Inconsistent censorship of discussion entries

philgoddard wrote:

This post is not really about the need for censorship - we've discussed this many times before. I believe there is far too much of it, and we should be allowed to say whatever we like, within the bounds of courtesy.

But have you noticed how inconsistent it is? We can go on ad nauseam about the weather or our pets' health, and no moderator will censor us for indulging in non-linguistic discussion. But if you say anything polite but negative (eg 'It would have been far quicker and easier to Google this than to post a question on KudoZ'), it gets censored either as non-linguistic discussion, or, more ridiculously, as 'offensive and/or personal'.

So it's OK to say positive irrelevant things, but not negative irrelevant things.

What do you think?

Discussion of administrative actions taken by moderators or site staff should be carried out solely via the site's online support system. Administrative actions include rules enforcement actions in the forums and KudoZ, warnings or restrictions on posting or other rights, editorial adjustments to topic subject lines, the locking of certain forum threads, selection of topics to be featured on the home page, etc.

What about freedom of speech? There should not be censorship in the forums.

The forums are limited in scope and subject to rules. It is important to know that the site rules and scope have been in place for some time now, and they are there and enforced precisely in the interest of maintaining a positive, results-oriented workplace. The only way for this to happen is for those rules and the scope to be enforced consistently, and that is what moderators and site staff do.

This said, it should be noted that, within the framework of site rules and the aim of those rules, not everyone is going to be able to say whatever they want at ProZ.com. Keeping a positive, results-oriented translation workplace means that posters will not be able to swear, or to talk politics, or make offensive remarks in the forums, for example. There are other places to do that. Everyone has valid opinions, views and statements; but it should not be assumed that ProZ.com can be used to advertise these.

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