just aggressively remove everything off topic.

[JohnFen]

Yes, I agree with that completely. Above a certain threshold, it all just becomes noise.