Wow a shout out for our Discourse project from Avi. This made my day, thank you!
And yeah, distributed discussions are moon-shot hard, unfortunately.
And yeah, distributed discussions are moon-shot hard, unfortunately.
And yes, distributed discussions that preserve free speech and allow eliminating crap is definitely moon-shot hard.
The way you just defined the problem, it's not moon shot hard; it's a logical impossibility. "Free speech" and "eliminating crap" are complete opposites. You can't have one with the other. If you want a high quality of discussions, some people are going to have to be deprived of their voice to make that happen, either through moderation or selective membership.