New form of Censorship?

[baddax]

Not long ago i was on a company blog board. The board was formed by ex-employees of the company i currently work for. The blog is mainy for people who are discussing/complaing about current company issues/ workinng conditions etc. etc. It is loosely moderated and nowhere as strict as far as rules and regulations as the ddo boards. It is also free. Having said that i recently had a situation where i had a post of mine edited presumambly by the board moderator. Now the edit was not for vulgarity or Rudness or anything like that but maybe more for content. Truth is not sure why. Now i complained about it but never recieved a reply by the moderator and i reposted the comments i made (as far is i could remember them).

Anyways i was recently in an off-topic thread on the DDO forums the other night. Well a day or so later i was going to search on it to see if anything was added or maybe just to pat myself on the back for my witty remarks. Well as far as i could tell the thread no longer exists or ever did for that matter. It was not closed etc. just vanished into the interent ether. Now maybe it is a software glitch, maybe or maybe it was deleted by a moderator. Doesnt really matter but it brings me to the point of this thread.

My question is, in this day and age of the internet/ blogosphere do we as american citizens have any rights as far as free speach (without disrespecting the rights of others)? It seems that blogs are becoming a more important facet of expression in todays computer age almost like the press was in the days of old, so i would hate to think that blogs/threads in general not necessarily DDO are being censored and edited because of on persons point of view or opinion is not popular or does not agree witha moderators opinion. Anyone besides me have any similar situations?

[Impaqt]

Not long ago i was on a company blog board. The board was formed by ex-employees of the company i currently work for. The blog is mainy for people who are discussing/complaing about current company issues/ workinng conditions etc. etc. It is loosely moderated and nowhere as strict as far as rules and regulations as the ddo boards. It is also free. Having said that i recently had a situation where i had a post of mine edited presumambly by the board moderator. Now the edit was not for vulgarity or Rudness or anything like that but maybe more for content. Truth is not sure why. Now i complained about it but never recieved a reply by the moderator and i reposted the comments i made (as far is i could remember them).

Anyways i was recently in an off-topic thread on the DDO forums the other night. Well a day or so later i was going to search on it to see if anything was added or maybe just to pat myself on the back for my witty remarks. Well as far as i could tell the thread no longer exists or ever did for that matter. It was not closed etc. just vanished into the interent ether. Now maybe it is a software glitch, maybe or maybe it was deleted by a moderator. Doesnt really matter but it brings me to the point of this thread.

My question is, in this day and age of the internet/ blogosphere do we as american citizens have any rights as far as free speach (without disrespecting the rights of others)? It seems that blogs are becoming a more important facet of expression in todays computer age almost like the press was in the days of old, so i would hate to think that blogs/threads in general not necessarily DDO are being censored and edited because of on persons point of view or opinion is not popular or does not agree witha moderators opinion. Anyone besides me have any similar situations?

You have every right to go start your own webpage and blog and post whatever you feel you need to post.

In the meantime, when you post on someone elese privately run and funded forum, you msut abide by their rules and moderation.

This is not new.

[Strakeln]

There's no such thing as free speech in a place where someone besides the constitution makes the rules. There are probably some total-free-speech forums out there, but they're likely far and few between (even the most liberal - in terms of rules, not political affiliation - forums have some limits, such as posting someone's personal information).

[baddax]

I guess maybe this is a personal awakening, as it never occured to me before that was the case. Maybe its just a case of me being naive and idealistic. However it gives me new awareness to interent communications in general. Maybe i just felt violated by having My thoughts and ideas edited and changed into someone elses thoughts and ideas. Also the post Still had my "name" on them and did not say edited and such.

[Kistilan]

Hey Baddax-

I know what thread you're talking about, and I threw a snowball that became an avalanche. What I posted took the entire thread down in literally 2 minutes. Someone got offended, but I didn't say anything purposefully mean or more-insulting than the flagarantly snotty responses being thrown in that thread -- especially about America's politics by non-americans (to clarify, USA politics).

I also did throw that snowball because the thread became something I didn't intend for it to be. I just wanted to state an opinion & let others state their opinions, but it became a political drama pile of dog excrement. Even when I stated time & again that I was only throwing an opinion out there, people had to say "Oh yeah that's because you're this and you have no intellect because of that." Things like that are just.... well, the entire thread became silly.

So I threw a snowball. Those that read the remark obviously were very upset because it came down in record time. However, I found it to be suprisingly witty, suprisingly american and suprisingly true. I guess that's why it hurt someone so much that they reported it -- truth is a powerful thing.

Aside: Personal Blogship is the best way to get the word out. There are too many people to use a company like a tool on a franchise forum.

Not long ago i was on a company blog board. The board was formed by ex-employees of the company i currently work for. The blog is mainy for people who are discussing/complaing about current company issues/ workinng conditions etc. etc. It is loosely moderated and nowhere as strict as far as rules and regulations as the ddo boards. It is also free. Having said that i recently had a situation where i had a post of mine edited presumambly by the board moderator. Now the edit was not for vulgarity or Rudness or anything like that but maybe more for content. Truth is not sure why. Now i complained about it but never recieved a reply by the moderator and i reposted the comments i made (as far is i could remember them).

Anyways i was recently in an off-topic thread on the DDO forums the other night. Well a day or so later i was going to search on it to see if anything was added or maybe just to pat myself on the back for my witty remarks. Well as far as i could tell the thread no longer exists or ever did for that matter. It was not closed etc. just vanished into the interent ether. Now maybe it is a software glitch, maybe or maybe it was deleted by a moderator. Doesnt really matter but it brings me to the point of this thread.

My question is, in this day and age of the internet/ blogosphere do we as american citizens have any rights as far as free speach (without disrespecting the rights of others)? It seems that blogs are becoming a more important facet of expression in todays computer age almost like the press was in the days of old, so i would hate to think that blogs/threads in general not necessarily DDO are being censored and edited because of on persons point of view or opinion is not popular or does not agree witha moderators opinion. Anyone besides me have any similar situations?

[baddax]

Whats next your going to tell me theres no Santa! Well im Not talkling anymore, i disillusioned atm.

[Kistilan]

Whats next your going to tell me theres no Santa! Well im Not talkling anymore, i disillusioned atm.

There are leprachauns. We have shenanigans on the forums all the time as proof.

[Kreaper]

Yes, there are Leprechauns. But mostly there are Trolls. Every forum is infested with them!

[cdbd3rd]

Yup.

As was already mentioned, when on another man's turf, ya gotta play by his rules - and unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of unowned turf left any more. Even if you create your own page and begin blogging - if enough people complain to the ISP you run under, you'll still find yourself getting neutered. (Or could, theoretically. There are ISPs that really don't care what ya put on their bandwidth, but the gov't bigboys are on the hunt to clip them down, too.)

Our KC Star paper allows blogging under news stories it posts. Recently two offduty cops died. They were riding together at 1 AM, and lost control on a ramp. Passenger cop was thrown free and died at the scene. Driver cop was somehow allowed to leave the scene, went home and capped himself.
Blog started suggesting they must have been gay, and why wasn't passenger wearing seatbelt, etc. Now I've seen some pretty intense insults on these bloggings, but suddenly this blog was getting clipped right and left like nobody's business. I chimed in and commented on the sudden arrival of the censorship demon - and got deleted.

Had to remind myself I was on their nickel, and walked away from it - but still was kinda souring.

[flamberg]

Just try to blog on a political site and watch how fast you get censored. Freedom of speach is a thing of the past.

[branmakmuffin]

Hey Baddax-

I know what thread you're talking about, and I threw a snowball that became an avalanche. What I posted took the entire thread down in literally 2 minutes. Someone got offended, but I didn't say anything purposefully mean or more-insulting than the flagarantly snotty responses being thrown in that thread -- especially about America's politics by non-americans (to clarify, USA politics).

There's a big, fat disclaimer in this forum that forum rules apply.

[Missing_Minds]

Just try to blog on a political site and watch how fast you get censored. Freedom of speach is a thing of the past.

Their blog, their rules. Nothing new at all. You have the "right" to free speech in a public format. Blogs, unless you yourself owns it, are private not public forums of speech no matter how well known they may be. No infringements on your "rights" at all.

[baddax]

Their blog, their rules. Nothing new at all. You have the "right" to free speech in a public format. Blogs, unless you yourself owns it, are private not public forums of speech no matter how well known they may be. No infringements on your "rights" at all.

Where is this public format that you speak of ? It sounds like a wonderful place!
So Free speach, at least on the internet must be bought in the form of an ip address one person at a time?

[flamberg]

Yes their blogs there forums. Soon its thier street corners, thier parks. All I am saying is it gets sad a fundemnetal right is taken away from us everytime a site censorships us if you think thats right then all the men and women that died to give us this basic right has died in vain.

[Vardak]

Yes their blogs there forums. Soon its thier street corners, thier parks. All I am saying is it gets sad a fundemnetal right is taken away from us everytime a site censorships us if you think thats right then all the men and women that died to give us this basic right has died in vain.

Wow. No one, absolutely No one died to give you, me, or anyone else the right to yammer on in this private forum.

[Mockduck]

Here's the way I look at it (unpopular opinion, I know): We have freedom of speech and the press in the United States. The Internet is not the United States. It's a nebulous multicultural thing that sets its own rules and gives you spam. There are ways to say just about anything you want on it, provided you do the leg work to create your own web space. Otherwise, you play by the person's rules on the site you choose to be on.

[baddax]

i dont know, i just think back to the early days of the internet and it was more like the wild west. I just never thought about being censored. I guess it just really p'vd me to have my comments changed and modified and still have my "name" on them. I mean i was upset then and still get upset thinking about it.

You are right the internet is not the united states but i live and pay taxes in and am a citizen of the united states. Maybe thats why there was so little uproar when i believe Google agreed to the chinese govt's censorship rules and regulations, and many of the internet search engines agreed to hand over private data to the federal government, for our own safety of course.

You hear alot talk in the media about blogs and forums, almost like there is a fear of them. " You know these bloggers out there say this and they say that." But if in truth they are self censored i dont see the big deal. Communication has changed for the worse. Whenver i dont like what someone says i just delete it or change it to fit what i want them to say. or if i dont like a thread or discussion i just Flame it and get it delted or closed. I guess censorship moved from the hands of the government (in this case) to the hands of the individual.

[Kistilan]

There's a big, fat disclaimer in this forum that forum rules apply.

Keep trolling for new things to say to me.

In other words, I know. I don't know why you chimed in on this to quote me.

[Vardak]

i dont know, i just think back to the early days of the internet and it was more like the wild west. I just never thought about being censored. I guess it just really p'vd me to have my comments changed and modified and still have my "name" on them. I mean i was upset then and still get upset thinking about it.

Hmm, what exactly do you mean by your comments being changed and modified? Are we talking about the content filter for "naughty" words? Or did some mod actually take the time to edit your meaning?

Content filter gets a huge /shrug from me. Thoughtful editing a post by a mod would be another thing entirely. I would be upset as well. Delete a post or even a thread, its their ball and they can take it and go home any time they like.

[flamberg]

Wow. No one, absolutely No one died to give you, me, or anyone else the right to yammer on in this private forum.

Did not personally attack anyone in this forum. I didnt say anything wrong here. I just said our freedoms are going away if your ok with that then thats your place. My place is to say my thing when I feel its appropriate. Last time I looked freedom of speach is in the constitution. Plenty of people died for that beautiful document. This is coming from a vet. Yes this is a private forum and I haven't broken a single rule in it, I was making a comment. If you want censorship enjoy.