Censorship

09-15-2005, 03:33 PM

I suppose we all have certain ammounts of censorship on our forum in some way or another, such as the removal of spam or offensive posts, but how much far should we take it? How far do you take it?

At the moment we don't have issues with censorship. Any posts that may come up regarding offensive material will be edited, but that hasn't happened yet, and spam topics we split up and either close or move.

We do have censorship of 'naughty' words enabled to prevent mass swearing, but I'm not sure if this is really needed. If you have a forum aimed at families, then I suppose it is required, but for general boards, it may subtract from the feeling of self expression.

Recently I have brought it upon myself to start editing posts that contain references to other websites or forums that our members do not like or have issues with, partly because some of these sites are taking offense at this and I wish to keep in good relations with them. But it makes me think - Am I being a hypocrit for censoring my members opinions on such things?

Your thoughts on censorship

**shellspeare** · 09-15-2005, 03:38 PM

If members are making derogatory remarks about other sites/boards i will censor the posts and pm the member explaining my reasons.

Free speech is ok in theory but everything permitted on a forum reflects upon the management in one form or another. Because of this i will censor certain things.

The main things my team and i censor on my main site immediatly is racism, homophobic & sexist language.

**InvisionCube** · 09-15-2005, 04:40 PM

We do the mandatory censoring of expletives. Spam (We've only ever had one) gets instantly and silently deleted.

Other than that, I don't think we've ever come across anything that's needed censoring. Oh, I will delete posts if I know they contain misleading or inaccurate information. Purely because I don't want our Members trashing their boards by following incorrect guidance.

**imported_Azhria Lilu** · 09-15-2005, 04:50 PM

Censorship is a misleading term really.... when people say "censorship" most automatically start thinking about restricting what people are saying/thinking. Censorship has its place, it's dependent on what kind of site you run, the people it has and the general feel. There are some things that should not be seen on a forum (or anywhere else for that matter) and there are other things that come down to personal opinion and choice.

I personally don't switch on censorship of words on any of my sites, unless it's specifically requested and then I use the censorship plug in for vb which allows members to switch it on and off as per their own choice.

**Moonlight** · 09-15-2005, 05:34 PM

I'm all for having censorship on boards but then I had problems on another forum with a number of members coming in and posting pornographic pictures. It didn't matter how many IP's and usernames we banned, they'd find another way in.

On my boards pornographic or suggestive images are deleted and the member banned. Posts containing derogortary or racist words are censored and the member PMed to tell them what they did wrong. I also run a 3 strike rule whereby they have 3 chances to screw up and the 4th time they screw up they're banned. Basically I let them get away with quite a bit but it's up to the mods to keep an eye on things and if there's something they son't approve of then they must deal with it.

09-15-2005, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azhria Lilu

I personally don't switch on censorship of words on any of my sites, unless it's specifically requested and then I use the censorship plug in for vb which allows members to switch it on and off as per their own choice.

Thats very handy actually, why didn't I think of that? On my forum, the audience is devided between young teens (14-16) and young 20-somethings, and I've put on the censor for the younger ones, but the older guys want to swear a bit. So that censor hack could be just the thing we need

I suppose there is a fine line between having an opinion, and being prejudiced. Although sometimes it is quite hard to distinguish. What about website advertising as well, do any of you edit or delete links to other websites? I'm cool with external links as long as they a) don't go to an offensive or adult website, and b) do not advertise a commercial product. We tend to link to news websites etc when we are posting topics about certain news events, so we couldn't block them all anyway.

**VoyeurPrincess** · 09-20-2005, 05:57 AM

My forum has to be heavily censored. proboards is a free service and they are very strict. I've already lost one forum over it, so i'm very careful now.

**miner** · 01-10-2006, 09:15 AM

Site using illegal software and links to warz sites or censored here...

**Skyline_R34** · 01-10-2006, 11:46 AM

I allow swearing, it's a natural part of life. What I don't condone is racist or sexist slurs. I don't have any filters on my site because I trust my members not to be rude.
But if a member badmouths one of our affiliates or friend sites, I give him/her a warning. I don't hesitate to ban someone (or put them under 'Miserable Users'

) if they are being a nuisance.

**gprime** · 01-10-2006, 12:21 PM

With respect to langauge filtering, I oppose it but I know some like it. For that I give SMF credit, as they have have an opt-in/opt-out system. There was a hack like that for vB, but it remains unported.