Forums
Welcome to the About.com Civil Liberties Forum! Think of this as your opportunity to blog on civil liberties issues in front of a critical, diverse audience. Please also feel free to comment on what you see on the About.com Civil Liberties site--the good and the bad.
FAQ
- Q. What happened to all the old posts?A. They're in a private archive, pending review. Because the About.com Civil Liberties Forum had been unmoderated for some time by the time I came on board in March, there were thousands of inappropriate posts--copyrighted material, lengthy white supremacist tirades, nasty flamewars, and so on--among the 230,000 on the site. If there's a specific thread you miss and would like to see added to the public archive, please contact me and I'll see what I can do.
- Q. What should I do if I want to report someone for violating site rules?A. Email me privately.
- Q. May I promote my product or Web site here?A. As a general rule, no--but you can always publicize this sort of thing by adding it to your signature. I also sometimes highlight particularly useful books or web sites, so please always feel free to email me if you want to bring something to my attention.
- Q. Hey, I just posted but my message isn't in the forum. What gives?A. Because of the number of very prolific problem users we've had over the past year or so, I've been forced to set up moderation--think of it as a tape delay--requiring me to see and approve posts before they appear on the forum. Trusted contributors generally get their "tape delay" disabled so that their posts appear on the forum immediately.
- Q. How can I edit my signature?A. After you've logged in, click on "My Preferences" in the upper right hand corner. It's about halfway down on the first page.
- Q. This is a civil liberties site. Why aren't my First Amendment free speech rights protected here?A. For roughly the same reason your First Amendment right to freedom of assembly doesn't let give you the right to use my livingroom to host a birthday party. The First Amendment restricts only the government, not use of private property. Atheism and Agnosticism Guide Austin Cline explains things very well in this article.
- Q. But don't you recognize any concept of free speech here?A. We value a forum centered on honest, open discussion and diversity of ideas, both of which are disrupted by personal attacks, hate speech, and other forms of inappropriate behavior. Generally speaking, the kinds of "free speech" that run afoul of guidelines actually interfere with other users' participation in the forum.