The irony is really something though:
http://blog.samaltman.com/e-pur-si-muove
> Also, smart people tend to have an allergic reaction to the restriction of ideas, and I’m now seeing many of the smartest people I know move elsewhere.
> It is bad for all of us when people can’t say that the world is a sphere, that evolution is real, or that the sun is at the center of the solar system.
Or what totalitarianism is, what sociopathy is, what obedience to and identification with abusers is and how it comes about.
> This is uncomfortable, but it’s possible we have to allow people to say disparaging things about gay people if we want them to be able to say novel things about physics.
But we absolutely cannot quote any of the greats on whose shoulders we stand on -- and mean it, that is, and actually deconstruct the sophistry that is inevitably replied to that. I've had accounts throttled and shadowbanned which had not a single comment below 0, and many upvotes. None of the comments were off-topic or not substantive, it's just the powers that be didn't like them, but could cite no guidelines and refute no points. Come to think of it, it's like all these comments from mods telling people to "not do that here" are really just to give a pretense of transpareny and good faith. From where I'm sitting, it's mostly silent and mostly hypocritical.
Maybe we have to allow the KKK to speak their mind. But do NOT talk about moderator action in public. Shedding light on the ways discussion is manipulated would degrade the quality of discussion, you see. So send us an email! Do not talk about votes, don't feel strongly about anything, no matter how solid the argument. Sure, a racist or homophobe might cure cancer, or someone who just uses the word "gay" to mean "lame", or someone with an IQ of 170 but also Tourette's. But you won't hear about it on a site where even a comment starting with something like "this is fucking bullshit!" followed by a detailed explanation of why it is, has to be punished or at least chided a bit. Yes, it would be better without that. But no, that doesn't excuse patting each other on the back for form over content. That's even dumber than swearing.
Be that as it may, in the end it'll just eat you whole, spit out nothing, and the people who pretended your shit doesn't stink will turn out to have been your worst enemies all along. Totally apart from being an intelligent or good person, conformity for the sake of conformity and any "hacker spirit" are oil and water, so that really just leaves money and electric toys, with shades of censorship and direct and indirect murder. A little hut of gold on a lot of treacherous sand.
The more you sell out, the more you give in, the more good you also can do, the more whistles you can blow, if you should ever grow your spine back. That is the one silver lining, but I won't hold my breath for it. Good luck though, without sarcasm. You do need it, and everybody deserves to come clean.
Fuck your fear.