[ I'd like to reply to smooth's comment, but I see no 'reply' button. I guess we hit the maximum depth? drinkzya's comment at the same level also has no reply button ]

Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't understanding that this site (steemit.com) is really just a fancy block explorer, and that it's the blockchain that matters, not the site.

The owners of steemit could decide to remove all posts they deem racist from their site if they want to, but they couldn't remove them from the blockchain, and everyone else would be free to make their own version of steemit.com which didn't censor the posts. In much the same way that the blockchain.info Bitcoin wallet isn't really where anyone's money is. The money is on the blockchain, and the b.i wallet website is just a way of interacting with the blockchain. If I dislike b.i's wallet I am free to switch to a different site (or even run my own client). Is that right? A good way of understanding things?