[MartinCron]

I am skeptical of the utility of hiding offensive speech

I share that, but I am also really seduced by the idea of interacting in a space free of that kind of toxic garbage. The same way I prefer to go to restaurants that don't allow smoking.

If there's an appropriate place for offensive speech, I'll prefer to not be there. Maybe instead of "flag as abusive" the interaction should be nudging people into their appropriate cesspools.

[steveklabnik]

This is actually one of the reasons /b/ still exists: if /b/ went away, they'd just post all over the rest of 4chan, and at least all the toxic waste can just be concentrated in one place.

[MartinCron]

That's exactly what I was thinking. "appropriate cesspool" is a pretty transparent /b reference.