User blog comment:Doc (K-)Flux(7)/Free Speech- How it applies to us, and how we should use it/@comment-4845243-20140607000812

Why is this an issue? I assume something came up during my absence that sparked this discussion.

Using Westboro Baptist Church as an example was not really conduicive towards your message. As evidenced by some other comments, it has only detracted from it. There is nothing beautiful about hatred or about its expression. Free speech is an integral right, granted, but that doesn't make its excersize beautiful. Excercise of certain rights can be downright ugly, as WBC proves.

Yes, free speech is protected by law in large part to protect unpopular speech, but that does not apply to private messages. Private messages cannot be monitored by moderators or administrators, and are de facto out of our jurisdiction, although we do sometimes respond to reports from multiple, credible witnesses. As I said earlier, not sure why this is even an issue worthy of a blog post at all.