tm96 said:
BloatedGuppy said:
Not a freedom of speech issue.
Even if you flash in great big neon lights 24/7 people will still say it is. If this is censorship to some people does that mean schools saying don't swear is censorship?
Yes. Actually, yes, that is not only an issue of censorship by the basic definition of censorship, that possibly actively involves a government backed organization doing the censorship considering the funding of school and the general rulings against schools when applying other government restricting rules such as separation of church and state, thus may also be a first amendment right issue as well. It is very much an example of censorship. But much like the "you can't scream fire in a crowded movie theater" rule, when an argument can be made about the free speech interfering with other rights, the censorship tends to be accepted. So essentially like all rules, if the majority can tolerate it or find reasonable justification to do so, the censorship is accepted.
The problem with this current example is not so much reddit is dictating the rules for their site, as while still censorship, that is the nature of any working forum. The issue is the sudden, unevenly distributed, and heavy-handed response going down on a site that itself has claimed to stand for free speech. So you have a very strange nuclear option against a very disparate group of claimed offenders, most other offenders of worse are overlooked, and the sudden restriction seem nearly arbitrary excuse rather then enforcing of existing established rules in a fair way.
I think they alway forget they can do that. If they did that it at least make the internet at least a little better.
They are also the sole reason the site matters to anyone at all, and they know well that a site that offends the community who made it too much will quickly be passed by competitors. But much like yourself I imagine when a rule in your nation is passed you don't agree with, you don't tend to react the first time by throwing the baby out with the bathwater and moving to another country. Instead you'd likely express your dissatisfaction, try to work within the established system to get the change and should that fail, move on to more drastic options such as full exodus.
You know I find it interesting myself how quickly the "you can just leave" attitude comes up as an excuse for this weird sort of behavior in sites as though the users have no ability or right to disagree with the sites they promoted and helped grow in actual importance and value. Because lets be honest, without the people that are currently being pissed off right now, reddit itself would never have been worth a damn. So I can't blame those that want to stick with the site and get changes to what they see as something wrong with the current actions, even if it is protesting them shutting down specific subreddits with little to no discernible consistency while still claiming to be about free speech.
