Q3.3 How does moderation differ from censorship?

    People have been arguing this issue since moderation was first
    proposed as a mechanism for Usenet newsgroups around 1980.  Some
    people see no difference between the two, some see moderation as
    good and censorship as evil, and other points of view abound.

    Before continuing, go find a dictionary, and look up "censorship."
    While you're at it, look up "editor" and "referee."

    To me, one way to view this issue is that while someone may want to
    post their messages to an audience, that audience may have chosen
    to have a moderator select which messages they will see, and thus
    the desire of an individual to post a message is outweighed by
    the desire of a multitude to have messages moderated.

    An analogy to moderation is that of a publication whose editor is
    paid by the publisher and (indirectly) by the subscribers to decide
    what to print and what not to print.  Is the editor a censor?

    How about the newspaper that puts all the sports stories in one
    section, all the local news in another, and keeps the classified
    ads classified separately from the news and editorials.
    Is that organization by topic, or is it censorship?

    Another key difference is that censorship usually tries to
    disallow expression of certain views or topics in *all* media,
    while Usenet moderated newsgroups only disallow postings in
    one medium - a single newsgroup whose audience has agreed
    to a charter that often describes what is on or off-topic,
    and to a moderator and to the process of moderation.

    An extension of that view is that if there is some newsgroup
    in which an individual can post a message and be on-topic,
    then that individual and that message have not been censored.

    Since most newsgroups are not moderated, almost all moderated
    newsgroups will be topically related to some unmoderated newsgroup
    in which a post would be both on-topic and not subject to moderation.

    The discussion of differences between moderation and censorship has
    been erupting several times a year in news.groups for about 15 years.
    If you raise the topic again, try to bring some new material to discuss.
    I have tried to present a fair distinction, but freely agree that I
    usually support moderation of newsgroups.