> increasingly necessary to try and censor the internet? Most BBSs were moderated. Most IRC channels were moderated. Most PHPBB forums were moderated. This

> increasingly necessary to try and censor the internet? Most BBSs were moderated. Most IRC channels were moderated. Most PHPBB forums were moderated. This very comments section (and news article listing it's attached to) is moderated. Anyone who has been around the internet for a while knows that moderation and curating is basically ubiquitous and necessary because of both intentionally bad actors and also because of low-quality contributors. I would laugh at you if you told me in 1990s or even 2000s that congresspeople would be concerned about internet trolls. But I also would have laughed at you if you told me most people would carry palm pilot-like devices everywhere. What changed in eternal September was not the instinct or moderate or the necessity of moderation. If anything, the amount of moderation per user post probably substantially decreased. But the stakes did change. The stakes changed because the userbase got massive enough to matter in the national and international balance of power. That scale is also the reason this is now an AI challenge instead of a "call/DM/PM Johnny the admin and ask him to deal with the asshat derailing every conversation about Blah De Bloop with stupid conspiracy theory shit" challenge.