It's almost always better to simply delete offensive (as defined by the TOS) posts than to change them. Changing them violates a person's expression and makes it seem that the words were the original thoughts of the poster. Deleting them sends a better message without changing the original thoughts.
In the US, it is our right to say what we want. However, a board's owner is under no obligation to allow it on his/ her site. We all read the TOS before we make our first posts and if anyone thinks a private board owned by somebody else is under some kind of obligation to allow posts which do nothing but degrade others, they obviously either did not understand the TOS, did not read the TOS, or simply chose to disregard them.
If people wish to exercise their right to say anything, even that which degrades others, they can simply do what others have done and start up their own forum. Then they can feel safe in knowing their thoughts will not be censored or deleted.
A slight warning though- a site that allows for degrading, insulting, offensive "anything goes" posts which soil the membership rarely sustains itself on a long term basis. People simply do not want to be around it for long. A few ragers out there will be happy, but when you think about it, who really wants to put up with it for long?
Again, most of these boards are privately owned and it is the owner's right to have it shaped and molded in whatever way they want. Their board, their rules. It's up to us to decide if we want to be a part of it, that's all. If an owner feels that some member is acting outside of the parameters of which he/ she sets up, how is it wrong that they act to fix the situation by using the tools at their disposal such as deleting posts and banning offenders that won't play by their rules?
I don't think many of us would put up with bad behavior on the part of visitors in our homes, why would board owners have to put up with it on a site that they pay for?
Ultimately, it's their playground and we agreed to the rules before we started playing in it. Don't be surprised when we get jacked up for posting things which take away from their vision of how they want it to appear.
On the opposite side, owners can quickly lose their membership base by doing things which violate common decency and respect. Changing the words of a post without proper notification is one of them. To that degree, it's their board, but no one will stay long if the trust is not their from the members. They can set it up with all the cool bells and whistles they can find to make it a nice looking board, but if no one can trust them, they'll find a very desolate playground every time they log on.
The proper balance is based on respect, both on the part of the ownership and the membership. Owners are fully within their rights to expect that certain behavior will not be allowed on their site, but so is the membership body. We all expect the basic respect each other deserves to make things work.
In reality, it's not that hard for both to be present
