When I was a less sensible youth I made the mistake of using real contact details on a domain name registration, and then subsequently being an obvious target on a gaming forum. I received targeted attacks on my online accounts which lead to all sorts of things being purchased in my name and I received all sorts of unsolicited and possibly legally dubious things in the mail (probably bought with stolen credit cards). I live in the UK and I think the people targeting me lived somewhere in Europe.<p>Online harrassment is a thing. It is a thing that caused me a lot of stress and anxiety, and I think I probably received a fairly mild dose of it. Unmoderated forums can be vicious and brutal places, and for that reason nobody should be obligated to run one.<p>Usenet was invented 35 years ago. Do you really think that if we (as a society) are going to learn to &quot;finally handle&quot; unmoderated discussion boards when the evidence clearly points to the fact we haven&#x27;t thus far?<p>There&#x27;s nothing that says that a moderated discussion forum only allows people who think in a particular way. In my experience the kind of moderation that leads to the highest quality and most interesting discussion (often from people with radically different points of view) is the kind that bans personal attacks and comments which are clearly designed to bait or otherwise incite a flame war. That moderation can happen in an open and visible way.