Freedom of Speech & Press on WrongPlanet

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Note: This essay was inspired by an XKCD cartoon on Freedom of Speech. Many of the statements made here were lifted directly from that webcomic for the sole purposes of expanding on the topic and explaining why some people's posts may get deleted and their threads may get locked.

Don't be one of those people.

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A Public Service Announcement Regarding Freedom of Speech & Press on WrongPlanet:

The rights to free press and speech mean only that the government can't arrest you for what you do or don't write or say. However ...

The government can arrest you for shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre that is not actually on fire, or for publishing or saying anything else that would inspire actions that would harm or bring harm to others (this is called "Incitement").

The government can arrest you for threatening violence against anyone, especially against people in positions of civil or governmental authority (This is called "Communicating a Threat"). Threats of violence implicitly indicate your intent to carry out those threats if and when an opportunity presents itself (such an act is called "Committing Bodily Harm" or "Murder"). And no, "Just kidding" won't get you off the hook, either.

The government can arrest you for publishing obscene materials featuring children, or for narrating obscene acts against children (these are called "Child Pornography"), even though other standards of obscenity may vary from one community to another.

The government can arrest you for lying (this is called "Defamation", "Libel", "Perjury", or "Slander"); you simply can't be allowed to accuse anyone of saying something that they have not said or of doing something that they have not done.

The government can arrest you for making false claims for goods or services with the intent of cheating others out of their money or property (these fall under the general category of "Fraud").

The government can arrest you for defacing other people's property with advertisements, images, or text without their permission (this is called "Spamming" on social websites, and "Vandalism" in the material world).

Finally, free speech and press don't mean that anyone else has to actually READ or LISTEN to what you publish or say, nor does it means that anyone else is required to provide you with the means to publish or say it; free speech and press also don't mean that you, your actions, or your opinions are free from criticism or critical responses from others, either.

And if the government can arrest you for it, then the staff of this website can ban you for it, plain and simple.

So, if you get arrested for fraud, incitement, perjury, obscenity, vandalism, or threatening a government official; if you get ignored, yelled at, boycotted, sued, criticized, defeated in an election, or banned from a club or an Internet community; or if what you have said, written, carved, painted or posted on a website gets deleted or erased, then your rights to free press and free speech haven't been violated. It just means that everyone else thinks you are either a criminal or stupid (maybe both), and that they simply don't want to hear or read what you have to say anymore, that's all.

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T minus 42 and counting.

A forum may not be the government, no, but in the end if they do hinder discussion then people will simply seek it elsewhere... best thing about being online is that it's so much easier to move sites compared to countries.

Probably because trolling is more fun

I do not think anything I have ever posted here has been locked or deleted or anything like that... but I did choose to leave a different site because I believed that there was general wonkiness afoot. Not sure if it is the same kinda thing... it did not have to do with posts there, but it did have a 'rights being violated' kinda vibe to it. I was not at all okay with what was going on there so I left. There was no way I could get on board with what was going on, so I got gone.

While I fail to understand why people would stay in a place they believe is treating them so horribly, I can make a few guesses as to why they might stay. I agree, trolling is clearly an option. There is also an option of sameness... people often take the miserable they know over the unknown. Maybe people stay because despite the upset they feel, there may be people they value who make it worthwhile to stay. Maybe they are masochist or martyr types and get off on being the punching bag. Maybe they genuinely believe they are in the right and are waiting for someone to come along and acknowledge their rightness. Maybe it is the only support they are getting. Hell, maybe they are just on a bad place on a given day and generally do better there. I dunno.

Hm. That wasn't a rhetorical question, was it? Heh. Sorry if it was... I am shining 20watt darkness at best this week.

The jurisdiction of freedom of speech is land, we don't have freedom of speech over a publisher like WP. That would violate their rights.

The primary purpose of such right is protection against the government. It is not a carte blanche.