A quick word on "Overwhelmingly Negative Influences"

[Thumpalumpacus]

<double-post deleted>

[Edwardo Piet]

Freedom of speech means you are free from legal consequences... doesn't mean consequences from your peers' judgment.

QFT.

[The Grand Nudger]

This place would get pretty shitty pretty fast if we tried to ignore the worst of us and just let them yap yap yap.  We get a fair few stormfronters-and-the-like round these parts, in case anyone was unawares.  I remember a poster who was super offended by the repeated suggestion that I was his long lost cuzzo, Rhythm McTurkleton.  Drove him right up the wall, it was glorious.  

I enjoy offending the fragile sensibilities of the offensive - and without the commitment to free speech on these boards I couldn't do that. Got banned from a bahai board once...had a couple of em slinging choice insults at me before they dropped the hammer, lol.

[account_inactive]

We get a fair few stormfronters-and-the-like round these parts, in case anyone was unawares.

Are they really Stormfronters, or even racist?

[The Grand Nudger]

Yup.  I have this habit of googling newbies posts when my in-borne bigot sense starts to tingle.  This place attracts all sorts of people.

[account_inactive]

Yup.  I have this habit of googling newbies posts when my in-borne bigot sense starts to tingle.  This place attracts all sorts of people.

Fair enough.

[brewer]

Don't you bitchers know how good you have it here? If not, try elsewhere. I don't think you'll find anything comparable. Or set up your own site, something which I am incapable of and not willing to do. My guess is that the bitchers are not either.  

And I'm not saying don't bitch, but for gods sake (there I go) keep it within reason.

One last thing, if you're not donating, as far as I'm concerned, you should be thrilled that the forum exists at all.

Well, seems to me that free speech shouldn't consist of "if you don't like it, leave." What's so wrong with "If you don't like it, speak up"?

I certainly enjoy the forum and the free exhcnage of ideas it allows. That doesn't mean I like everything about it.

I've never been a fan of love it or leave it rhetoric, especially in this context -- it smacks of paying lip-service to free expression, while at the same time discouraging it.

I don't believe I said love it or leave it, but maybe that is what you want to hear. You should speak up, but it should be within reason. 

I'll let you decide if I'm paying lip service.

[brewer]

Yup.  I have this habit of googling newbies posts when my in-borne bigot sense starts to tingle.  This place attracts all sorts of people.

Me too, especially if it's a wall.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I don't believe I said love it or leave it, but maybe that is what you want to hear. You should speak up, but it should be within reason. 

I'll let you decide if I'm paying lip service.

What, then, did you mean by this?

Don't you bitchers know how good you have it here? If not, try elsewhere.

Seems fairly straightforward to me.

[Sterben]

They would not be banned for voicing an opinion. Nobody is banned for that.

If people are discussing their views, however 'offensive', in a way that is conducive to the dialogue of the topic/thread, then none of us in all good conscious can ask for them to be banned. It's not fair and it creates a bad precedent.

We are not responsible for policing the views and beliefs of people, neither are we here to police the reactions to those beliefs. Nobody can claim to have a discussion forum and yet ban people for wanting to discuss.

         Alright, I meant responses that are boarder line or right out styles of hate speech.