Will You Speak Up Against myLot Censorship?

That's quite strange! I haven't looked into abortion threads, however there are a lot of close-minded people on this site, so that may be why you see so many anti-choice responses. Yet if your posts are getting marked or deleted as you say, the censorship problem is worse than I thought! Stay strong, Tanya8.

Immature people -- you're right about that! Thank you for speaking up.

OK, in fairness to the people behind myLot, I've now found out it's not just my pro-choice posts that have disappeared. Some of the nice, boring ones have disappeared too.

You're joking, right? Please tell me you are joking.

You don't. No, and I am not joking some of the postings are very strange and could entertain on the verge of ... God Bless

Very interesting: the first response to this discussion was deleted this morning. Three of us had been commenting back and forth, and someone must not have liked what vikingswest wrote, because now the whole response is missing. How ironic.

Whether it's good business or not -- which it won't be, if it drives intelligent people off -- it's still censorship.

You think names of body parts should be censored? Why? You think discussions you don't agree with should be deleted without notice? Why?

I'd have to agree with the above statement, even though I think any owner of any website has the right to determine what is "allowed" and what is "not allowed". I have come across some posts with the "F-bomb" that are allowed, but correct anatomical names are not-but not even all of them-it seems almost random what will be "flagged" and what won't.

Thank you, Weasel_Sponge.

Thank you; I agree.

One of the interests of mylotees is free expression. If they clamp down on certain harmless words or ideas that some people don't agree with, then myLot will indeed become a less user-friendly place. What if every post here was required to be about religion or cheese? The power of myLot lies in our ability to post on any topic; those who don't like the topic should skip it, not call for it to be censored or deleted.

I agree with thoughtprocess plus I agree with ssh. So, I think myLot should choose the middle path. They should I think let the members to delete what ever postings they dont like (rude answers or what ever irritates the owner of the discussion). This is only my thinking. Thanks.

i agree to thoughtprocess

Correct, "offensive" is in the eye of the beholder. Thanks for speaking up.

Yes, you have the right not to be exposed -- it's called closing your browser window.

I don't really agree with you. Just like you feel you have the right to freedom of speech. We also have the right to not be exposed to undesired content.

Read this discussion. Also see this: http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/90603.aspx and also http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/31911.aspx

Oh, it is a mistake, but probably not your mistake... :)

I had wondered why my post about s&m didn't show up...I thought it was just a mistake.

First, gay is not a slur, and second, abusive posts can be flagged and dealt with on a case-by-case basis, not though censoring entire topics or words.

First gay is a slur to a person that is not. And you are right it was an abusive post and has nothing to do with censorship.

So you think mentioning body parts is offensive? Because myLot apparently does.

There are no offensive body parts. Period. If anyone thinks there are, they should get off this site and go directly to therapy.

I guess it depends on the kinds of body parts people want to talk about.

Why in God's name would you think the name of any body part should be censored? Those are the real words -- they're not vulgar! You must be 16 or older to be on myLot; if you don't know the names of body parts by then, you've got bigger problems.

I am a teacher. I have taught s*x education to teens. I do know my body parts. I am married. I am a parent. I do have a teen. I have a personal opinion that certain words belong in certain contexts and certain company. Movies are rated for a reason. Sixteen is the age to belong to MyLot, but not the age to read on here. I also believe in MyLot's right to rule its self as it sees fit. If folks do not approve, the door is accessible. Respectfully, Jellen

The first one. It was censored out on me. I also believe the one you say of the female, ought to be censored. I am sure I do not want a young teen perusing this site with open opportunity to learn of s*xual information from questions and comments of no known origin. Better taught at home from parenting or instruction at school.

I understand. Things have changed with what they allow and what they don't. However it IS their call. I've seen alot of site degrade into anarchy offering nothing worthwhile for people to read. Mylot has seen alot of fast growth, of course it gets harder for them to filter things out. They may play it safe sometimes. I agree some words are used in a non-offensive way, and shouldn't be lumped in with derogatory uses. Especially when there are threads with no redeeming value that don't use foul language. Your last point was a good "never again" reference. If they start editing or deleting my words, I'll face the choice of adjusting myself or finding another place to hang out. But I won't be mad for the change. Maybe I've been around too long to be sensitive about it. Force

Touche! You made me dig through posts so I could re-read that thread. Nice work. I guess it's a matter of we have a different idea of censorship. Now if you said the government was after you or anyone else or this site for expressing yourself, but that's not what's happening. I am against cencorship. It was stated that a part of their decision-making process is reports from memberss' complaints. They probably wouldn't have a chance to see most of your posts if not for the reports. Sure you'll have people report you just because they disagree with you, but in the long run most regulars will be able to put differences aside when rating posts. You can get by the filters if there are any, Johnson is a fine word, so is junk, use your imagination! I don't think I had a change of heart, I just still see this as website trying to steer the content in their vision. If it goes in a direction that bores me I'll beat feet across the ether to another place. BTW I give your response a plus. Just for finding that post.lol Force

Yes, we should certainly be allowed to know what the "standards" are.

Just because it doesn't say it's censored doesn't make it true. As I said above, discussions have been deleted for no reason, and if the site script doesn't even allow me to post certain words, certain harmless words, even with the "mature content" checkbox checked, then that it certainly censorship.

yeah, they stop certain words no matter what. I figured out that you can say those words by putting underscores between the letters, like this: C_h_e_e_s_e do that with real bad words and it allows it. lol

Thank you. Do you have a solution? How can we fight back?

The only way to fight censorship is to continue with the discussions about it and what ever you felt was censored. As long as people feel strongly enough in their own opinion, the opinion of others will not be tolerated and therefore censored. It's a vicious cycle of who's right and everyone thinks they're right.

Why? One must be 16 or older to be here.

We shouldn't have to, that's what I say.