Hi -- Mod and long-term user.
I've been a mod here for a year, but I've been a forum user since 2017. @joannekwan has been here since 2015. So that's around 4 - 7 years worth of experience on these particular forums. We have also been in several discord servers catered to Tapas/Webtoons/Webcomic creators (most of them unofficial -- the verified servers for Tapas and Webtoons are brand new).
Within that timeline, it's been obvious that when it comes to these forums and discord, trying to have controversial conversations of any kind have never gone well.
They start out civil, maybe even a bit funny, and then they quickly deteriorate into flame wars. You joined in September of THIS year, and the forums are quieter because most of these threads have been closed off, unlisted, and many of those users have left (or have been banned). There are entire arcs to these servers and forums: the Bitching Threads, the BL threads, politics threads, arguments, policies, webcomic contests, writers vs artists -- the list goes on.
I have seen the OPs of threads and random users dogpiled, even when they've had good intentons. And I have seen people throw out slurs and threats. It was not pretty -- it's still not pretty.
Joanne is correct -- we SHOULD be able to trust users to have good judgment calls and leave conversations if need be. Problem is -- on the internet, that rarely happens. And usually, a mod has to step in, do damage control, and close all threads. In the end, there was an unspoken rule NOT to do these topics because they rarely added anything meaningful or dived into a dumper fire.
And then that became a rule.
It's not that you're not being censored.
There is just a long, drawn-out, tiring history surrounding several discord servers, forums, and any other social media that have made mods crack down.
I also want to point out that these forums and discord servers don't even make a 10% dent of the creators, let alone users, on the Tapas site. This doesn't represent the site and its users. But a lot of people who come to the site have their first encounters HERE -- and when that encounter sucks, they leave and steer clear of ANY Tapas creator or ANY webcomic creator.
Newer users don't know of all that history, and frankly -- they don't need to know. It's craziness, and we're at a point where we're trying to give people a space to talk about their work without stress.
That might not appeal to you, and that's fair. But this is where we're at.
I don't wanna say that people aren't capable of having civil conversations. But like...if you're been here as long as I have, you just know when something will go down and it's better to put up the flame before you have to call the fire department. 
