In the Globe's case, there are no censors patrolling the comments section, but any participant can flag a comment as abusive, in which case, a moderator will review the flagged comment and determine whether the posted civility standards have been abrogated, and if yes, delete it. I think it's fine to have people expressing views across the spectrum, but how does any dialogue/exchange benefit from people shouting out insults and invectives at someone with whom they don't agree? Verbal violence is a mark of immaturity and leads nowhere useful. The more people engage in it, the harder it is to engage complex issues in a constructive way, which is surely what the world needs now.