But I'm going to guess HN tried the no-rules approach and found issues with it. Whether I like them or not, there are rules and I often see others reminding us of them.

(Ha ha, and in point of fact, I have never read them except when one is trotted out. Nor have I ever pulled one on someone—I'm the type to ignore and move on.)

You might be surprised to learn the free speech side was crushed in that debate and it turned out content that costs zero to send really is worthless.