So let's say I own a public swimming pool, where anyone can swim there if they pay admission. It's open to the public, but there are some rules. One rule I would have is no shitting in the pool. People have the right to shit, but not in my pool. I don't care if other pools allow shitting, I don't want it. It ruins the swimming experience for people who don't like to swim in sewage, so ultimately, it's bad for my pool.

I can make this rule because while it's open to the public, it's still a private pool. It's not the same as discriminating against anyone, just that polluting the pool is unacceptable, as it reduces the value of the pool. There are plenty of places to take a shit, but the pool is absolutely off limits.

So Notd is a public network. Everyone is welcome to post their opinions here, but there are some rules. We don't want people shitting on the network, as it reduces the value of it. Publishing notes that are known to be false reduces the level of trust readers have in the network. If people read too many notes they believe to be false, they will start to not believe other notes, and then might choose to not trust anything on the network. So we have a responsibility to most readers to do our best to keep pollution out of the news and opinions and commentary that they pay for and read here. Most don't want the job of checking facts, so rather than replicate that burden by forcing every reader to do it, we take on the responsibility.

This is not a free speech issue. We still believe anyone can lie and troll and insult people. Just not here.