[kijin]

There's a fine line between disregarding the purpose of the community and attempting to change it, and it's often difficult to distinguish between the two.

For example, when 4chan became Anonymous, a lot of people objected to the politicization of the community. They felt that it was a betrayal of the original purpose of the community. But communities evolve. Purposes change. We don't live in the Founding Fathers' America anymore. It's not easy to ban people who "disregard the purpose of the community" without also trampling on nascent attempts to evolve that very purpose, and I suspect that this is where accusations of censorship most often arise. Strong moderation, on its own, can't solve this problem.

Good moderators should be wise enough to make subtle distinctions like this and humble enough to confer with long-time users on tricky issues.