question

[Bubbles]

taken from the Electronic Frontier Foundation: https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/overview

 

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Are the legal issues with forums, bulletin boards, chat rooms, web pages and the like significantly different from blogs?

No. While Legal Guide for Bloggers is focused on blogs, the legal issues discussed here are broadly applicable to a wide variety of types of online publishing. For example, a web page where you place your thoughts and opinions is similar to a blog. An online forum where people can post comments is similar to the comment section of a blog.

 

Do the commenters on my blog have a First Amendment right to say whatever they want in the comments?

Generally no. Unless you are a government entity operating a public forum, you have a First Amendment right to publish your blog in the way that you want, which includes the right to choose who may participate in discussions on your blog. Nevertheless, we encourage you to allow wide-open and robust debates in the comments on your blogs. Private action to edit or delete comments may be legal, but can also exclude important voices from a debate.

 

I’m upset that a moderator disemvowelled my comments. Is that illegal?

No. While we are aware of no court cases regarding disemvowelling, removing the vowels from a post is a form of criticism and commentary on that post. Even if it not explicitly permitted by the blog’s terms of use or an acceptable use policy, a court would likely consider the edit to be a fair use of your comment.

 

But the forum moderator edited some of my comments, deleted others and is being a jerk! Please tell me all the legal claims I might have against them so I can sue them into the ground.

Being a jerk is not a reason to sue someone. Nor is there a claim against blog hosts for exercising their free speech rights to control their forums. Even if there were any valid claims, please remember that lawsuits are expensive, not very fun and should only be thought of as a last resort. If you don’t like what someone is doing, you can start your own blog and express your opinions there.

 

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Edited February 20, 2015 by bubbles

[Marblehead]

No need, i will step down on my own.  You win.

Please reconsider.

[C T]

It would be a compromise...  

You mean, like, a face-saving exercise? 

 

 

Except a PPD doesn't follow that guideline.

If she had thought it thru and posted in her ppf (or ppd) to begin with, none of this would have been necessary, and she could delete whatever she wants to her heart's content, but then, reality being what it is, it was not started in that private area, where privacy takes precedence over all else, right? 

 

 

Deci seemed to want to argue the same idea...  I don't think that floats

Deci is in a league of her/his own, and its actually quite a compliment that you would associate a similar notoriety to this point that i brought up, though i would disagree somewhat due to distinct differences in the dynamics between Deci's demands and mine here, in this particular instance. For example, if it was common practice for mods of this esteemed group to chop posts and make them vanish into thin air as and when they saw fit, i highly doubt TDB will turn into anything more than a mere ghost ship of a place, maybe with mods bantering among themselves, and wondering why business is slow. 

 

 

yes, but I empathize with a much bigger issue/problem which is private and which I cannot share.  Such is the life of an Admin at times.

Not sure what you mean here. 

 

 

So we will likely not find a middle ground but have our two perspectives.

If the original intention had been to uphold the finding of a middle ground, Rex's follow-up OP would not have been abruptly locked, and surely this chapter of the 'play' needn't even have had to materialise.  

[Marblehead]

For example, I don't care at all about my posts being deleted or hidden if the mod team feels it right to do so according to the situation.

I would have a serious problem with this unless I was notivied via PM of the action about to be taken and given the opportunity to edit the post so that it became acceptable.

[dawei]

You mean, like, a face-saving exercise? 

 

There is no face-saving aspect here.   

 

If she had thought it thru and posted in her ppf (or ppd) to begin with, none of this would have been necessary, and she could delete whatever she wants to her heart's content, but then, reality being what it is, it was not started in that private area, where privacy takes precedence over all else, right? 

 

Folks request their threads get moved there... as Brian just shared in another thread.. .that is common... so putting it there 'now' would be no different than what others do.   Others have had this exact issue but there was no problem.

 

Deci is in a league of her/his own, and its actually quite a compliment that you would associate a similar notoriety to this point that i brought up, though i would disagree somewhat due to distinct differences in the dynamics between Deci's demands and mine here, in this particular instance.

I'm just talking about the idea that someone 'owns' their post.  I quoted a very specific comment.

 

For example, if it was common practice for mods of this esteemed group to chop posts and make them vanish into thin air as and when they saw fit, i highly doubt TDB will turn into anything more than a mere ghost ship of a place, maybe with mods bantering among themselves, and wondering why business is slow. 

 

Rhetorical... ok.

 

 

If the original intention had been to uphold the finding of a middle ground, Rex's follow-up OP would not have been abruptly locked, and surely this chapter of the 'play' needn't even have had to materialise.  

 

I understand that is how you see it.  

[Marblehead]

 

Whatever i choose to write and post here is my intellectual property, and if no rules have been contravened in the format in which any of my posts have been presented, i'd really appreciate it if whoever's concerned not treat any of it mindlessly, more so from one who has been assigned to moderate/administer the board. Im sure, being Admin, you will be the first to empathise with such a sentiment. 

Although I feel everything we post here becomes public property I do agree with what you are saying.

 

No posts should be deleted without prior notification and a reason why.

[C T]

Qoute

Writer Ayn Rand argued in her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal that the protection of intellectual property is essentially a moral issue. The belief is that the human mind itself is the source of wealth and survival and that all property at its base is intellectual property. To violate intellectual property is therefore no different morally than violating other property rights which compromises the very processes of survival and therefore constitutes an immoral act.

Unquote

[dawei]

No posts should be deleted without prior notification and a reason why.

 

There are six pages of threads in the Abyss... almost 1100 posts... the oldest goes back to 2004.

 

I'll put you on continuous detail until you reach every poster and explain every reason their post was removed 

 

let me know when your bags are backed and bring ramen noodles... I'll leave a microwave with you 

[Marblehead]

I would agree with that only if the work (words for the mind of an individual) had been previously copyrighted.

 

Based on what Rand states above I am an immoral bastard for paraphrasing Nietzsche and Chuang Tzu.

[soaring crane]

Writer Ayn Rand argued in her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal that the protection of intellectual property is essentially a moral issue. The belief is that the human mind itself is the source of wealth and survival and that all property at its base is intellectual property. To violate intellectual property is therefore no different morally than violating other property rights which compromises the very processes of survival and therefore constitutes an immoral act.

 

Qoute

Unquote

 

Ayn Rand was a fantasy fiction author and you'll need to find and quote some binding legal langauge to support your idea that the administration of this website, or any website, has no legal right to delete or edit your posts in its forums. The comparison to decibelle is accurate, but not in the flattering way you choose to take it.

 

You wrote: "if it was common practice for mods of this esteemed group to chop posts and make them vanish into thin air as and when they saw fit"

 

And in fact, it is common practice for the mods to chop posts and make them vanish when they see fit. It just happens so rarely that it generally goes unnoticed. This was one of those instances.

[Marblehead]

There are six pages of threads in the Abyss... almost 1100 posts... the oldest goes back to 2004.

 

I'll put you on continuous detail until you reach every poster and explain every reason their post was removed 

 

let me know when your bags are backed and bring ramen noodles... I'll leave a microwave with you 

But they all didn't happen at the same time.  Spread out over ten years it might average about one naughty post every two weeks.

 

I'm not wishing any more work on the mods but then I am wishing for consideration for the member who made an offending post.  The only posts I consider offending are those which violate forum rules.  Disagreements will be had.  That's the way of the human animal.

 

But then I wasn't suggesting that any such consideration need be retroactive.  Proactive, you know?

 

And you know I couldn't even do what you have suggested being that I am an Anarchist.  It would be way too mentally challenging for me.

 

But now that you have mentioned it, maybe I'll have some ramen for supper tonight.  I already ate my allotement of protein for the day.

[C T]

I would agree with that only if the work (words for the mind of an individual) had been previously copyrighted.

 

Based on what Rand states above I am an immoral bastard for paraphrasing Nietzsche and Chuang Tzu.

yes, but the basis of this discussion is not about paraphrasing exercises, but the careless manner in which an entire thread which does not actually 'belong' to anyone (since it was posted in the General Discussion section) got chopped and made invisible, with absolutely no regard for any of the contents put up by others, whether these are related to the OP or not is immaterial. 

 

How hard is it for people to understand its not about the lack of empathy for Flo at all. Its two distinctly different contexts, but why some insist on lumping the two together is truly baffling. 

[dawei]

But they all didn't happen at the same time.  Spread out over ten years it might average about one naughty post every two weeks.

 

You average two a day... so you get a platinum pass saying if your post disappears... you can guess where it is 

[dawei]

yes, but the basis of this discussion is not about paraphrasing exercises, but the careless manner in which an entire thread which does not actually 'belong' to anyone (since it was posted in the General Discussion section) got chopped and made invisible, with absolutely no regard for any of the contents put up by others, whether these are related to the OP or not is immaterial. 

 

How hard is it for people to understand its not about the lack of empathy for Flo at all. Its two distinctly different contexts, but why some insist on lumping the two together is truly baffling. 

 

The continual negativity and suggestive judgment seems enough.

 

It does not belong to anyone is true... other than TDB.   That's why it still exists.

 

There was regard, but the regard goes much further than just a thread...  but members are not privy to all the issues.

 

Life goes on.

 

Thread closed.