When You Have to Duke It Out Online With The Right Wing

[ancianita]

Moderation v. Discretion v. Censorship: They're Not The Same

Moderation
Moderation is a platform operator saying "we don't do that here ... a conversation ender. If you are the newcomer and someone who has been around a long time says "we don't do that here", it is hard to argue. This sentence doesn't push my morality on anyone. If they want to do whatever it is elsewhere, I'm not telling them not to. I'm just cluing them into the local culture and values.


Discretion
Discretion is you saying "I won't do that there". Some people might think of discretion as self-censorship. But that phrasing focuses on the negative idea of chilled speech. I prefer to think of discretion as an act of personal restraint. What makes discretion different from censorship? In the example above, Joe wouldn't have faced any legal fallout for his reply if he had posted it. No one forced him to not post the reply. He made his choice based on whether he wanted to face negative social consequences. Joe took responsibility for his actions and showed restraint all on his own.


Censorship
Censorship is someone saying "you can't do that anywhere" before or after threats of either violence or government intervention. Lawsuits. Arrests. Fines. Jail time. Threats involving any of those four. Any one of those things suck more than an industrial-strength vacuum cleaner. When they're attached to speech, they become the tools of censors.

Moderation As "Censorship"
Some people refer to moderation decisions that affect them as "censorship" because they feel they've been censored. Maybe they think a platform punished them for holding certain political views. Maybe they think a platform punished them for bigoted reasons. Whatever the reason, those people feel that losing their spot on the platform is censorship. But they're not angry about losing their right to speak. (Twitter, Facebook, etc. can't take that away from them, anyway.)

... opinions should be discussed, debated, and even changed.
Think of this, then, as an opening for that debate. Use this as a springboard to form your own opinions, and share them in the comments. Agree with me? Great. Disagree with me? Even better?—?because through disagreement and reasoned discussion, we can improve and refine our opinions.
But don't get mad if one of your comments gets flagged. That isn't censorship?—?it's moderation, working as intended.


More details:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200521/10454244546/moderation-v-discretion-v-censorship-theyre-not-same.shtml?fbclid=IwAR020Yb5n-LcwSehve6GIhX4hw8opIJzV2TS-RE7o1jHOoqG2_v94UfEHtA

[Chainfire]

1. I might want to respectfully suggest

That before posts are shut down, that they be given the benefit of the doubt, where sarcasm may be involved. Sometimes you may expect the reader to work a little for the meaning without the benefit of an emoji.

[ancianita]

2. I agree.

I'll often ask someone why they say what they do. Just to see the reasoning behind their posts.