Has Sharescene lost the plot?

If you read the blurb you might think that Sharescene is a good place to pick up information;

Read what 19,500+ other Australian investors have to say about the shares you follow and get your questions answered by fellow investors.

The reality is that all of those 19,500+ posters are subject to the scrutiny and censorship of the Sharescene administration.

To post a comment you must first agree to their "terms of use" (TOU) which includes the section that you shall agree to not post any material which is

knowingly false and/or defamatory, misleading, deceptive, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, disruptive, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.

Under the TOU should another person post a comment that is any of the the above you are not allowed to comment on that post except to a moderator. Had you proceeded to publicly comment on that post (the orinal post may have been inaccurate and you were responding to that inaccuracy) you are technically in breach of the TOU and liable for moderation. If you are moderated and appeal against that moderation you are again technically in breach of the TOU for not understanding as one of terms that you agreed to was that

you completely understand and agree to the all of the above terms.

In effect by disputing a moderation you prove that you do not understand the TOU and therefore are no longer able to comply with the TOU and your account can be cancelled. Remember that the administrators are not responsible for moderation or cancellation as you have already agreed that

You are completely and solely responsible for your own actions, and any decision to take action is yours alone

Bear in mind that not all posts that you might think are inaccurate or misleading etc are moderated, only those that the moderator judges to be inaccurate or misleading etc. There is enormous scope for subjective interpretation and the anonymous moderators undeclared investments could present a conflict of interest.

The nett effect of all this administrivia is to greatly diminish the ability of posters to submit their views and engage with analysis - the only views and analysis that are allowed are those that are acceptable to the moderators.

Perhaps this is what they wanted to achieve - after all it is their business.