Preface: Thanks for taking the time to write back to users who are currently fuming at you. Censorship makes me angry as well, but I recognize what you have to put up with and that brigading is a serious issue. And I forgive you due to your open discussion.
Many people care about getting news, not just brigaders. And many people despise censorship as well, as myself. Stop comforting yourself by telling yourself that you're in the right to ban it. Access to information is important to everyone.
Firstly, don't pull the racism card... I'm half-polish myself, so don't go there. The news titles were not racist- no racial slur or epithet was used (like polack)- and neither is the associated press and new york times. Reporting news in an unbiased and factual matter, as many of the titles were presented in, is only commendable and does not warrant a ban. Furthermore, however people interpreted the post and how stormfronters brigaded it has nothing to do with the post itself, which was not racist. They're interpreting it that way, and people should have the right to do that- without brigading.
So the admins are working with you on this? I'm sorry, but this can't be good PR...
How is this ethical to remove posts simply because you are afraid of people make their own judgements with their own opinions? The posts were only factual (associated press, new york times)...
Maybe you should just lock the post in order to prevent brigading of the comments instead of outright removing the posts, as
/r/europe
did. There's no reason why you shouldn't take it that way- after all, the upvote brigades don't have enough influence to change much. It's also not fair and is an insult to freedom of expression. 4chan's brigades (mostly based on racism, I'm guessing) should not deter us from getting our news information from your subreddit.
Your current "damage control" style of dealing with this situation is not good all around and is already leading to a
Streisand effect
of sorts.
Why should stupid 4channers brigading prevent us from getting our headlines from your sub? You're admitting then that the reason for the removal was because of the brigades, rather than breaking a rule.
People like me weren't part of the brigade, anyways, and shouldn't be punished for it.
I honestly think that you should approve one of the posts and then lock its discussion, linking to the 4chan brigades. If you think that removing it altogether was better PR- you're wrong. People are extremely angry at you and your team right now.