Much later followup: FWIW, I blame a very popular misunderstanding of "free speech". Free speech means you can have your space to talk, and in that space you can say most whatever you want (subject to some legal restrictions like direct death threats and other issues), and anyone who wants to see what you have to say can come see.
It does not mean that anyone who says a thing online, like a blog post, newspaper article, government report, etc. is obligated to host a comment section that allows anyone with a keyboard to put their speech right next to the original topic, on nearly the same footing. I think the all-but-subconscious idea that comment sections are somehow mandatory, or the sine qua non of "free speech", seriously hobbles people as they try to design communities.
Weblogs empowered the individual, and then we could interactions from there. Comment-based designs pull everything down to the same level. Mastodon et al still go in the wrong direction, in my opinion.
It does not mean that anyone who says a thing online, like a blog post, newspaper article, government report, etc. is obligated to host a comment section that allows anyone with a keyboard to put their speech right next to the original topic, on nearly the same footing. I think the all-but-subconscious idea that comment sections are somehow mandatory, or the sine qua non of "free speech", seriously hobbles people as they try to design communities.
Weblogs empowered the individual, and then we could interactions from there. Comment-based designs pull everything down to the same level. Mastodon et al still go in the wrong direction, in my opinion.