FREEDOM OF SPEECH

[Bruno]

Someone was spamming multiple forums today, complaining about me being an evil moderator who censored people despite their freedom of speech.

Let me make this perfectly clear: Freedom of speech does not exist in this forum. This is a privately owned forum where we gather as guests, abiding by the rules set forth by the owners.

I don't care about people's political opinion. I don't even care which topics are discussed or what people say, as long as content does not violate site rules. What I DO care about is 'how' things are said. In a discussion, I want people to use a certain measure of respect, or at least politeness. there is no need to be childish, petty, or rude.

So things like these:

Be careful around here or you'll get accused of "Spamming a shave forum with an anti-Obama rhetoric". Because as we know there can be no dissent.

Have no place on this forum. It's basically an accusation towards us. So yes, I temp banned the poster for that. I had already asked him not to post that because it is not true. I don't care about anyone's opinion of Obama, but I do care about people behaving properly.

You are welcome to participate in discussions here to your heart's content. You do not have a freedom of speech that allows you to be an asshole and say what you want in order to provoke or insult people. If you want that, then there are plenty of places on the internet where you are welcome to do so. This is not one of them.

EDIT: I did not close this thread. Feel free to share your opinion here.

[JMS]

Agreed!....

[JimmyHAD]

Rock on Bruno, AFAIC you and the other mods do a great job keeping this a pleasant place to be. I guess people don't think about it that much but you are appreciated. Saying that even when I mess up and my post or posts are deleted.

[aroliver59]

You did the right thing in my opinion.I had to figuratively bite my tongue and not post anything I wanted to say to that guy.

[wpfontenot]

Indeed, we're guests not owners. Why is that soo hard for certain persons to understand?

[Sailor]

I think being a moderator and making a decision wether to ban or not someone's messages isn't the easiest thing to do. You've done great job with this. Like wpfontenot said, we are just guests.

[Bruno]

Minor clarification: when I said 'forums' I meant of course SRP forums. Due to the change to the conversation forum, new members don't initially see it so he picked others. I matched the IP address to distortedpinguin , so the temp ban is now a permanent one.

[Alchemist]

I completely understand OP's aggravation with such behavior. There are plenty of ways to say something, or not say anything at all. Sometimes managing an online forum feels like being a kindergarten teacher, or a policeman, and this is perhaps the least "fun" part of the "job" (unless you enjoy this type of thing).

Personally I have never understood why some folks choose to say certain things the way they do. Sometimes I attribute it to cultural difference - there are people here from all over the world after all. Other times, I think it is clearly bad manners and stupidity.

However, "Freedom of speech" is somewhat of a loaded expression - even in a private forum such as this. On a purely philosophical level, it begs the question:

Where does freedom of speech on a privately owned forum start - and where does it end?

Of course, the premise that bad manners, hateful speech, offensive graphic content, covert & overt marketing tactics etc. etc. are unacceptable - is a perfectly logical one. It is crucial to enforce these issues in order to obtain a good environment for serious and in depth discussion about any subject. No argument there.

BUT - and I say this with utmost care and respect - It seems to me that there may have been instances (not the one mentioned by OP of course, but others) where the finger may have been a bit "trigger happy".

Either / Or - like you said in so many words - it's not a Democracy it's a dictatorship. It's YOUR PRIVATELY OWNED dictatorship. and anyone who does not like it can get lost.

I'm happy to be here.

[KristofferBodvin]

"I matched the IP address to distortedpinguin , so the temp ban is now a permanent one. "


Jeeez, That guy must be a real nutcase!




Kristoffer

[JMS]

However, "Freedom of speech" is somewhat of a loaded expression - even in a private forum such as this. On a purely philosophical level, it begs the question:

Where does freedom of speech on a privately owned forum start - and where does it end?

.

To answer the question, it starts and ends where the owner says it does.