The terms that the poster wanted to ban were actually terms that DID refer to people's ideas.
Terms that are personal attacks that do not refer to their positions on issues, like calling someone a drunk, an a-hole, or stupid or the like, I quite agree with you. Personal attack terms are very inappropriate.
And while I would agree that the 1st amendment does not apply to a forum such as this one, the term free speech is much broader than that and is something we should strive for throughout our society as a fundamental American principle.
Originally Posted by
sbm12
1) That does not apply here as the FT forums are not bound by the US constitution's ban of government controlling speech.
2) It is possible to exercise "free speech" without being a jerk and attacking people rather than their ideas. That is what we're talking about here.