That's not a charitable read at all of the thread. Unpopular ideas are essential, but the tight feedback loop which the former physical constraints offered was

That's not a charitable read at all of the thread. Unpopular ideas are essential, but the tight feedback loop which the former physical constraints offered was still a useful component. It acts as a counterbalance to our tendency to let ideas and thoughts that are poorly developed, more damaging than they are useful, or just logically/factually flawed consume too much attention. I know when I pay attention I notice that I can think a lot of ridiculous things, and it would take some gymnastics to arrive at the belief that every dumb little prejudiced / biased / flawed / incomplete thought is worth promoting to a global audience. Sometimes an idea will have merit despite initially receiving bad feedback in the context where it was first voiced. That feedback is still helpful, though, and may prompt some refinement before it goes any further. Many ideas that don't have much merit die here, and that's a good thing. The alternative is broadcasting it raw straight into the forever archives to be fought over and promoted based, at least partly, on how outrage inducing or divisive it might be, and it's my belief that we're worse off for this becoming more of a norm.