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Doesn't 4chan kind of disprove this though? I mean sure /pol/ can be a bit of a cesspool, but that's not all of 4chan. It was designed as a toxic waste storage facility and it has done that job fairly well.

You can hold great conversations on any of the like 30 other boards on the site without worrying about censorship or performance for internet points. There is still moderation, just the minimum amount possible.

A default of anonymity also helps curb a lot of spillover into the real world that happens between users of other forum sites.

The only reason 4chan gets dragged through the mud is because its containment facilities (/pol/, /b/, etc.) are among the most active boards. That speaks more to the human condition than 4chan in that people, when given a choice, tend to gravitate towards the least moderated sections of a website because they are the most engaging.

In terms of a solution I think it offers a fairly good one. If you don't want to have to keep banning malcontents across your site, then give them a place to congregate and they will mostly stay there. Try to ban them and they swarm looking for a new home.



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