I would agree that the TOS has probably helped us bypass a lot of things that would be difficult to handle from an admin point of view, it has been a positive thing. The real issue is not allowing or disallowing things prohibited by the TOS, it's that the users who would appear here if we did not have the TOS would have no interest in any topics that were not strictly political - in general, obviously. From a user perspective, that sort of thing limits the range of content, and from an admin perspective it means you need to constantly babysit the userbase because they're trying to rip each other's throats out constantly.
I would agree that the TOS has probably helped us bypass a lot of things that would be difficult to handle from an admin point of view, it has been a positive thing. The real issue is not allowing or disallowing things prohibited by the TOS, it's that the users who would appear here if we did not have the TOS would have no interest in any topics that were not strictly political - in general, obviously. From a user perspective, that sort of thing limits the range of content, and from an admin perspective it means you need to constantly babysit the userbase because they're trying to rip each other's throats out constantly.
I think the appeal of the realm of foxes for me is that single TOS statement. It addresses what was wrong with Goatland. Though total freedom to say or do anything is a good concept, there does need to be limits. Narrowly drawn, but none the less, limits. And though it's not really formally forbidden, I do enjoy the non-political atmosphere here. The couple of times I accidentally went on a political rant myself, I regretted it. I like it here as it is - LOL.