I think you and I may have a slightly different attitude to the matter of 'free speech' and 'hate speech'.
If someone on this board said: I dunno, sometimes I feel like going out and lynching a nigger - I would want that person banned. Temporarily or permanently. I do not believe anybody has the 'right' to publish something like that on a public forum. What they say to each other in the privacy of their own homes is their own business, but this is a privately owned, publicly accessible forum where words are left permanently on show.
I do, however, take your point about the potential for learning. Which is why I agree that a temporary ban might be fairer.
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