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It is up to the moderators' discretion to determine whether or not a given post falls into a particular category
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In the broad sense, we tend to err on the side of free speech. I know some people can't handle the concept of free speech, but that concept means that you may have to tolerate or ignore ideas you find offensive. To do otherwise, in my opinion, is simply un-American.
However, we do focus in on personal attacks because they tend to cause discussion to disintegrate and explode into nothing more than an insult war. They are also pointless, easy to identify, and easy to fix. They contribute nothing to discussion. We try to urge posters to focus on debating IDEAS, not other people's character, intelligence, or values.
If a post is designated by users as hate speech, most of the moderators look at it. Occasionally, one of us will delete a post that we consider flamebait and/or hate speech. However, you might consider that one man's hate speech is another man's free speech.
Someone else might find your beliefs and ideas just as offensive as you find theirs. Being an American means developing a skin that is slightly tougher than those found in other countries and learning to ignore or appropriately respond to speech that you consider egregious, offensive, or inflammatory. That's really what freedom of speech means, and that's why both Playboy/Penthouse and the racist rantings of Stormfront are protected under the first amendment, whereas slander and libel are not.
Ciao.