Censored Posts

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by Slight
My only constructive comment on this interestingly introspective thread is that personal blogs not governed by the same rules as the rest of the cellar should be clearly deliniated with different colors/fonts/graphics as to cue the dwellar of a different realm.

I dunno if it's possible, but I have no problem with that...my blog is already a different color than the standard Cellar setup.

I've seen the word "rules" mentioned at least twice now, and one of the sentiments seems to be that Dave is trying to make his own rules, or change the rules.

When anyone registers, there are 3 rules listed:

1. Don't use the system to break the law.
2. Don't try to break the system.
3. Don't be 'intolerably irritating'.

Number 3 is incredibly vague, and we could probably come up with 900,000 interpretations of what exactly that means. As I see it, Dave has decided to enforce rule 3. I can't speak for Mr. Ham, but as evidence:

Maggie is free to say whatever she likes. I encourage her to write whatever she feels like writing. But she's shown, on a number of occasions, that she has very little valuable to contribute to my weblog - but a whole lot of negative.

Free speech is a beautiful thing; however, one must realize that there may be consequences to what you say. Why was there no talk about "changing rules" when Parmenion was booted? After all, why should it be silenced, just because it slammed me, Dave, and Rho? I think that was a perfect example of rule 3 enforcement, and judging by other posts (or lack thereof), most people seem to be cool with Parm's demise. But that's only my thinking. We generally rely on UT to enforce rule 3, and I personally think he's handled that well. But...who's to say that he's necessarily right? Who's to say that Dave enforcing it is necessarily a bad thing? Who's to say that Maggie's behavior or Dave's or mine or UT's isn't "egregiously bad?"

It's a judgment call in the end. I still think that the Cellar is a champion of free speech; however, I am keenly aware that there are absolutes to free speech, whether there should be or not. And those absolutes can and will vary.