Is this censorship gone too far? 'Free speech' online?

Question

With specific references to Yahoo, this article appeared today on Yahoo and throws quite a lot of light on the topic of deletions and what can, and can't be said.

Apparently, a lot of stuff gets deleted because of 'unwritten' rules and the fact that it is offensive.

Given that Yahoo and other platforms are private businesses and can run their own rules, do you think it makes for a better community online or worse if people's behaviour is monitored this way?

Where should the lines be drawn ~ if at all?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080706/ap_on_hi_te/tec_disappearing_freedoms

Answer 1

In G&WS, only the powers that be should make the rules.  Freedom of though, speech, expression, etc. may be offensive to community members and be grounds for eradication.  This is entirely consistent with The Central Dogma of Feminist Ideology and Communism.  Men have no business expressing thought as we are subhuman as per Feminist Dogma.  We're incapable of acting responsibly by virute of gentetic substrate and/or underlying physiology.

Freedom of thought leads to upset feminists and is likely in violation of Feminist International Code.

No one should ever dare question feminists, as they are always correct.  No one can behave in defiance of feminism as this is the LAW of the land.

Being male is a crime and is likely punishable by the laws of femisnism.

Answer 2

I personally feel a little censorship is a good thing. As long as it's not deleted because of a specific opnion. I agree with deleting obscene, rude or insulting comments, because let's face it - no one needs to be reminded that there are some really rude people in the world!

Answer 3

I think they maybe wise setting up 2 places one for even the questions that are deemed unsuitible for main stream to go - and still recieve responses.

The system here isnt infallible. Not all banned questions are done so because of actual rule violations.

Answer 4

To me yahoo is merely entertainment.  I choose what I want to amuse myself with and I certainly do not want to be inundated with offensive and slanderous assertations.  Yahoo is a business and they are catering to consumers.

Answer 5

I am 100% pro-constitution. I believe we should only censor illegal things (ie; terroist activities, pedophile material, etc..) which are not even protected by the first amendment to begin with.

Answer 6

I hate censorship, it hinders our individualism.  But I have no problem with the government monitoring content to see if it could be terrorist related.

Answer 7

I don't think Yahoo goes far enough and am glad they are deleting more questions and answers (mine have been as well):

-Thirteen year olds are reading the questions and answers in these forums and a lot of this stuff is sexually and emotionally inappropriate for a 13 year old. Obviously many people do not think about this at all.

-The constant need for people to chat and use people's user names in their questions and answers so they can humiliate others is infantile and a daily event-which is against the YA community guidelines. If that YA community guideline alone was enforced-how many questions or answers would remain?  

-The answers I've seen to people who've sounded vulnerable and have discussed being sexually or physically abused have been disgusting.

-I've noticed that "free speech" is most often yelled about by those in this forum that misuse speech to degrade and harass other users and don't want any limitations on their hateful speech and stalking of others. On the other hand some are open-minded and are naive or don't care if this forum is a stew of hate.

-I think it's obvious that it only takes a few hateful people to destroy the content and viability of a forum-very quickly.

Answer 8

worse

but better at the same time

Answer 9

I think what most folks who complain about Yahoo and 'free speech' in the same sentence typically do not understand is the mission of this website.  It's to foster questions and answers - it's supposed to be a learning experience by the sharing of ideas from differing perspectives or, when appropriate, concrete answers.  It's NOT a place for ranting, being disrespectful, insulting, or rude.  It's not a platform for those with an axe to grind tho' in g&ws, one would never know.  with the amount of questions and responses that I see anytime, any day that cross these boundaries, I wouldn't complain too too much.

btw, if you want to see what happens to a website with NO boundaries, check out Craigslist forums - nothing but hate, meanness, and name-calling.  They had to begin restricting entrance to specific forums notorious for pointless negativity.  Take a look to see if that's what you'd prefer because without rules, policies and guidelines, a website will sink to its lowest common denominator.

Answer 10

I think anyone with half a brain can tell the difference between constructive critisism and ranting, random hate messages.... Has censorship gone too far? Absolutely not! the world is full of impressionable people, and constant hate ranting on websites like this one should never be allowed. It's almost like a passive recruitment tool for other 'haters' the way they start forming their little online 'gangs' with the intent of verbal violence against specific groups (and we all know which groups are specifically targeted!).

There are loads of answers/ questions that don't get deleted that cross the line as far as I'm concerned. But I ignore these as I don't have time for idiots. I wish everyone would just ignore them rather than justifying stupid questions with a response...

It's a private site so the administrators can delete whatever they think is offensive - the guidelines are clear enough for any human with an average sized brain.

For the rest of the garbage we see (particularly on G & WS), it's up to us personally to decide where we draw the line and simply ignore it.

Peace :-)