I’ve posted extensively over at my personal blog here.
I believe in open discussion, I believe in free speech. And I believe that free speech has limits, as does the Supreme Court. That said, I was disappointed yet elated to see LNP take the forums down. Disappointed because the forums could at times be very valuable and a lot of people enjoyed them. Further, there was a compromise, and I think taking them down entirely was an overreaction.
Elated because the people–including kids reading articles–no longer have to see the racist and bigoted comments that characterize so many of the forum threads. That kind of crap poisons the community and brings us all down, and the online community was not moderating itself.
It will be interesting to see the newspaper’s online strategy going forward. Hopefully it includes an online discussion forum and excludes the racism and bigotry.