Ideas flourish in the "GARDEN" of our minds. Not the wilderness.
To be productive a garden must be protected. An open garden, with no walls or fencing, in the middle of forest, is nothing more than a temporary all you can eat dinner opportunity at the cost of the gardener until there is nothing left for anyone.
All forums are literally little more than locations of idea generation. Gardens of ideas.
And as garden's it's perfectably acceptable that a garden is protected to a degree.
And the loudest voices screaming to "tear down the walls and LET US IN!" are often little more that deer standing around a fenced garden screaming "THIS IS PART OF THE FOREST TOO! OPEN UP!"
If we open up YOU will come in. And if YOU come in you will instantly begain acting in your only interested direction, the misdirection of idea growth and the eventual destruction of the garden.
I'm thinking on this metaphor and have an additional thought.
Just like how fencing off a garden can result in greater growth of that garden, when you shut it off from the world around with too much "fencing" you start blocking off things that are good for the growth of gardens. Such as rain, sunlight, and pollinating insects.
It's likely a delicate dance to find the perfect degree of fencing between open to the world to completely closed off, that results in the greatest flourishing of the fruit of the garden. In the case of FORUMS of ALL TYPES that fruit is flourishing of ideas.
It's likely similar to the mechanics of a carburetor, it takes a bit of engineering to find the perfect mix of fuel and air.
Having said that I personally don't find it frustrating that people who just sign up and then start doing arguably "suspicious thing" be temporarily labeled as having "suspicious behavior".
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