Having your posts locked or deleted on DU is *NOT* censorship

Blocking your access to the internet: that's censorship

Being arrested for attempting to speak out: that's censorship



When a web site decides to remove or lock your posts: not censorship.




You have no explicit right to post whatever you want on web sites.


Too many people throw the "censorship" word around without having any understanding of what the word means.



Democratic Underground is under no legal obligation to provide you with a forum for your thoughts.




Lastly... having a hissy-fit because you had some posts locked or deleted is the height of lameness. If you haven't had a post locked or deleted on DU, and you've been here longer than a couple months, then you're not really trying.

Suck it up and grow a set.

:thumbsup:

now.... locking. hee hee

...but preventing others from reading whatever is a form of censorship even if the censor has a right to do it.

to censor as they feel.

If Newsweek doesn't publish your letter, is that censorship?

If someone posts a bunch of "Obama is a Muslim commie" comments here and they're banned, is that censorship?

No. It's not.

It is not a violation of your rights, it is censorship.

I was under the mistaken impression the gov't had to be involved to call it censorship. My bad.

They are declining to do something, not actively doing something which is what censorship is. If Newsweek just decides not to publish anything that will negatively reflect on its advertisers, it is a form of censorship even if they have a right to do it. Likewise, the Skinner etc. have every right to ban trolls and delete their posts, but it is still preventing a certain kind of idea from being expressed to this specific audience.

You are way too patient.

I am always amazed at those who complain about what someone said, what didn't get said, what got deleted, what got locked......yada yada yada. It's just us, folks, behind our keyboards, a place to rant, a place to disagree, a place to pick on repukes and each other....but still behind a keyboard.

Just to show the wimps that I can take it!

posts or threads deleted that break no rules and hurt no one, well I can understand someone getting pissed about that. And the people who post here are the ones who pay for this site to keep running. Of course they should be able to have an opinion on how things are done here. Or we can all be opinionless. Blah. That gets us nowhere, and I am sure this site wasn't founded for opinionless people.

Actually, it is "censorship", its just not a violation of your rights since you have no right not be censored on a privately run website.

If a group of private citizens burn books, that's a form of censorship. Its just not a violation of anyone's rights unless the government is sponsoring or participating in the book burning. Same thing when it comes to a book store. If a book store refuses to stock certain books, its a form of censorship, but unless the government is telling them not to stock them, its not a violation of anyone's rights

I agree

:D

Or is this kind of drama a common occurance? :shrug:

Welcome to DU.

Sid

I've been reading stuff here for awhile now, but finally took the plunge and signed up this morning.

Cool Place!... :hi:

Welcome to DU

And thanks for the welcome! :hi:

Never mention cornflake chicken.

(I'm not kidding, either)

Welcome to DU--love your username! :toast:

Well that one just sailed right over my head... but I'll keep my eyes peeled for cornflake chicken discussions from now on :-)

Thanks for the compliment and welcome. I like your user name too. :hi:

There is much drama in the InterTubes, and DU is no different.

But we do have "hide thread" and it can be your friend:)

:hi:

And thanks for the welcome :hi:

My biggest concern at this point however is becoming addicted... I've been on this site pretty much all afternoon!

Be careful:) But you'll learn so much, and you have a constant news feed with all these DUers scouring the InterTubes for nooz every day.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly... we're very human in that regard:)

I'm kidding!

K&R.

Is it a violation of anyone's rights? No, it's not.

Does it violate the First Amenment? No, it doesn't.

Does it infringe on "free speech"? No, it doesn't.

Am I entirely within my rights to remove posts from DU? Yes, I am.

But am I censoring people when I do? Yes, I am. I wish it were not necessary to remove any posts. But we decided a long time ago that DU would be worthless if we did not control what gets posted here.

From Wikipedia (emphasis added):

"Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor."

DU is not the government. But we do practice a form of censorship.

Lock my post, you Nazi.

;-)

I hope you don't feel like I'm picking on you. This is just one of those things that I'm deeply ambivalent about. To maintain some self-respect, I feel like I have to be honest with myself about what I'm doing.

you could at least once in a while, allow some of the trolls more than one post before you can their ass. After all, it does give us a chance to "toy" with them for a bit.

:rofl:

Please note I changed my sigline for you... even though you never censored me:)

:hi:

There are people who think all forms of censorship are a violation of the first amendment. No where in the constitution is a right to say whatever you want wherever you want guaranteed. Even the government can enforce laws against certain types of speech. Witness the arrests of people for making threats against our elected officials and laws against incitement to riot and laws against slander and libel. Thank you for clearing that up.

Sid

it felt goooood!!

Sometimes you just ahave to call a motherfucker, a motherfucker. :D

"
Democratic Underground is under no legal obligation to provide you with a forum for your thoughts."

True as that may be, it is still a form of censorship if there is no basis for the locking or deleting. I'm not saying that is done here, but I have been in forums where it is dine on a whim.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Any act to suppress speech is censorship. DU has rules about what can and cannot be posted here, and moderators who act to enforce those rules by censoring what we do.

As if anything short of rolling out the red carpet and warmly greeting every utterance, no matter how objectionable or absurd, is a tyrannical boot stamping out their "freedom".

but I do try. ;)

;)

but everyone here signed up for it. by participating in the site one agrees to its terms which include the possibility that one may be censored for certain types of posts.

Praise be.

Free speech is protected by the first amendment, which only applies to governmental action. The first amendment does not apply to a privately owned and operated forum, such as this one. Therefore, it is correct to say that the right of free speech does not exist at DU.

But that's not the same as saying having posts removed is not censorship. It IS censorship. It's just not a violation of anyone's rights, first amendment or otherwise.

Most censorship IS legal. Most censorship is done by private entities exercising their right to control content.

DU is perfectly within its rights to censor anything the owner wants to censor. ANYTHING. But it is censorship.

:thumbsup:

Kindly consult a dictionary.

>>>When a web site decides to remove or lock your posts: not censorship.>>>>>

Not when we're talking about a private entity, kids. It applies to state action.

..and he can take them to his own site and exercise them to his heart's content.

That one made me chuckle too.

If you don't have the occasional post locked or deleted, you're not playing the game hard enough.

Flame wars have bad effect overall so I understand the fast move to lock a thread if participants are starting to go astray but I hope mods should not impose their interpretation too quick. I hope they discuss among themselves to be on "forgiving side". We should be able to discuss difficult things, allow inconvenient opinions and information to be disclosed.

I feel so powerful. :smoke:


Anyway....made me look.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Try moderating a large forum such as this and attempting to cater to every possible viewpoint because you're scared of being called a "fascist" and get back to me.

Personally, I think people should be banned for complaining about unrecs as well. It would teach them to stop being such whiny babies.

LMAO.

I may disagree heavily with the common wisdom on this board, I've had numerous of my own posts deleted (probably for good reason), and I'm even a member of one of the sites that shall not be named because I like having the ability to call some DUers blithering idiots if I get the urge, but I don't feel the need to do it here or to act like I'm some martyr for free speech by posting numerous OPs whining about it like Some People.

As someone who is intimately involved in the moderation of another, fairly large forum, I'm much more sympathetic to the moderators than I am to some drama queen who wants to whine about flaunting the rules. It's pretty simple: if you don't like it, get the fuck out. There's plenty of messageboards out there that cater to everyone's individual viewpoint.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

"Please do not continue discussions from a locked thread. If you have questions about how DU is moderated, please contact the administrators."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8106758

that some of the things that have happened on this board were a good idea. A message board depends on its posters, and you get the kind you encourage.....

Sure, but that doesn't make it NOT censorship. Especially if the post breaks no rules, hurts no one, etc. It happens. It happens a lot. It would be more ok with me if everyone were treated equally as far as deletions go. But I guess that would be hard with as many people are here. But that doesn't mean it isn't censorship.