People with issues

My favourite blogger has been brought into a very ridiculous story. To cut a long story short, he wrote a post on an issue (that is not important) and people commented on it in various ways. At some point, some commentators insulted another commentator. The blog administrator reprimanded them on the comments, but the insulted commentator regarded the reprimand as inadequate and requested for the posts to be deleted because they were defaming him. The blog administrator responded in saying that he does not want to delete comments and the insulted commentator requested a comment moderator to be put in place in that blog. He threatened the blog administrator with legal action and he responded giving him his private details. As it turns out, this was just an 'experiment' in order to test the freedom of speech of the greek blog-o-sphere. Discussion ensues at this moment with comments to the original post reaching 106!!!

The situation might look ridiculous and it probably is, but the issue behind it is very important. It is the fundamental issue of freedom of speech, only now it has been transferred to the net. The analogy could be the following: I have a gathering at my place (blog) where people come and we have a chat. At some point one of my guests insults another one: what should my role be? Do I reprimand the guest and consider the matter closed? Do I kick the guest out? Do I hire bouncers to patrol all my parties from that point onwards? Whose is it to say what counts as an insult? One guest might be picky and consider anything an insult, while other people have thicker skin. More importantly though, can my insulted guest DEMAND that I hire a bouncer, otherwise he will sue me?

The answer the blogger in question gave, was that it is his blog and he wants to hold on to his right to deal with these issues the way he chooses to. A moderator is compromising freedom of speech and should in principle be avoided. The default should be that people should be free to say whatever they want, in a public place like a blog. Is the blog a public place though?