Your last post is very thoughtful Locus.  And your quoting Sean brings a solid point.  But if someone is going to come out of the wild blue and say you can't add satirical humor, even in a seperate post.  Well..., that just still seems completely contrary to what I see posted every day in text. 

Locus Coeruleus (1/24/2007)

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This may or not be relevant to the current discussion, but since this is not the first time the topic of free speech has come up, I will proceed to remind us of those oh-so important words once uttered by Sean himself.

Tell you what -- you go put up a website and allow free speech. The first yahoo that comes along threatening to do something illegal and see how quick you can get into hot water.

Now that's not the *main* reason we have mods & admins, but that is one of the reasons. No website on earth allows for free speech. Even in DC you have to apply for a permit to express "free speech".

I will not back down from this stance. Communities that don't enforce limitations on behavior are communities that do not last -- I've seen it waaay too many times.

From this discussoin: Badges for posting count

I also have an inking that in the days of Kring (previous admin before mongoose) a lot of stuff that we've been seeing here, the pictures (not to single you out Black Owl ), would not fly at all. But I realize that the Politics and Religion forum was set up since then to allow for these sorts of things and debates to come into being. While I may side with Cleo in that I tend to be a "culture-monger" I also do not see much harm in posting these pictures here (to single you out Black Owl! ) if they can further contribute to the discussion. I believe that the same possibilities exist for the pictures to be bandied about and debated as for the text.

I think what Sean ultimately intends by this is that, he can as "dictator" of the site (and quite rightly since it is his private property) choose to ban, censor, or otherwise delete anything he wants. This means that HE reserves the right to make any and all speech or expresion "Un-free." It does not mean that any of _US_ should necessarily have the option, right, or privilege to impose our own personal sense of censorship on other members of the site.

Thus, the point I've been making through all these weeks of discussion. If you come here to express something, be prepared to have somebody jump on and jostle your rug. If a bit of rough-play is too much for you, then heed the *WARNING Will Robinson* and do not come to P&R in 1BC.

If you feel that a point or a rebuttal made by a rival poster in the P&R section of 1BC crosses some line, then you always have the right to go whinging to Sean, and potentially either (a) annoying him at being bothered with some petty whinging; or (b) get him to agree with you, and ban/censor/block, etc.

I ran this risk when I asked for moderator attention to the use of the "infidel" word, which is what instigated all these weeks of discussions in so many different threads. Now that it is obvious to me that Sean really does intend to execute his agenda of a free-wheeling discussion forum, I don't think I'll ever have to resort to invoking mods again. If I don't have the time to formulate a proper rebuttal or counter argument to something that I find it is harmful, then I just need to accept that some things are going to slip through the cracks. Though I do tip my hat to RA's current enthusiasm for trying to do the right thing.

Not bloodly likely to happen unless there's a huge majority wanting said ban.

I *hate* censorship of any form. I'm a gun-toting Replublican, yet I also believe anyone should be able to burn an American flag. Why? It's abhorable, to be sure -- but it's also exactly what so many men (and women) have given their lives for -- free speech. To me, burning an American flag is the ultimate in free speech. I firmly believe that free speech exists solely to defend those words (and actions) the public majority doesn't want to be exposed to.

However, there can be no true free speech in a private forum. It just won't work. I absolutely do want some sort of "free-wheeling" in this section of 1BC. I think a couple of times a week how much I would enjoy being able to be active here on a daily basis. I believe this board would grow into something worthy of notice (outside of this site) if moderation were done exactly right. To my knowledge, there aren't any real P&R forums anywhere on the internet that encourage both sides to debate freely (without personal attacks, of course). Those that are out there tend to just shut down threads that go out of line, or ban offenders -- I believe there's a medium somewhere that should prevent that from happening. I believe that if that happy medium could be found, you could have the kind of true debates that could actually make a person pause and think -- instead of always believing their thoughts are the "right" ones and anyone who doesn't agree is always "wrong."

That all being said, I don't have the time I'd like to invest in this board. That's why we've got mods, and come hell or high water, I will back them up.

Damn -- was that a bunch of run-on sentences that made no sense or what?

S

I salute you Sean. It is men like you who make a difference in our world. You're all the more commendable for doing all of this for no source of profit. Live long and prosper.

Don't you owe me 10 bucks for this month's bandwidth?

S

"Bubba's religious moment!"

(Better late than never.)