Why is abusive, negative content allowed?

Interesting and nuanced points of view to think about, but i still think that you must face the "troll" yourself instead of warning the moderator. But it is good there is an option for reporting.

@tantejuut  'Facing the troll' is what trolls want. Its how they feed. OTOH simply reporting them is effective.

Depending on the country, you might be disappointed to find that if he is in public space, that you cannot do that! Just because you don't like an opinion does not legally mean that it cannot be spoken.

This is not a public forum, so free speech does not exist here. I'm all for free speech too, but on an internet forum trolls jump in a mess things up, so free speech on an internet forum is really rare. So I don't mind giving up some of my free speech so I can participate here.


IOW moderation exists to keep the discussion relatively polite and on-topic, without trolling. Trolling BTW is any kind of post that induces anger, anxiety or the like simply for the sake of messing with people.


When everyone here signed off (clicked the 'Terms and Conditions' box) they did so with the full understanding that they gave up their free speech rights so they could participate on this privately-owned forum.

So this thread at least is helpful in that this is made clear; that there is good reason to report trolling (and since the moderators rarely participate in threads, the only way trolling will be stopped), name-calling, spam and the like. Just get used to the 'Report' button, and use it.

@russmaleartist  Since you've not been reading what preceeded your post, in fact there isn't 'FREE SPEECH' here or on almost any forum. The forums are on a website that is owned by someone and you have to abide by their posting rules, and those rules do not allow for unlimited free speech.


Trolling, as in the case of the topic of this thread, is the sort of thing that many forums do not allow.

@audiokinesis  and anyone else for that matter:

Just for the record, most forums don't allow free speech as stated in their guidelines when you agree to their terms and conditions to be on the forum.

Kenjit seems to be trolling audiogon- his posts are textbook examples. Not only are his OPs trolling, so are all of his succeeding posts in any thread.


I am a moderator on another site FWIW. Nearly all forum sites have rules like no religious or political comments, no swearing, no name calling, no trolling, no spam and so on. Some sites don't even allow the use of symbols to simulate swearing! So if anyone is disabused of the idea that there is free speech here, there isn't, plain and simple. There is speech that falls within the guidelines of the rules of the site.


Continuing to violate the forum rules can result in being banned. That's not free speech. You have to follow the rules since this is on a privately-owned site, like most sites.


Now take a look at my second paragraph above. Under forum rules, I cannot call anyone names or be abusive. But in the second paragraph by the use of the word 'seems' I made sure that I wasn't calling him a troll; this was to allow this post to stand according to the rules. A good moderator will see that this is treading a fine line, but that's how its done if you want a post to stand.