So the forum is now moderated? Is it really so difficult to simply ignore posts by trolls and scammers?

Looks like the term "Freedom of Speech" is now meaningless at GOG forums...

Why ain't that cute! Party like it's 1984!! :D

mmm, probably (I'm more into the "badge of honor" demographics ^o^) but it was more of a general observation as most of the forums on Internet have this feature.

But well, the GOG forum is a technical oddity on Internet :o)

If a person you are having a conversation with is temp banned or whatever,don't you think he/she would convey that message to you/someone via chat?

deleted

Freedom of speech is something afforded by very few countries laws in the world. It protects the citizens of that country from oppression of the government for expressing their views publicly. This means that the people in those countries can speak publicly about things freely without risk of government agents showing up at their door and arresting them for simply expressing their opinion about something.

Moderating Internet forums has nothing to do with repressing people from speaking freely. Every single person who shops at GOG has freedom to express themselves on Earth as much as is granted under the constitution of their country. What they're not granted by their country's laws is the right to force other people to hear what they have to say in a private company's Internet forum.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the legal framework known as "freedom of speech".

People are more than free to go get a free blog on http://blogger.com, a Twitter account or their own website or other medium to say anything they'd like to say to the world, as openly and freely as they wish to say it within the confines of their own government's laws, and the terms of service agreement of any service providers they may be utilizing to spread their message.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech - good idea for people to read this top to bottom before blindly throwing the term around and claiming their rights are being violated.

That depends on the conversations/people. Like the last time I was banned for one month, I got messages from users I was regularly interacting with but which weren't directly implicated in the current discussion as they saw my status. I'm personnaly not gonna send messages to people to tell them I'm banned for 48 hours or one week as I don't feel the need to make everyone know my "status" (I just take it as some vacation). Of course, I'm not really involved in the chat stuff on GOG so that might be different for people who regularly chat privately here.

Okay,fair enough but that still leaves you open for ridicule and attacks when they (the attackers) know you can't respond.You get attacked and ridiculed and a month later when you return,it's very very old news.

No, but the best way to do it is to move on to a forum that isn't filled with garbage. So then most of the good people leave, and all of the worst ones make their home here.

Here is the problem: You might be able to ignore posts that are a direct attack on you, but other people might not. This, in turn, will make other people prejudiced against you, and will therefore make your forum experience worse.

Also, hostile posts can make other people be reluctant to join the forum and participate; this is especially true if those other people happen to be of a marginalized group that is being attacked by the posts.

Aye, and it's something sacred. However, as you said, forum moderation has zip to do with it. Also, it's no coincidence that many countries that are top ranked concerning freedom of the press still have very explicit laws against hate speech (Finland (#1), Netherlands (#2), Denmark (#4), Sweden (#8); like in Germany (#16) or Austria (#11), e.g. Holocaust denial is strictly illegal and punishable in Switzerland (#7), e.g. Canada (#18) makes 'hate propaganda' punishable).

It's also no coincidence that the country that most prides itself with its freedom and freedom of speech especially as their greatest values only ranks #42 in the freedom of the press ranking. It will likely take a further bitter nosedive this year following the 2016 election and the self-proclaimed "war against the press" of the present administration.

I, uhm, upvoted your post because I think it was downvoted more than enough, but I'll join the chorus and will answer your rhetorical question in exactly the same way. Yes, it's literally impossible to simply ignore posts by trolls and scammers. They will make your experience worse even if and especially if you're taking great pains to avoid those threads and members, and they will influence your opinion even if it's just one guy stirring up all the shit. And I'll add that "trolls" i.e. the people that don't even want to be part of the community and are only here to disrupt, are only just a small part of the problem. :|

My problem is this is as I said earlier, a slippery slope... I can see a case for banning someone for spreading nazi sentiment or making death threats, of course I can. But where does it end? Where's the line? People are going to get banned just for some off the cuff curse words? Really? I swear when I get passionate about things sometimes, I don't direct them with malice towards individuals and I believe words can only offensive if there is intent behind them. Will the banhammer come own on a heated debate when an opinion or choice of words hurt someone's feefees? Or because a mod simply didn't like what someone said?

I'm already highly unhappy with GOG's curation system, a feature where I feel implicit biases are definitely at play, and I'm simply not yet convinced the forum mods know how to stay impartial. The fact TinyE got a ban already shows how restrictive the system has the potential to be.

Actually, will I even be allowed to express negative views on GOG now?

deleted

I meant criticizing GOG itself, not generally negative comments.

Ah good to be an American its weird seeing other countries take on freedom of speech.

I don't think so.Everyone and I mean EVERYONE has to be Mr,Mrs,Ms,Kiddies,nice or out you go.I just hope it doesn't get too sickening.