It’s hard to say something about the bankruptcy of Gawker Media — following a lawsuit by Hulk Hogan, secretly financed by PayPal founder Peter Thiel – without saying everything about it. This story has so many layers it’s like a law school exam for spotting issues. Let me offer six observations:

1. Damaging or destroying Gawker and most of its related properties is a good thing (not that Gawker will cease to publish, as it is selling its publications to a new buyer). Sometimes, a good thing should not be done because it sets a bad precedent – but we can still take a little joy from seeing it happen. Nobody deserved this more than Gawker.

That’s not because Gawker and its writers have bad opinions. Bad opinions can have bad consequences in the real world, but in a free-speech society, there should be plenty of space for even harmful or daft opinions. That includes Gawker’s own persistent hostility to free speech, like Adam Weinstein calling for climate-change “deniers” to be jailed. Rather, it’s because Gawker itself frequently engaged in efforts to destroy the lives, careers, and businesses of specific people, often over their speech and opinions. It is telling that when it became obvious to Nick Denton that a billionaire was pursuing a personal vendetta against his website, he wasn’t immediately able to determine which one. Sometimes, Gawker’s campaigns have come in the form of championing or instigating boycotts, firings, and the like, as the Free Beacon has documented.