Freedom of speech in the US is restricted to public space and to non-inflammatory, non-defamatory, non-libelous, non-sladerous communications.
Bulletin boards are NOT public space.
Especially not ones where membership is required to read threads.
They can and do censor things. Things like advertisements. Things like expressions of hate, or off topic [psts.
This board is the official site for Far Future Enterprises' Traveller IP.
You are allowed to make reasonable statements of dislike of a product, or even that you find it unsuitable for use.
I've gone past that line a few times in the past, and gotten yelled at for it.
But when you cross the line into libel, defamation, or accusation of criminal intent, you will get infracted. You will lose the privelege to post.
One of my first decisions as lead admin was to figure out how to handle appeals. It's simple - a reasoned, polite response by using the report PM button.
The fastest way to lose posting privileges here is to publicly argue an infraction in the thread you earned it for after a post was deleted.
The second fastest is to make statements implying criminal intent by the various producers of Traveller branded or CE based items. This extends to all of them.
Fastest way to lose an appeal? Mistake posting privileges for a right to be rude. You have a right to be rude, but you don't have the right to exercise it on this site. Nor do you have permission. (Blunt is fine. Disagreement is fine.)
Know also: Marc Miller sees all the reports. I don't know if he reads them all, but I do know they hit his email. Every so often, he emails me about one. He's only reversed one suspension... and then a week later, apparently banned the individual himself. Which I reversed after a cooldown.
He also has access to the various warnings and infractions. And the staff discussions about them. Marc can, and Robject occasionally does, review and comment about the process.
The discussion by staff often results in 2-3 days of discussion before a final resolution is reached on edge cases.
I've overturned a few moderator actions. Cryton has, too.
And, for consistency, I don't allow discussion of Ken Whitman, née Whit Whitman, other than to say that Marc is still trying to get Mr. Whitman to fulfill his obligations. When/if Marc has some information on it, it will hit the moot, and then be copied to this subforum, as well.
If I think something is an edge case, I report it, and the staff jointly figures it out.
Some of my favorite grognards have been silenced because they couldn't hold their posts to civility.
Also - I changed banned to be able to continue to read, so that losing posting doesn't mean losing access to reading. This has made bans less harsh, but has also resulted in fewer sockpuppets. Note: Cryton and I both have clearly labeled sockpuppet accounts; we use these for testing and seeing the user interface from the user side.
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