"Family Friendly"

[str82u]

Although I do think mods should be in place to pay attention to a situation where some kid may come in and let some crap rip' date=' but since we are private???then it's not an issue is it? [/quote']

 

Well...we are private now so that should rule out kiddies reading the posts...

 

Anyway, I'm more concerned with "personal attacks". We're all familar with those I'm sure... ;)

 

c4 B)

 

And that is probably the whole thing in a nutshell from my (way out on Titan) standpoint. If anyone gets out of hand, they get a spanking (and don't you other freaky people start your mess, it's not that kind of spank*ing) and a cordial invitation to piss off.

[Annika]

freedom of speech is an illusion . look at the last US election where two of the third party candidates were put in jail for disrupting a debate that they were not allowed to attend .

 

I don't see what that has to do with freedom of speech? They can still say WHAT they want can they? Just not to who they want to say it to. You might argue that maybe those people haven't got the freedom to hear it then. But I doubt if that's a constitutional right??

If you can say what you want to whomever happens to be available, you have freedom of speech. There are a lot of countries where people go to jail for saying the wrong thing to their neighbour or even their own family, now THEY don't have freedom of speech.

I don't know about the USA but here I could go stand in the middle of the street and shout that I hate my government and nobody would care one way or the other. Or they might agree with me :thinking: You really don't want to know in how many countries you can be arrested for that or less...

 

This discussion about Family Friendly is fun, but we all seem to forget that a forum is not a democracy :p

This is Nite's site and we are his guests, so in the end all that really matters is what Nite thinks is Family Friendly isn't it? And then we just follow his rules or go somewhere else... :rolleyes:

 

Question for the moderators: would it be possible to get more smilies? Please?

 

[elderbear]

elderbear: how are you going to have airwaves where over 5 billion people are allowed to use the same airwaves... whenever the want... however they want? And who's going to settle disputes between 1000 people who want to speak on a particular station at an exact time (not to mention be "fair") --- what if they want to speak on YOUR station?

 

Edit: -- there is no 100% philosphical fairness of venue

 

Excellent! Without management, the airwaves become useless. But to commercialize them (we've had quite a battle in the US over microbroadcasting on FM - even the "public" stations have tried to stop low power community broadcasting, as has the broadcast industry) and to water down public access standards (once upon a time in America commercial broadcasters had to demonstrate that they were providing material of value to the community, but they've been so deregulated that now they only have to prove value to their shareholders) is terrible. A resource that I own has been GIVEN to commercial interests who make a profit on it and then try to interfere with P2P sharing of the episodes.

 

I have absolutely no qualms about TV episode sharing. Why? Because the broadcasters use my airwaves to broadcast the shows.

[GorunNova]

When the concept of 'Freedom of Speech' was first made, the makers couldn't have possibly imagined a world like ours... the concept has to be improved on to make sure that those with money control don't exclusively control what people hear...

[gjnave]

When the concept of 'Freedom of Speech' was first made' date=' the makers couldn't have possibly imagined a world like ours... the concept has to be improved on to make sure that those with money control don't exclusively control what people hear...[/quote']

 

Quick history lesson:

When all Americans were still English, the crown had ultimate power. If anyone did or said anything contrary to the King they could be thrown in prison or executed. In short... speak bad about the king, lose your head (literally).Seeking to escape the injustice of such a government, the american colonies threw off the yoke of the English crown in a paper entitled "the declaration of independence".

After a bloody war against the English, the rebels at last threw off the tyranny of the English crown, and an indpendent American state (the USA) was created.

To assure that the atrocities on personal freedom would never happen again, a constitution was created. One of the things mentioned in this document was the Freedom of Speech. This assured that people would always be able to question the actions of their government without fear of being jailed or executed.

This same prinicipal stands today. You can talk bad about the government all you want... and in fact, many people do... without being thrown in jail. You have freedom of speech. The purpose of this freedom was never to insure that people could talk (figuratively) as loudly as anyone else. It was to insure that all had the right to say what they want without fear of reprisal. It is a perfect law.

 

The question of who controls media is a completely different issue that has nothing to do with freedom of speech. You cannot claim that you do not have freedom of speech just because you cannot compete for bandwidth with CNN or FOX. I agree that something needs to be done about money controlled media... perhaps something new should be added to the constitution to address this issue. But first of all we need to understand what freedom of speech really is, and is not, so that we can rightly discern the problem and then adress it correctly.

[elderbear]

Anyhow, I'm beginning to think that here on these forums, the term "family friendly" might have a different interpretation then myself and others may see it as. Perhaps another translation of it should be something like:

 

"Use only words that would not even offend the most devoutly deeply religious individuals, the pr###s of the world...."

 

or something along these lines. Do you think that the above is anything close to what some here may see the meaning of "family friendly" as?

 

"you" as used below does not refer to GeneralLee, but to the generic "y'all"

 

I finally think I caught the gist of this, Lee. Call me dense or slow or distracted - any of the above applies right now.

 

I don't have in mind a restrictive system where we all make sure that nothing we say or do offends another. Of course we strive for "courtesy and kindess" in our posting - as well as in how we reply to those who take offense at what we say.

 

As my grandpappy used to say, "If you don't piss off at least one person each day, you're living too scared." (Wasn't really my grandpa, but it's still good advice - not to be intentionally rude, but to loosen the bonds of self-censorship a bit.)

 

And sometimes we might push it too far. In that case, we apologize, edit, reform, or whatever. You'll know when you go "too far" - or you might get a PM from me suggesting why I think you need to rethink a post.

 

Only rarely will a post be summarily edited or deleted w/o this process.

 

Lee, did I address your concern?

[elderbear]

2. No foul, obscene, or demeaning language.

-- Let's try to keep the site 'family friendly'. Also, please refrain from making comments regarding race, religion, sexual orientation, or web browser usage.

 

You posted this on the top of this page, and I am guessing that is still to be considered "In Play" until/unless replaced. The part about refraining should be dropped, if we are to allow discussions like the ones you are talking about.

 

I agree that this is not clear - since there have been web broser threads, I think the emphasis is on not putting down races, religions, sexual orientations, or those who use inferior web browsers (such as M*cr*s*ft Int*rn*t Expl*r*r :p ).

 

B)

[ratboy]

I'm pretty new here, so I'm not sure if my opinion matters much. But I've never let that stop me from giving it. ;) I've found that "Family Friendly" rarely is, especially when it comes to matters of race, religion, and sexuality. It is a very subjective term whose definition is usually set by those of a specific religion and excludes all those who do not hold the same values. It is not the same thing as simply minding one's manners.

 

I think Annika hit the nail on the head-

This is Nite's site and we are his guests, so in the end all that really matters is what Nite thinks is Family Friendly isn't it? And then we just follow his rules or go somewhere else..

In the end, "Family Friendly" or not, all that really matters is what is written in the Terms Of Service. All we can do is be civil and respect each other within those rules. Not that I am trying discourage discussion. Debate is always a good thing. ;)

[TV Man]

I don't know about the term Family Friendly. In some ways it tends to turn discussion into an area where it is vapid, sterile, and inane. I understand the desire to keep the discussions civil, but would hate to see the threads reduced to discourse suitable for five year olds.

 

Rather, I think that it is more appropriate to determine what the rules are for discourse, dialog, and debate amongst adult fans of scifi. To that end I think there is a level of civility that we should be able to adopt. And, if there are children on this forum, can't there be a section carved out specially for them?

[gjnave]

well said

[elderbear]

The argument isn't so much whether or not Americans feel they have the right not to be offended, but more like this:

 

1) I say something offensive to another, within my rights.

2) He complains that he's offended.

 

3) Most liberal thinkers ridicule him for treading on others' rights.

 

You, sir, offend me!!! ;)

 

A real "liberal thinker" would not automatically side against you because somebody complained. A truly "liberal thinker" might see if the two of you wanted a mediator or not.

 

Liberals do not see adults as needing a Parent (Fuher) - that's tyranny (from the right or the left).

 

EDIT: And no, I don't think that this discussion is ironic in light of that last paragraph. This is a community discussion, which assumes that everybody here is capable of being their own "parent" as needed.

 

Since this is NiteShdw's venue, we respect his wishes, just as we would if we were in his livingroom. Somehow, I can't see a bunch of us getting drunk, cussing, puking, toking and painting pentagrams on his walls. We would respect his way of being in his place of being - not because NiteShdw is our fuher, but because we are adults who know how to behave well.

[Fenriswolf]

Bingo ebear, couldn't have said it better myself. This is a private site and a privately run forum - if Nite wanted to ban any specific word in the english language he could and can...because like you said, this is his livingroom, his house and his net-home.

 

If anyone wants me though I'll be in the Kitchen, that's where you can always find me at parties!

 

[GorunNova]

Hmmm... I don't know... what IS NiteShdw's policy on living room pentagrams? ;)

 

... but yes, we are guests, and we should behave ^^

[GeneralLee]

Lee' date=' did I address your concern? [/quote']

 

Errrr... ahhh, no, would you mind repeating it all again please??? :p

 

Actually, I never expected you personally to feel the need to adress anything to my satisfaction, but thanks anyhow for listening, and for allowing this thread and the other "Draw the Line" one to come up, and be discussed.

 

I think we all learned something, and for me, exactly what that is, I'm not sure I'm ready to put it all in words yet (or is it that I know, and don't feel like saying in public yet at this time?).

[Detor]

Sorry but i really don't think this topic is achiving anything right now. It is begining to turn into some meaningless debate about something that is so vague. Of course that's my opinion. Keep posting if you like to. I won't.

[negger]

I know what it means..! At least I think so...

[elderbear]

Hmmm... I don't know... what IS NiteShdw's policy on living room pentagrams? ;)

 

... but yes, we are guests, and we should behave ^^

 

They are required to have exactly 4 vertices ... ;)

 

Actually, Fenriswolf's comment about Nite deciding to ban any word happened for a while. People were so busy complaining about ratios that "ratio" became a #### word. Made it funny, reading text like "talkin' 'bout my gene#####n."

[coolcat13]

LOL I remember that elderbear it was quite amusing .

Freedom of speech and why it is and always has been an illusion

 

people have the right to say what they want but there are limits . I can not go into a theater and scream fire as it would cause panic .

what the founding fathers had in mind was the freedom to express an ideal .That is that speech that was unpopular because of its political view still had a right to be said .whether we choose to listen or not is our right .

as per freedom of speech that was also meant in terms of the public domain and not the private domain . The government has a right to decide what is public or private domain such as airwaves radiowaves etc . just like the land that you own which is private so are these things . There is quite a bit of Law involved in the details of what I say but it comes down to domain laws and the rights of eminant domain . any one can look these up if they wish and I will not bore you all with further details .

[Fenriswolf]

Hmmm... I don't know... what IS NiteShdw's policy on living room pentagrams? ;)

 

... but yes, we are guests, and we should behave ^^

 

They are required to have exactly 4 vertices ... ;)

 

Actually, Fenriswolf's comment about Nite deciding to ban any word happened for a while. People were so busy complaining about ratios that "ratio" became a #### word. Made it funny, reading text like "talkin' 'bout my gene#####n."

 

LOL!

 

I missed that, that would have been funny as anything to see I reckon. No Regene#####n for the Doctor

[bbbb]

We better be careful. Janeway considered her crew to be one family. A family dosen't reject its own. For someone who considered her crew family she wasn't against letting Paris leave the ship. But when 7of9 decided to leave, whoa that was a big no no. Be careful what you mean by family because family is family whether you like them or not.