Well, the owners of the site have decided to go with specific rules in the forums, and when you sign up, you agree to abide by the Terms of Use. I would suggest taking a look at them, because you may find some answers therein.

We've had the "freedom of speech" issue raised in the past, but the fact is that this does not apply to a privately-owned and operated website. Anyone can create a site and determine what will and will not be acceptable for that particular site.

I have been on this site for 3 1/2 years, and I can tell you that the owners and admins here are doing their best to make this site a friendly and comfortable place for all the members. That sometimes means taking a broader view of what constitutes "offensive" than you may find elsewhere. I, for one, don't see this as a bad thing at all. I would rather the site restrict "offensive" language (by whoever's standards) than risk alienating present and future members by ignoring the problem.

I have been on sites where the forum rules were less stringent. Most of those forums were more like war zones than discussions: full-fledged flamefests, rampant strings of insults and attacks, all manner of incivility. I certainly don't want to see that happen here.

The bottom line is you don't have to agree with the policy. You do have to abide by it while you're here, though.