The NYTimes has an article today on why people respond online in ways they don't in person- it's not only the anonymity (did I spell that right?) of it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/he...ce&oref=slogin
I'm going to post this on a separate thread, too, because I think it's good reading.
What I found interesting is one of the things the internet usually lacks that many in-person situations have is an authority figure. So, with Steve, et al, monitoring the site, it's not so much censoring as making the board run a little bit more like a face-to-face conversation would.