Rusty A300,
Well there is a question ! Perhaps you should ask Danny as this forum and all the others on PPRuNe belong to him, and are ultimately adminstered thus. However since you ask the question I will attempt to answer it. I have to say that your stated dislike of moderation, censorship and the general suppression of your own expression is probably going to make any explanation redundant, but nevertheless...........
The "Questions" forum on PPRuNe is in a group of forums titled "Professional Pilots Forums". This forum is intended for questions that can be best answered by a professional pilot. The forum is given a flexible degree of latitude to include questions for other aviation professionals that may not be specific to professional pilots but might still have a significant level of collateral interest. There are many specialized forums on PPRuNe and in order to keep this forum defined, any threads that are better suited to other forums are likely to be moved to them. If this is felt to be "censorship, moderation or personalization", then yes it most certainly happens.
Dealing with the other points in the order you raise them :
It doesn't matter what your opinions or methods of expression are, nor does it matter how insightful of those things are countries that espouse freedom. This is a private site with rules of membership and accepted levels of behaviour and conduct. Given the level of membership and the standards that most people seem able to adopt and apply that would not seem to be an evident problem. The site owners are responsible for ensuring that certain restrictions apply to prevent themselves falling foul of legal repercussions and other unwelcome attention. Freedom of speech is not an enshrined right here, nor is it in the real world as one who chose test the limits of such would no doubt become rapidly aware.
A persons intent is most certainly NOT always encapsulated in the first sentence, indeed the intent can often be masked !
Many people on these forums are indeed educated with skills in modern technology. Morality is not an issue I can comment on as it applies to your question, so the dictation of it or otherwise is a moot point.
God, religion, sex, abortion and equal rights etc are often dealt with on PPRuNe, but in other forums so again the point isn't relevant here. You must take notice of the fact that this isn't "the open net", this is a privately owned website that is accessible and available to the public at large. That does NOT mean that the public dictate the standard or general rules of conduct. The owner does that and devolves some of the responsibilty for that to the voluntary band of moderators and administrators that carry out the function.
Obscenity may well be an act of frustration, but it is not an act that is well tolerated on this forum. As you have already pointed out, this forum is largely patronised by an intelligent and educated group of people. It is therefore not unreasonable to assume that such people can make a point or response that employs those abilities without the resource to obscenity. Where that proves not to be the case some editing of the offensive language may be substituted "********" thus. This is done to keep a subject on track. If minor edits are insufficient to resolve the problem ( not normally a difficulty on the questions forum ) then the thread or part of it can be moved to the administrators forum for further and equally informed and educated consideration !
This forum as with the others is moderated using a set of parameters that encompass the rules laid down by the site owners. It like the others is moderated by a person or persons with their own beliefs, morality, emotions and falibilities. As such and despite the best efforts to ensure that moderation is at all times even handed and fair, inevitably that will not always prove to be the case. Sometimes I get it wrong. Moderation is usually only noticed when the application of such causes one party to feel aggrieved. When that happens there is usually a polarization into those that support and those that oppose. In judgement of a dispute you are invariably only going to please one party. Sometimes that will not be the majority. As a moderator it is only necessary to satisfy the site owner even though in doing so (hopefully) you satisfy the majority.
If censorship therefore amounts to removing obscenity or irrelevant matter then yes it applies. If moderation means tempering ( by removal ) the extremes of free speech then yes that applies also. If it means spending around 100 hours a month keeping various forums tidy and interesting to the majority of the members, then that applies as well. If personalization means that the forums are each flavoured by the personality and character of the people that oversee them, then yes that happens as well.
I trust that answers your question, but that it in any event clarifies certain issues. Finally sanctions are rarely applied here but as you (of course) are no doubt aware, the facility exists !
