How to explain the concept of "my house, my rules" ?

How would you explain to a member who claims my immediate ban of their account without warning is "not fair and unacceptable". Sorry, but it's my forum and like my house - if you don't like my rules, then get out.

This person doesn't understand that concept and seems to think that the First Amendment extends to my forum.

 

"This is Pisoga, in Pisoga we have Pisoga rules, you don't like Pisoga rules, you're more than welcomed to press that exit button at your top right on Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari on windows and on your top left on Safari in a MAC, you can see it clearly that red button with a [X], or to make your life easier, press alt+f4."

 

Freedom of Speech clauses have never applied to private enterprises. They are designed for specific purposes. In the United States, they were implemented in the Bill of Rights after the British Crown censored and subjugated its subjects in the North American colonies. This censorship and taxes that were put into place to fight Britain's foreign wars were the two main reasons behind the American Revolution.

The second amendment of the United States is the best well known protector of Freedom of Speech in the world. Most charters and constitutions do not include the clause. In fact in the U.S., it is one of the first 10 amendments added to the Constitution to guarantee rights for all citizens. However it applies solely to speaking against the government and its institutions. Even that is under attack these days. However even with that, Freedom of Speech still has its limits, you can not spout falsehoods with impunity.

A forum is a private venue even if open to the public. It is afforded the same rights an privileges as a shopping center or other business. Most states in the United States provide the privilege of "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone". You can apply this to your forum as well. At the best, a forum community is a Benevolent Dictatorship. This means that the buck stops at one person who makes the final decision. Whether that is a lone Admin, the board of trustees in a corporation, the CEO or whatever. From my experience any organization that is completely consensus based withers and dies. You may be able to run with some democratic precepts but ultimately someone needs to make the final decision.

The idea of Freedom of Speech in a private venue is the last ditch attempt of someone who has no concept of what Freedom of Speech truly means or what it represents. It is mostly from American kids who spent 2 weeks learning about the Constitution and have no clue what the document is or represents to their way of life. Their approach is wrong and incorrect. When they pull the Freedom of Speech clause, they have already lost battle. That makes it very similar to Godwin's Law.

 

Just tell them "Freedom of the press belongs to the person who owns the press. This forum is my press."

 

Yep I use the same "My Forum my rules" analogy.

 

I tell 'em, you wanna pay my hosting bill and give me the $ for the license and time I've put into it, then and only then, can you tell me how to run my forum.

 

While I agree with your entire post, this part especially caught my attention and I even started a thread in that regard.

There is a 3rd option for forums in addition to consensus based & Admin making a decision. Moderators take it upon themselves to individually set policy and each have their own set of rules they implement. There is a forum that does that and while most normal people would tend to stay away, for some strange reason there are many that post on that forum. It is an incredibly odd situation that I find fascinating.

 

Quite honestly from college and such, first amendment has been adopted to the internet. Unless otherwise stated in your TOU/TOS or you site is hosted in another country, then they have a legit claim. Just depends on how you handle it and if they even know of adoptions to the net.

 

Can you back up this claim? Legally, the First Amendment does not extend to my forum, and that's a fact.

So it can't possibly have been adopted to the internet.

My site is not Congress, and my rules are not U.S. laws. Therefore, I can deny any speech I want in my car, in my house, in my backyard, or on my forum. Simple as that.

 

Humm, a 2 week ban sounds like its in order.

2 weeks later and still complaining? Hows a 1 month ban sound?

Still complaining after a 1 month ban, hows a 2 month ban sound?

Its my house and my rules - and one of my rules is that I do not argue.

 

Well they were instantly perma-banned for something else they did. Hence the claim that I'm not being fair.

I guess I'll just ignore them after explaining this whole concept in simple terms.

 

I can honestly tell you, that you're wrong. The internet=/= USA. People are international, why go by the first amendment when most people are not really from the same country?

On Pisoga I have people from, China, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Japan, Australia, Britain, Barbados, USA, Bahamas, South America, Central American, Africa and so on. The USA people, when ever I warn them for something they said wrong, they go with the whole American constitution, etc, etc. And TBH, I don't live in America, there are users who don't live in America, the internet IS NOT America, not everything revolves around America, no constitution applies on my site.

Constitution in PR is different from the American one.

So, no, the internet does not adopt anything, people just view it as such. I mean then, e-bullying would be accepted...? Freedom of speech no?

 

They have no claim if it is your territory. Are you saying that I can just go stand in the middle of the grocery store and proclaim how they hire illegal alients to clean and not be removed?

You can exercise your freedom of speech in your OWN venue online, not necessarily somebody else's.

If somebody wants to bring up free speech I tell them to head to the nearest park, stand on their soapbox, and preach on about my forum.