> Why would I want to join an online discussion forum where free thought isn't welcome?
Every community has ideas about what's right and wrong, and there will always be people who disagree. Moderation will always be required because that's just the nature of communities.
> Politics aside - I wonder if it would be possible to create an instance focused on free speech, without automatically attracting all the worst people?
To the point I just made: no, it's not possible refrain from moderating a community and then avoid having people there who engage in behavior you don't like. If your definition of "free speech" includes a complete lack of moderation, then you'll always run into this problem.
Every community has ideas about what's right and wrong, and there will always be people who disagree. Moderation will always be required because that's just the nature of communities.
> Politics aside - I wonder if it would be possible to create an instance focused on free speech, without automatically attracting all the worst people?
To the point I just made: no, it's not possible refrain from moderating a community and then avoid having people there who engage in behavior you don't like. If your definition of "free speech" includes a complete lack of moderation, then you'll always run into this problem.