"Freedom of speech" on a privately owned forum.

  • There are plenty of websites talking about it but I think this one explains it well:
    What Exactly Is Freedom of Speech and How Does It Apply to the Internet?


    Let me quote some parts so you won't have to read everything if you don't want to.


    Zitat

    The truth is, what your freedom of speech is and where it applies is actually very simple, but our understanding of it has been distorted, mostly because people use "free speech" as a weapon where it doesn't apply, and often as a shield to hide behind when they're being criticized.


    Zitat


    Today, most of us turn to the internet because the tools are free and available: Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, newspapers, blogs with comment sections, forums, they all offer one-click methods for us to speak our minds. However, when you leave a comment on a company's Facebook page, post to a Reddit thread, or tweet your grievances, you're speaking in privately owned spaces. This means you should have no expectation that your speech is somehow protected beyond that service's terms of use.


    Zitat

    Most spaces on the internet are privately owned, and have no obligation to allow you to speak freely in their space.
    Whether it's Facebook removing content that violates its own terms of service, a blog owner deleting a comment they find offensive, or a big company deleting user posts from its Facebook page, your speech may be censored, but you have no first amendment right to free speech in those places. This includes our discussions on Lifehacker—we've always held our community up to high standards, and if you start a discussion we find isn't up to those standards, we reserve our right to dismiss it.


    Zitat


    While "censorship" can apply to any type of speech suppression, censorship in the context of "free speech" is generally reserved for speech that's suppressed by government or state actors. A company deleting your post on their Facebook page about how their product was a waste of your money, even if you think the post was relevant or witty, is not state suppression of your speech. It may be censorship, but your freedom of speech has not been violated.



    The fact is, you can still express your freedom of speech. Just not here, if the owners of this board decide (for the reason they want), that you aren't allowed to say what you said.
    It is not your choice, and freedom of speech completely doesn't apply on a privately owned forum.


    Go tell Facebook they violated your rights by removing a post of yours because they considered it violated their TOS, and take them to court. I'm sure you'll win (for those who didn't see it, that's sarcasm).


    Zitat

    So where can you speak freely if you find your opinions are no longer welcome on acompany's Facebook page, or if you've been banned from commenting on a blog? You can set up your own space to speak—as in start your own blog and invite people to come and participate in a truly free discussion with you, or start your own Facebook page where you air your grievances with the company that won't respond to you anymore. Again, because these are actually private spaces, your speech is only as protected as your service provider's whim. If you start a free blog at Wordpress or Tumblr, you have to stay inside the lines of acceptable use. If you start a Facebook page, you have to adhere to Facebook's TOS. Make sure to read them carefully.


    Your best bet is to get a decent web host and host your own blog where you can say what you like. When you host your own speech, you're now the party with the terms—you can be as lenient or restrictive as you choose. You may not have the audience you wanted (that Facebook page's subscribers or forum's readers), but free speech protects your right to speak—it doesn't force others to listen. You're still subject to your hosting company's TOS, and it's still a semi-private space, but it's the closest you can get to public on the internet, and most hosting companies don't care what you say as long as it doesn't get them into legal trouble.



    So basically, as we consider a lot of your posts to be toxic for our community, we're asking you to change your behavior, or leave, or get banned.
    We don't even have to justify and give you reasons for that actually. We're just nice enough to do it. But now we've told you so many times to change your bahavior that I can't remember how many times it was. So I think everyone will agree that this is your last warning.


    I know you can be nice, so just be cool with us if you wish to stay here with us, instead of creating too often a bad atmosphere on these forums.
    (Once again, idc if you think you're actually not creating a bad atmosphere on these forums. I know you are, and the owners know you are, and that's what counts).



    Regards.


    PS: For those who don't know, this post is directed to #removed, I just noticed I didn't write his name.




    Edit:


    Just thought of a nice example to sum it all up :P


    You buy a house, it doesn't only give you the right to live in the it, it also gives you the right to kick out of it anyone who enters in it without your permission, or anyone who displeases you or whatever. And you obviously don't need any reason for kicking him out, because it's your property and you do whatever you want with it.
    In this case, the board is the property of the people who are paying for the server it is hosted on.
    They could shut it down if they wanted to and no one else would have his word to say about it.

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    2 Mal editiert, zuletzt von UFaced ()


  • ( you are free to make assumes regarding the above posted content, i hope you will be clever enough to see that this is just a reply from my vision/opinion. if you feel insulted in any way. please post it below and i will fairly apologise for my mistake )


    I do not feel insulted, I just think a lot of what you wrote is wrong or irrelevant.



    thank you very much for typing me a book i could find on the internet aswell


    See, that's some kind of stupid sarcasm that isn't even fun. Or maybe only for you, but that's not how it works in a community. Humor is way better when it makes everyone laugh, not only yourself, trust me. Bad start for changing one's behavior. That's why when you say "ivent said i will or will not adapt", I have doubts that you will adapt, and that's why I thought writing this thread was required (by required I mean required to avoid getting you banned).
    For the record, no I wasn't stupid enough to re-write it, there is a copy-paste option on computers that I'm sure you're aware of.



    About the court, it was once publicated on the news and the forum owners actually had to pay a penalty.
    So yes, it is possible.


    Link please. It may be a completely different situation and be totally irrelevant. And if it was in a regular paper (not online), take a pic and upload it.
    I'm not kidding. Because I'm 99.99% sure that it actually was a completely different situation than the current one.



    as once again, i reply your posts in the chat. but you are creating this whole circus yourself haha.


    I guess I see what you're trying to say (even though I think you should look up what "circus" actually means). And no, I'm not creating this myself. You write things that are pissing off a lot of people here. And we're just nice enough to take the time to explain to you why you should change your behavior, instead of banning you directly. I don't see how that's creating a circus/circle.



    nobody asked you to create this post lol


    I didn't know I had to wait for someone to ask me to do something before I could do it.



    anyway:
    i said in the chat that i'vent said i will or will not adapt yet.


    Exactly, you had not said you will.



    people with whom i've spoken already do know i will,


    Well that's very good to hear.



    but do also know you should put less focus on drilling every move into the ground.


    I don't care what people think about me. This is their opinion. I know a lot of people prefer to just say what they think in one sentence. I guess that's what you call being straight forward. I call it the easiest and stupidest solution (if you're actually trying to fix smth). This is a lot easier indeed. And usually ends up in stupid raging discussions leading nowhere.
    But if anyone thinks I should behave differently, we can have a discussion in TS3 or wherever he wants.



    you could also kindly request to let me make a list, or request me to provide the solution instead of reporting the issue.


    If you read again the shoutbox entries, you'll see that's what I've done. In an even better way, because I didn't request you smth specific, I let you the choice.
    Especially: "So I will ask you to change the way you report issues (using toxic sarcasm), or completely stop reporting issues. You choose."
    As you can see, I let you the choice.



    lots of options and you keep picking the easiest one: drill it down , we cant stand critism.....


    That's your opinion, and I consider taking hours of my time to explain to you why it would IMO be better for everyone if you changed your behavior, is definitely not the easiest option.
    Or explain to me how it is easy? Just 2 exemples of other options: Insta ban, or not caring at all. That takes a hella lot less time and it's way easier, trust me.

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    Any problem with a 3xP' server (server down, download loop,...)? - Feel free to mention it in the shoutbox so an admin can take care of it.
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  • according to most answers you maybe did misread this part:
    ( you are free to make assumes regarding the above posted content, i hope you will be clever enough to see that this is just a reply from my vision/opinion. if you feel insulted in any way. please post it below and i will fairly apologise for my mistake )


    I didn't misread this part. Indeed this is your opinion/vision. If it were facts, there would be basically nothing to discuss.



    yes i did ment: circus

    i ment that you make a show out of something you could just tell. now you are just busy providing an entertainment source...
    ( also my opinion :D )


    I'm really not entertaining myself right now, I can assure you.
    I am also not making a show, as you said, it's you who see it as such.



    i've already said i do get the point, but i've requested ons kindly to help me out on sorting the flaws so i can actually improve.
    but he refuses to help me.


    Why do you need Ons' help to improve your behavior, if I may ask? I personally don't think you need anyone's help. You just yourself need the motivation to change.
    Or if you actually need help about smth, you can try asking other people. It's Ons' right to decline your ask for help, no one is forced to help anyone else.
    Because anyway, in the end, your behavior is only the result of what you choose to do, and no one else has anything to do with it.



    so would you grant me a list of the reports made on my posts so i could analyze it. ( post/part/reason/ no need for names )


    I actually don't know how to do that. Reports are cleared after a few days or after they have been taken care of.
    Furthermore I don't think it would be a decisive help for you to change. It would surely help a bit, but I really don't think it's needed.
    That's why I won't take my time to investigate about whether it's possible or not to find them and give them to you, because it would take quite some of my time for smth that I consider as not of a big importance.



    i think this was enough discussion for today ?


    If you consider this is enough for you, no one forces you to answer. You can answer tomorrow if you're fed up with that for today, or you can decide not to answer at all.



    you help me change and i will provide support or you ban me.


    As I said, we're not obliged to help you. Though I hope you can see that's what I've been trying to do with my multiple long posts over the past months.
    I think I've said enough to show you what was wrong with your behavior on this board -> Insults, toxic sarcasm (and maybe other stuff that I'm not thinking about right now).
    If you don't know what toxic sarcasm is, I can give you link or explain it to you.
    If you know what it is, then you know what you have to change in the way you write (along with no more insults etc).
    Basically, anything that can lead to a bad atmosphere, tension between users of this board, etc, has nothing to do on this board.



    your call.


    Okay. So that means you consider the decision is ours and your rely on us to make the good decision. And you won't appeal it, because you said it was our call, and not yours.
    (if it's not what you mean, you can remove "your call" from your post, because it would mean nothing in this case).

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    Any problem with a 3xP' server (server down, download loop,...)? - Feel free to mention it in the shoutbox so an admin can take care of it.
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