Comment by dkarl

That's an interesting essay and a good explanation of why it's toxic for any group to defend their idiots, the idiots whom they tend to find on their side of the issues. In politics, a lot of the ill will between liberals and conservatives stems from each side's reluctance to disavow the kooks and cranks on their own side. In a fragmented online community, members who themselves make high-quality contributions may resist quality control measures because they don't want their obnoxious idiot allies silenced. But that results in them having to put up with the obnoxious idiot allies of their rivals, which makes intelligent debate impossible and results in the high-quality contributors leaving anyway.