I do not think Fluther is censored. People can say whatever they want as long as its not a personal attack.

Yes

I look back at when I was a Fluther-reader only and saw questions moderated for being too “poll/social”. It took me a while to join the jellies and the separation of Social, General and Meta was a decisive factor.
Now I’ve been moderated in a General forum but not in Social or Meta (I’ve attracted a few detractors in PM, but that’s different). So. No. I think the moderation is apt and even-handed. If you have a response moderated as off-topic in General, you are free to rephrase it as your own question in Social or Meta.

As a mod, I’d like to reiterate a few things for the “fluther is sooo censored” crowd.

This site has three clearly-defined major sections.

The general section is supposed to be where people go to ask questions they want definitive, factual, non shooting-the-shit answers to. If you want to know how to fix your screwed up ‘88 Cutlass Supreme’s radiator, or how to find a good nightclub/restaurant/bootycall in (insert Metro area here), you post your question in General. If someone answers with offtopic, unhelpful, or otherwise inappropriate answers, the response is censored. This is for the good of the section and does not amount to the kind of semi-fascistic censorship that some claim.

If you want to have fun, you go to the social section. This is where you ask what kind of videogames people like to play, what people think of Stephen Colbert, or anything else that is more open-ended and “social,” just like the name says. Quips in the social section are only moderated if they are hurtful, spam, or damaging in some way and the guidelines are very relaxed. Banter is encouraged.

The meta section is reserved for 10k (or whatever number) parties, and questions directly related to Fluther itself. The guidelines here are much like the social section guidelines, but must still be relevant.

Every section, however, has writing standards. No txtspeek or any of that bullshit.

And it’s as simple as that. You wander off-topic, post something irrelevant, or you are unhelpful in general, you are modded. If you want to shoot the shit, go play in social. The guidelines of this site are readily available and everyone should be aware of them. The reason Fluther is as good as it is, is because of this aforementioned moderation. Nobody wants Fluther to wind up like Yahoo Answers: infested with trolls, spammers, and morons who can’t spell their own username.

That said, If anyone has evidence of what they interpret as censorship, show it to me and I’ll happily address it.

And thanks for asking this, @iamthemob. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to make this distinction.

Depends on your idea of censorship.

Do we remove things that people say? Yeah.
Do we remove things that people say because of their disagreeing viewpoints? No.

Those fucking fuckheads better fucking not if they fucking know what’s fucking good for them, gosh darnit.

Jeruba once put it best, I think. I cannot remember exactly how she worded it but she basically said something along the lines of fluther being like a newspaper or any other publication. There is no censorship, but there is editing. Would you call it censorship if the new York Times refused to print an article that was rife with typos, full of racial slurs or openly attacking someone? No, you would not. However, on the internet, people think they should be able to do and say whatever the hell they want.

I suppose technically you could say it is but all censorship is not created equal. I don’t think the site attempts to suppress ideas or the expression of them but self-censorship, the ability to control the desire to verbally pummel people with vitriol and bile, to spew instead of speak, something that civilized should be able and something we have to be able to do in order to talk meaningfully to one another, well, If people can’t do it themselves then fluther does it for them. I think sometimes people think that questions have been pulled because they are controversial when really the have been pulled because they were badly written or written in a way that inflames tempers rather than inspires intelligent answers and discussion.

And the constitutions guarantees that our speech can’t be suppressed by the government. Private entities are a different story. And the constitutional guarantees of free speech most certainly doesn’t guarantee you a right to “text speak freely” Those can all go, if you ask me. I will not lay down my life to defend your right questions like “do u thnk Jess <3 me?”

Damn. Now I am in suspense: does Jesse love Lilly? I must know.

@seazen no, i get over the sad can i?

I think there’s censorship at Fluther, but it’s censorship that I mostly agree with.

I support the deletion of ethnic insults and other personal attacks, because I also find them objectionable, and they’re not necessary to express one’s views in one’s own words.

E.g., one can argue against same-sex marriage here, but not by channeling Fred Phelps.

Not me, why I can say in a loud steady voice without fear of censure twatty cunt cock fuck! My that felt good, may use it as my morning mantra :¬)

@ucme Though you might get modded in the general section for that one unless the question was something like: “I’m interested in replacing my current rather tame and boring morning mantra with a new obscenity laced morning mantra. Does anyone have any good suggestions?” Then you’d be o.k. there, too, I would think. Both on topic and helpfu!

@lillycoyote Preaching to the converted. I’m sure someone asked that very question though.

@ucme I hope that didn’t come across as preachy, it wasn’t meant that way. It was a joke. I was just temporarily out of emoticons. But I checked between the couch cushions and found two of these

;-),

those and 78 cents, a nasty, lint-covered lemon drop and my AA battery charger (I been looking all over for that!) ;-)

@lillycoyote Good god no, of course it didn’t. I’m just teasing you. Maybe I should’ve utilised ;¬} too!

@ucme Cool! You want a lemon drop?

@lillycoyote Yeah why not? Just to show there’s no bitterness…..ahaha you see what I did there? Oh never mind :¬)

The site seems to have very strict standards when it comes to sentence structuring and shit like not getting off topic, however, I don’t think it’s censored when it comes to people voicing views and opinions, which I assume that, when one speaks of censorship on here, relates hugely to that. (I know I used to think it, but I do see things differently as of now.)
That’s what’s important, right? Talkin’ bout whatever we want as long as we’re not trolls or don’t speak in L33t?

I was convinced for quite a while that there was favoritism goin’ on here; and I still am.

But not from the mods, so that’s irrelevant at this point, because not putting shit in the right section and having that acted upon ain’t censorship.

That, and I probbaly swear the most on here out of all of you, yet nobody does anything about it. That’s just saying beyond the opinion and view thing though, which I think is the most important, and indeed respected on here.

I don’t.

@Symbeline

Interesting – what are you talking about when you state “favoritism”, since it’s not coming from the mods.

I think it’s particularly relevant, considering that both the community and the moderators contribute jointly in the modding and flagging system. Therefore, the community part in it is a very relevant part of the discussion.

@iamthemob, I think she is referring to the “cliqueyness” of Fluther, which is actually an existent phenomena. It’s not really a problem, per se. That sort of thing is bound to happen on any social website.

If that’s the case…then yes, yes…I agree. ;-)

Yeah that’s what I meant. It does happen indeed on all social network sites, but Fluther is smaller than most, so it kinda sticks out a bit more. :/ Still, I wouldn’t be here if it bothered me that much.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Yes, I found the “cliqueyness” very off-putting when I first came to fluther. And I found it a rather unwelcoming place, to be honest. That may have been, in part, because I was part of the wis.dm invasion, which I think was problematic for everyone. It was four or five months before anyone here, who wasn’t someone I knew from wis.dm added me to a fluther. Did I add anyone to my fluther in that time? No, I must confess, I didn’t. Some of that was pure cussed stubborness, I admit. They won’t add me to their fluther? Well, I’m sure as hell not going to add them to mine!! But I might have, if I had felt more welcome, but I stuck it out and now, for better or worse, whether you like me or not, I’m a member of the community and I’m here to stay.

But I think that @Symbeline is right to a certain extent, about cliques. But I don’t think that people having “cliques”, having their own circle of friends and favoring them is anything out of the ordinary, not for an online community and not for any group of people who are connected to each other in real life. If the mods are not playing favorites, and I don’t think they are, then the rest of it is just the same kind of crap that you have to deal with with people anywhere, online or in real life. That’s just the way people and the world works. There’s not much you can do except make your own way in whatever “world” you happen to be inhabiting at the time. It won’t always be fair and I certainly believe that “life isn’t fair” is neither a very good excuse for much of anything nor is it much of a consolation for most things. You just choose your battles, try not to get too bent out of shape about the stuff that doesn’t really matter all that much and carry on.

End of rant.

The above is an answer and a response to something, I’m just not entirely sure that it’s an answer and response to something someone asked or said on this thread. My apologies if it isn’t, but now that I’ve gone to all the trouble and bother to think it through and to type it all out I’m just going to click the “Answer!” button and send it off.

You are all in my clique. Just sayin’. <3