Quote:
Originally Posted by Skip
Quite frankly I find some of the comments and allegations made against Don here, and in the other thread, dispicable [sic].
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Skip, Did you spend your legal career working for, I don't know, the Hazelwood School District?
Yes, I understand that because Don owns this website,
legally he can do whatever he wants on it. We agree here.
But the point of my argument is that he is acting directly against what this country was founded upon. Surely I can disagree with his actions, right? We should also closely scrutinize him, because he is our one and only public authority figure (sorry, maybe I'm too much of an American...
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There is no other vehicle for public communication in the Lakes Region in which any and all ordinary people can log on and easily express their opinions. This forum is our ONLY option for expressing ourselves to other members of the Lakes Region. Since we have nowhere else to go, we are forced to take whatever Webmaster feeds us.
From a moral standpoint, in this American's opinion, he should not be censoring (and by censor I mean delay or change posts in any way, with or without the permission or notification of the poster) our messages. It is simply not his duty. His scope of censorship should be limited to banning those who frequent post hateful or pornographic messages.
I recently made a post in the boating section (Etiquette) which I later found to be changed. (I said "Capt Bonehead" and later found it changed to " {He} " ) Webmaster is already overstepping his role by micro-moderating our posts. And the least he could do is TELL us he changed something.
MY posts should not be delayed (and pre-read and changed) because of the actions of others.
Webmaster is not doing anything illegal (and nobody here thinks so). Again, the spirit of his actions are closer to that of the Chinese government than what we enjoy as Americans.
If our country hasn't burnt to the ground as a result of giving 300 million people this huge freedom of speech, why should it be so hard to control a couple hundred people on a message board?
Webmaster, just lift the pre-screening. I promise cities won't fall into the sea.