"The Limits of Free Speech on the Internet", or "What happened to ARFCOM can happen to us"

Over the years many of you have expressed your displeasure over how the staff moderates discussions on this site. Many times members of the staff have been called Nazi's or worse.

What everyone needs to know is that the staff and most of our members know that we have a responsibility to choose what we share publicly with care.

One of the core rules for posting on this site is that there will be no discussion of armed insurrection or revolution allowed - period. This is for a number of reasons, the primary of which is that it is just wrong. I won't expand on that as I believe we all know the truth behind it. Secondly, members of the staff and many members of the site are in positions where association with such discussions, even if not directly, could have negative impacts on our employment. And lastly, even though the staff pays out of our own pocket to maintain our internet access, this could be lost instantly if an entity such as our Domain Provider (DNS) chooses to revoke our access. This is why the staff is so aggressive about moderating discussions that may cause us harm. Our goal is to protect ourselves, our members and our site.

This last reason hasn't been brought up before because it's a hard concept to grasp for many who only see the benefits of a free society - and can't see that there are multiple externals that must always be considered. Now, with what's recently happened to ar15.com, perhaps many of you can see that what we have here is fragile. Just one discussion of civil unrest - even within our COVID or ANTIFA/BLM threads can be the straw that breaks the camels back for us. What's worse for us than for ar15.com is that we receive no income from funding, advertising or sponsors - ARFCOM receives a LOT of it. If we were to lose our domain or internet access, it could be very costly and the staff doesn't have the means to adjust to it as easily as ARFCOM can.

Beyond just taking down a site, we see in our nation the "cancel culture" steamrolling peoples lives. In recent days (and in days to come), for no other reason that simply being associated with someone has been sufficient justification for people to lose their jobs, to lose their insurance and bank accounts, etc.

So, as things go forward in our nation I urge all of you to consider the ramifications to yourselves, to members of the staff, to the site because of the words you choose to share publicly. I continue to encourage you all to show respect to other members and to our communities as a whole. I urge you to NOT participate in any activity that would bring discredit to the firearms community because we know there are those just waiting for any reason they can twist to revoke this precious freedom we have.

Thank you.

Ginsue

Thank you.
Read and acknowledged.

Thanks for posting this Ginsue. Spot on.

Roger, Roger.


What's sad is even without any reason, IMO, one especially now. Anyone who has an R as their voting preference, flys an American flag, backs the blue, stickers. ALL face backlash from the winners of this election cycle. Sadly history is destined to repeat itself. With the self proclaimed AF mob. Doing what they so proudly say, they stand against.

theGinsue, thank you for the eloquent and well reasoned explanation. I think you are right in every respect. I find it horrifying that our politicos in government, tech business, the media and academia have worked to squelch freedom of speech and put our once free people in fear of losing our nation and virtually everything we hold dear.

A very valuable post, for which I am grateful.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by theGinsue

Beyond just taking down a site, we see in our nation the "cancel culture" steamrolling peoples lives. In recent days (and in days to come), for no other reason that simply being associated with someone has been sufficient justification for people to lose their jobs, to lose their insurance and bank accounts, etc.

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I get why you've posted this, but this feels like giving the cancel crowd exactly what they want. If people don't stand up to them, it'll just get worse.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RblDiver

I get why you've posted this, but this feels like giving the cancel crowd exactly what they want. If people don't stand up to them, it'll just get worse.

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True, but they are also fine with you giving them a reason to shut you down. They'll take either/or. Choose your words carefully when posting online and save anything beyond that for private discussions with your friends. And Ginsue is correct when he states that being associated with such talk could have a real negative impact on some members.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by theGinsue

Over the years many of you have expressed your displeasure over how the staff moderates discussions on this site. Many times members of the staff have been called Nazi's or worse.

What everyone needs to know is that the staff and most of our members know that we have a responsibility to choose what we share publicly with care.

One of the core rules for posting on this site is that there will be no discussion of armed insurrection or revolution allowed - period. This is for a number of reasons, the primary of which is that it is just wrong. I won't expand on that as I believe we all know the truth behind it. Secondly, members of the staff and many members of the site are in positions where association with such discussions, even if not directly, could have negative impacts on our employment. And lastly, even though the staff pays out of our own pocket to maintain our internet access, this could be lost instantly if an entity such as our Domain Provider (DNS) chooses to revoke our access. This is why the staff is so aggressive about moderating discussions that may cause us harm. Our goal is to protect ourselves, our members and our site.

This last reason hasn't been brought up before because it's a hard concept to grasp for many who only see the benefits of a free society - and can't see that there are multiple externals that must always be considered. Now, with what's recently happened to ar15.com, perhaps many of you can see that what we have here is fragile. Just one discussion of civil unrest - even within our COVID or ANTIFA/BLM threads can be the straw that breaks the camels back for us. What's worse for us than for ar15.com is that we receive no income from funding, advertising or sponsors - ARFCOM receives a LOT of it. If we were to lose our domain or internet access, it could be very costly and the staff doesn't have the means to adjust to it as easily as ARFCOM can.

Beyond just taking down a site, we see in our nation the "cancel culture" steamrolling peoples lives. In recent days (and in days to come), for no other reason that simply being associated with someone has been sufficient justification for people to lose their jobs, to lose their insurance and bank accounts, etc.

So, as things go forward in our nation I urge all of you to consider the ramifications to yourselves, to members of the staff, to the site because of the words you choose to share publicly. I continue to encourage you all to show respect to other members and to our communities as a whole. I urge you to NOT participate in any activity that would bring discredit to the firearms community because we know there are those just waiting for any reason they can twist to revoke this precious freedom we have.

Thank you.

Ginsue

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Amen and GOD Bless

There's an old curse: May you live in interesting times. We are unfortunate enough to be living in interesting times. While I don't advocate submission to the coming shitstorm, sometimes discretion is a better tactic. The nail that sticks up is the one that gets the hammer.