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Weekly Musing: Free Speech, the 2-Way Street
Electro Lemon | 1:47 PM on 08.29.2009 21 comments




It's been a while since I've written anything on Destructoid that wasn't an embed tag followed by a sentence, but this Monthly Musing article struck a chord with me, even moreso than the "I suck at games" topic from last month. Online communities and the people that inhabit them have always gotten flack for both adhering to stereotypes and making asses of themselves.

And yet, somehow Destructoid has managed not to fall into this pit of despair. It's no secret that I'm a complete and total Destructoid fanboy, (and it's even less of a secret that I hate Kotaku) but what has the Destructoid community done to earn my devotion and respect? And why aren't other online gaming communities treated in the same respect?

Destructoid completely and totally honors free speech. Whether you're claiming CTZ hates black people or saying that Brad Nicholson eats children for breakfast, you won't get banned (or disemvoweled; seriously, what!?) for saying it. And that's how I believe online communities can better themselves- by allowing their members to speak freely about anything, whether it's as simple as "omg this is not news u guys" or as long winded as "jim h8s sony jim h8s sony jim h8s sony jim h8s sony, etc." Censorship only creates controversy, and the last thing anyone wants to see is a large user base fall out because of it.

However, it's a two-way street for a reason. The members of online communities need to realize while that free speech means you can voice your opinion without getting a banhammer beatdown, there's a right and a wrong way to do so. The perfect examples for both can be found in the Destructoid review of Prototype. (If you made the mistake of not commenting intelligently, I'm not blocking out your name. Suck it up.)

The right way to voice an opinion is to calmly state your opinion. All caps are a huge no-no. Unless your caps lock is mangled or Billy Mays died yesterday, you're better off not yelling at others who will in-turn, hand your ass back to you. Being diplomatic and calmly refuting what the original post says is much better than calling them names and hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. Also, you notice how both of these comments start? "I found/I thought..." It's never an outright "THIS IS WHAT IT IS." Your opinions belong to you and no one else.




The wrong way is much easier. It doesn't take too much effort to be a douchebag, so a sentence or so should do it. State your opinion indirectly, claiming that your word is law and anything else is tyranny. Always make sure to come back to the post you commented on so that you can yell at people who yell at you, otherwise, no one will take you seriously. Don't worry about grammar or spelling, though. No one's going to take you seriously if you can spell words at a 2nd grade level.




Learning and honoring the right way to use your powers of free speech is much better for everyone. Anyone would rather hear a calm "I disagree" than an ouright, raging "FUCK YOU ARGHHHH!"

Online community managers aren't in the clear, though. While you realize the right and wrong ways to voice opinions, just because someone talks like an asshole doesn't mean you need to clear them out of the way. Banning and disemvoweling for flaming and trolling isn't going to help the situation anymore than finding out where they live and punching them in the face would. I understand that bans are a necessary part of keeping a community running, but you should probably keep that for spam and comments that are meant entirely to disrupt a discussion or break the site.

Long story short, it's up to both the people who inhabit the internet and the managers that keep them in line to ensure that the internet doesn't turn into a giant wasteland of spam and irreverent thought. If you're going to be part of a community, treat it like you would a crowd of people. Don't be a dick and say they're wrong for voicing an opinion. That doesn't mean you have to be subservient; the great thing about free speech is that it has little consequences. Getting into a nice discussion doesn't have to become a war or words unless you make it so.

Kings and queens of the banhammer, learn how to wield your hammer (teehee) without being a tyrant. Don't disemvowel or ban people for saying what everyone's thinking. (e.g. This is not news, you're a racist, this is so biased, this is crazy wrong) or for disagreeing with you. Flaunting and threatening with the banhammer is as useful as adding "COMMENT HERE: REMEMBER THAT I CAN BAN YOU" to the end of every post, which is, well, not useful at all.

If everyone learns to follow these rules, the internet (and by consequence, the world) can be a better place for everyone. Except WiISucks.



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21 comments | showing # 1 to 21

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Zombutler's Destructoid Blog
Ths blg fckng scks, srsly, y cldn't mk gd blg f y tr.
(This user has been disemvoweled.)
Electro Lemon's Destructoid Blog
THS BLG S S GY
(This user has been disemvoweled.)
Sam Spectre's Destructoid Blog
Frntpg
(This user has been disemvoweled.)
PhazonYoshi's Destructoid Blog
aeiou
(This user has been voweled)
bleep's Destructoid Blog
Unless your caps lock is mangled or Billy Mays died yesterday,....

Ahhh Lemon...!!! LOL
walkyourpath's Destructoid Blog
I'm not seeing any comments. Must not be any star commenters in this thread.

Great post.
Electro Lemon's Destructoid Blog
I'm gonna fix those quotes, because the avatars just look tacky in there.
Usedtabe's Destructoid Blog
God I hate Kotaku, yet I somehow managed to be a "star" commenter. I even changed my name on the site to "I_Hate_This_Place" and they still don't get the picture. Good write up Lemon, you should do more cblogs.
Technophile's Destructoid Blog
yurp.
Magnalon's Destructoid Blog
Great ideas, Lemon. I fully support questioning the site: as I said in my "Why I love Destructoid" post, I won a contest by doing that.

In other news:

I also hate Kotaku.

Kotaku Check List
-News dump with hardly any opinion? Check
-Soul-less? Check
-Elitist for no reason due to the star system? Check
-News posts that involve "what Owen ate for lunch today, LOL" - Check
-Sensationalizing a year old report for hits? Check

Great website that Kotaku.
eternalplayer2345's Destructoid Blog
The wiisucks bit made me laugh, good job lemon.
Qraze's Destructoid Blog
i love you buddy but this is completely bullshit. is hoborg still around? we may have a freedom of speech in the streets but here we can get banned just like Heretic did, why was he banned again? because he used his freedom of speech to speak what "he wanted" and we know what happened to him, Heretic exercised his freedom. your hearts in the right place, but this is fuckin video games, not medical marijuana. freedom of speech does not exist here.
Electro Lemon's Destructoid Blog
@eternalplayer I was going to say "Except TheBez, but fuck that guy" but the non-IRCers wouldn't have gotten it.
Electro Lemon's Destructoid Blog
@qraze I'm pretty sure Heretic was banned for flaming and spamming. CTZ, correct me if I'm wrong.
NihonTiger90's Destructoid Blog
wsm pst, lmn. wnt 2 hv r bbs
This post had been disemvoweled and forwarded to Dateline NBC's To Catch A Predator)
Electro Lemon's Destructoid Blog
Updated the photos. I'm applying for colleges right now, but I'll be back to say more ina few minutes, assuming this hasn't been bumped off of the front page of the blogs.
Magnalon's Destructoid Blog
@Qraze
Hoborg was banned because he did nothing but incite flame wars on a constant basis. He openly admitted he hated the community, and wanted to bring it down. If there was a textbook definition of "elitist that drives away members", he was it.
Qraze's Destructoid Blog
"He openly admitted he hated the community, and wanted to bring it down."

that's exactly the point! he typed what he thought and was banned for it, it that's freedom of speech here look where it got him. same thing with heretic, and even ron for that matter. so what you're saying if someone brings to the table things he don't agree with its okay to ban him based on mob mentality?

don't get me wrong, i love dtoid but i know if someone came and wrote blogs that included his hate for europeans, blacks, mexicans, irish, chinese or whatever people he hated and made it point or not to include it, he would be banned in two shakes of a cat's tail. its one thing to love dtoid, its another thing to be ignorant to the truths around it and think we have any rights here other to view news. i can understand banning for spamming but heretic wasn't a spammer trying to sell nike shoes with every post.
Electro Lemon's Destructoid Blog
Heretic did spam. He posted the same comment a shitton of times in blogs before he was banned. And as Magnalon said, Hoborg was banned because his only purpose was to ignite conflict and bring down the community. Just as freedom of speech exists, there are limitations. For instance, you can't say "I will kill ____." for obvious reasons. For the same reasons, you can't claim to try to bring down the community, and attempt to follow through. But you make a good point, which is why I will do this;

On Joystiq, Kotaku, and Destructoid, I will find three articles on the same/similar thing, and leave the same comment on each. The comment will be purposefully flammatory, ignorant, fanboyish, and incredibly rude. But you'll see exactly what I mean, in that other places' restrictions are much more restricted than Destructoid's. I'll even leave links to them in this comment section. If I'm wrong, I'll take my punishment (ban, disabled commenting, whatever) on Dtoid as I deserve.
Qraze's Destructoid Blog
oh i know how the other sites are worse this dtoid, i was just meaning freedom of speech on any website and any community or forums are just the farthest things from freedom of speech. i'm a member of another forum that actually promotes freedom of speech and expression but still isn't perfect. especially when it comes to editors, they got the free pass, more than we do.

but anyways, hows dems weather where your at?
Electro Lemon's Destructoid Blog
DEM WEATHERS BE FIIIIIIIIIIIINE


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