Teen Banned from US

[Monte Carlo]

The white house must gets thousands of these emails every day, how come they singled out this guy for punishment?

 

It's the Special Relationship, duh.

[Monte Carlo]

no. seems pretty obvious why they would. as we noted, these boards is a source o' advertising for Obsidian. is complete unrelated.

To me it is not obvious.

 

All these boards, in different countries, are roughly "advertising" (as you put it) for these various companies. Why is it OK to write **** on an advertisement in Sweden but not in America, if it is completely unrelated to American moral standards? What drives them to censor their own board? What are they scared of?

 

Note that I am not claiming it to be written in law either way, I know they're 'voluntarily' censoring us (which you laughably refer to as their "liberty" to do so, unless you can find a place where self-censoring isn't allowed), just that it is what I believe Obsidian conforms to: they are scared of what the general American consumer thinks of them.

 

OMG! It's called private property rights, a novel concept I know.

[Gromnir]

no. seems pretty obvious why they would. as we noted, these boards is a source o' advertising for Obsidian. is complete unrelated.

To me it is not obvious.

 

All these boards, in different countries, are roughly "advertising" (as you put it) for these various companies. Why is it OK to write **** on an advertisement in Sweden but not in America, if it is completely unrelated to American moral standards? What drives them to censor their own board? What are they scared of?

 

Note that I am not claiming it to be written in law either way, I know they're 'voluntarily' censoring us (which you laughably refer to as their "liberty" to do so, unless you can find a place where self-censoring isn't allowed), just that it is what I believe Obsidian conforms to: they are scared of what the general American consumer thinks of them.

 

 

so... what was your point? am suspecting you didn't have one to begin with.

 

*shrug*

 

a private company, without any government interference, chooses to run message boards promoting their games free o' the taint o' profanity and pr0n. has nothing to do with Americana or morals. it sure don't have nothing to do with American Free Speech law as the First Amendment is a grant o' protection to private citizens 'gainst the threat o' GOVERNMENT censorship.

 

you know, once you realized that you were talking nonsense you coulda' simply stopped.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[mkreku]

a private company, without any government interference, chooses to run message boards promoting their games free o' the taint o' profanity and pr0n. has nothing to do with Americana or morals. it sure don't have nothing to do with American Free Speech law as the First Amendment is a grant o' protection to private citizens 'gainst the threat o' GOVERNMENT censorship.

So all these American boards just happen to choose not to allow me to write **** (which is neither profanity nor porn), and all of the European boards just happen to choose to let me write it with no censoring involved, but it has nothing to do with American moral standards (and European moral standards, in the opposite case)?

 

What a happy coincidence.

 

If it's only down to private property rights, how would you explain the difference between the rest of the world and America? Or will you keep avoiding this question again by spending the majority of your post trying to convince me I have no point and am posting nonsense?

[Calax]

Well, in america it's better for snow white to impale her finger and then watch it horrifically bleed all over the room splattering everything with gore, than to prick it.

[Gromnir]

a private company, without any government interference, chooses to run message boards promoting their games free o' the taint o' profanity and pr0n. has nothing to do with Americana or morals. it sure don't have nothing to do with American Free Speech law as the First Amendment is a grant o' protection to private citizens 'gainst the threat o' GOVERNMENT censorship.

 

 

If it's only down to private property rights, how would you explain the difference between the rest of the world and America?

 

'cause is a false comparison that you ain't supported with any facts. oh, and don't use some insignificant fringe euro developer to prove your point. small indie developers, whether euro or american has gotta be more flexible and understanding o' their potential customers. folks like bioware (non-USA) is gonna be much more careful 'bout censoring as they gots more exposure and more potential harm can be done. so, find numerous similar messageboards used as advertising (rather than complaint/feedback) and show us difference 'tween american and euro. in any event, YOU is the one who is avoiding.please return to the genesis o' this disagreement. have already forgotten the drunken limey threatening the President with extreme violence? free speech rights has zippo/zilch whatsoever to do with your perception o' censorship on a private message board. do a little research; USA free speech rights is more expansive than similar euro protections. must be our morals.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[WorstUsernameEver]

So all these American boards just happen to choose not to allow me to write **** (which is neither profanity nor porn), and all of the European boards just happen to choose to let me write it with no censoring involved, but it has nothing to do with American moral standards (and European moral standards, in the opposite case)?

 

This is bull****. I notice no appreciable difference in the censoring and rulesets between different (and all private) american and european forums. And I can swear quite a lot on other American forums, it's just Obsidian that decided that they didn't really want people to say **** on their boards.

[mkreku]

'cause is a false comparison that you ain't supported with any facts

This is funny..

 

do a little research; USA free speech rights is more expansive than similar euro protections. must be our morals.

..because of this. So my comparison is false and I haven't supported it with facts.. but a few sentences later you make a similar comparison without any facts and we're supposed to just take it for granted because it was you who wrote it? Do you even read the **** you post?

 

Anyhow, since you keep making stuff up about things you are clueless about (like basing your entire argument on calling European boards "insignificant" without even knowing which ones I am referring to), this discussion is pointless. You'll just keep defending your precious (ie. worthless) 'freedom of speech' in more and more convoluted ways and argue with your own made-up arguments. I'm sure it's more practical than actually arguing with other posters, but it got old years ago.

 

 

 

This is bull****. I notice no appreciable difference in the censoring and rulesets between different (and all private) american and european forums. And I can swear quite a lot on other American forums, it's just Obsidian that decided that they didn't really want people to say **** on their boards.

Feel free to find a big European company board that doesn't allow me to write a P with an ENIS at the end, for example. I can only vouch for the 15-20 boards I check out ever so regularly. Surprise me!

[Gromnir]

*chuckle*

 

we were hoping you would ask...

 

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/hist...03_0015_ZO.html

 

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/hist...91_0397_ZO.html

 

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/hist...15_0568_ZS.html

 

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/hist...05_0377_ZO.html

 

http://supreme.justia.com/us/432/43/case.html

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11254419

 

"The United States stands apart from many other Western democracies in priding itself on a near absolute commitment to allowing freedom of speech."

 

http://jurist.org/dateline/2010/05/germany...-of-privacy.php

 

"Europe and the United States share many legal principles. But they differ as regards notions of privacy and free speech. While European media outlets have been prohibited from publishing truthful information that the courts have found to be irrelevant, the American press has not faced such a restriction."

 

etc.

 

want a few dozen more linkies from the bbc and elsewhere? we woulda' provided more, but is pretty much a Given that the US is far more protective of free speech rights than is virtual all other western nations. we wouldn't thinks we would have to provide evidence on such a well-known and fundamentally inarguable proposition, but mk needs to be shown that fire is hot and water is wet? fine. you got it. have fun educating self.

 

...

 

"Feel free to find a big European company board that doesn't allow me to write a P with an ENIS at the end"

 

as that is an english word we can see how you is kinda limiting right off the bat... and we doubt that ikea and the ship building companies that comprise sweden's notable international corporations probable don't have open message board posting. ssssooooo, again, give us some examples. inability to use p and enis is what concerns you in reference to free speech? HA! well, as J. Harlan once observed, "One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric." but you see, while mr. cohen could wear his jacket emblazoned with the message "F@#% the Draft" into a county court house in LA w/o fear o' govt. interference, nobody (other than mk) would assume that the administrators o' a privately run message board should be compelled to allow such a posting. again, use your brain for 5 minutes and consider the consequences. St. Mary's Church in Stillwater Oklahoma decides to have a message board and mk believes that he should be able to spam 'em with P and Enis references? why?

 

but still, this is all beside the point as you Complete fumbled with your original post. raise Freedom o' Speech and American in reference to a privately owned and run message board is the result o' your ignorance. once you recognize that point you will maybe be able to back out graceful... but we doubt it.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Nepenthe]

"Feel free to find a big European company board that doesn't allow me to write a P with an ENIS at the end"

 

as that is an english word

 

... Nope.

 

More generally, I agree with Mkreku in that I've only run into language filters on American forums, but that could be due to a number of reasons in my case, such as differences in the types of forums, or Nordic liberalism.

 

I also agree that there is a certain amount of Americanism in this obsession with removing "bad" language...

[Gorth]

It's about as sure as pushing a button... tell Nordic people that there is something they are not allowed to say or talk about and they become all agitated. Even to the point of becoming militant about it. Freedom of speech is not something just enshrined in an official piece of paper somewhere, it is a deep seated cultural thing.

[kirottu]

Feel free to find a big European company board that doesn't allow me to write a P with an ENIS at the end, for example. I can only vouch for the 15-20 boards I check out ever so regularly. Surprise me!

 

It

[Nepenthe]

It's about as sure as pushing a button... tell Nordic people that there is something they are not allowed to say or talk about and they become all agitated. Even to the point of becoming militant about it. Freedom of speech is not something just enshrined in an official piece of paper somewhere, it is a deep seated cultural thing.

 

Now you're just being racist.

 

I can't remember the last time something non-female has gotten me agitated!

[Gorth]

Now you're just being racist.

Nah, I'm being Nordic (Danish ex-pat here).

[kirottu]

Pfft. Danish aren

[Gorth]

Pfft. Danish aren

[Nepenthe]

Pfft. Danish aren

[Humodour]

It's about as sure as pushing a button... tell Nordic people that there is something they are not allowed to say or talk about and they become all agitated. Even to the point of becoming militant about it. Freedom of speech is not something just enshrined in an official piece of paper somewhere, it is a deep seated cultural thing.

 

It's not just a Nordic thing. Come on, you live here in Australia too. Try telling an Aussie not to say "****" or "****" and he'll tell you exactly where to shove it.

 

And rightly so.

[Walsingham]

Surely the owners of a board that is not paid for by public funds have a right to proscribe behaviour they consider objectionable?

 

Far more to the point, if as you say there are innumerable places where you can swear and talk dirty, why not use them for doing so?

[Gorth]

It's not just a Nordic thing. Come on, you live here in Australia too.

Sort of... yes and no. I live here, yet I live and work in a very multi/inter-national environment where we are way more people from overseas than locals. It was the same thing when living in New Zealand. I have more Dutch, Indian, South African, Danish, German, Pom, Indonesian, Malayasian etc. colleagues than Aussie colleagues. Only when getting away from work and "mingling" do I get to actually experience Australia. Kind of weird, I know.

[kirottu]

Far more to the point, if as you say there are innumerable places where you can swear and talk dirty, why not use them for doing so?

 

That

[Nepenthe]

Surely the owners of a board that is not paid for by public funds have a right to proscribe behaviour they consider objectionable?

 

Far more to the point, if as you say there are innumerable places where you can swear and talk dirty, why not use them for doing so?

 

While I think some people are disagreeing with the principle, I'm thinking more of WHAT is considered objectionable, and how that seems to vary considerably depending on whether you are in an American or Nordic/Euro context...

 

I mean, I work a lot with transport law, so I have a hard time figuring out why '****pit' would be objectionable in any way

Edited September 22, 2010 by Nepenthe

[Gorgon]

Humbug.

 

The Finnish aren't really Nordic, they're arctic.

[Monte Carlo]

If the Swedes are so passionate defending freedoms and stuff why are they such ardent pacifists when it comes to fighting wars against the Forces of Evil?

[Gromnir]

If the Swedes are so passionate defending freedoms and stuff why are they such ardent pacifists when it comes to fighting wars against the Forces of Evil?

 

'cause they is more concerned with where and when they can say P and ENIS? throw a tantrum 'bout trivialities while losing sight o' the big picture? we thought that such silliness were a mk characteristic rather than a swede thing. perhaps we were wrong.

 

another couple articles identifying the difference 'tween euro views o' free speech and American.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2005Jan28.html

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/18/...in5319877.shtml

 

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited September 22, 2010 by Gromnir