* * * censorship * * *

[Riverwind (imported)]

On Censorship, THE FINAL WORD

The name is this site is the EUNUCH ARCHIVE.

It is not YOUR PERSONAL POLITICAL SOAP BOX.

Having said that remember that EUNUCH CENTRAL is the main thread on this site, it is the reason we are here.

This is not a site for FREE SPEECH, you do not have first amendment rights here, there are rules.

I don't always agree with the monitors of this board but I will ALWAYS respect there decisions, there is a right way and wrong way to complain, bitch, etc. and airing your bitch publicly is not it.

For those of you who call these good people the THOUGHT POLICE let me tell you, its a damn good thing they don't put me in charge of the political board, for one I would need to take a neutral position and keep my mouth shut which would put me off and some of the post I read would be hammered right from the start. And the first person who accused me of being the THOUGHT POLICEMAN WOULD BE BANNED. I would not put up with that kind of insult. The monitors are in many cases a lot more tolerant then I am that's for damn sure. There are other political sites on the web, go there look around, see the name calling, see just how ugly it is, there is a reason people like this site, if you don't like or the rules, YOU DON'T have to stay here, nobody is twisting your arm forcing you to do something against your will.

The political thread is a privilege not a right, right now the staff is split on if it should stay or if it should be removed altogether, so keep it clean and nice or I will change my vote and it will be gone forever.

The rules on the political board and for that matter this site is simple, attack the issue not each other.

If someone gets banned they asked for it and they were warned first. The RULES on this site are not going to change.

River the Pissed

[Paolo]

I realize that common sense is in rather short supply lately, so let me explain some things that contributed to the recent banning of a few members.

First – we do not allow minors to participate on the forums. We cannot, however, stop them from finding The Archive and reading it. We cannot prevent this any more than we can prevent them from going to Google’s home page. We cannot prevent them from landing here through a search for “castration”, “hormones” or a combination of similar terms. The only thing we can do is not let them post, and if they do slip through and reveal themselves, then all we can do is say, “Come back when you are 18 and until then, stay out of trouble!” Of course, that membership must then be banned. Can they create a new one from a new IP? Yes, and we may never know. Such is the nature of the Beast known as The Internet. If you post on a forum that you are <18, though, you are going to get booted.

Second – Trolling. If we suspect that you are a Troll, or seem to be setting yourself up as one, you’re going to be warned. And warned. And warned again. Then you will get booted.

Third – complaints from other users about conduct or post content. If you tend to ignore warnings from Staff and maintain the behavior, then you’re going to be banned. One example would be setting yourself up to be a cutter, or a real doctor, while offering no real proof of the latter, and ignoring requests to stop what you’re doing. Sending scathing email and/or PM’s to Staff won’t help with this, either.

Fourth – tied into third – we are NOT responsible for YOUR actions in real life. Period. If you choose to drink, smoke, have indiscriminant sex, drive fast, and jaywalk, and then you get sick or run over or arrested or whatever, that’s not OUR problem. It is YOURS.

Example: Let’s say Tommy is 23 and takes out a membership. Tommy makes posts about his gender identity and gets advice. Fine. He reads about chemical castration. Fine. He should be here reading about it. It would be a bad thing if he just ran right out and cut off his balls with a chainsaw. No one wants that. So he reads about “love potion #9” here and finds he can buy it online with no prescription. Such is the nature of business on the ‘Net. He can do that. He’s an adult. He can decide to take the potion or not. If there are side effects, and he reads the directions, then takes it, it is NOT OUR problem if his hair turns purple or his ears fall off. IE, me, Kristi, River, Talula, Jesus, NO ONE held him down and poured the potion down his throat. HE took it HIMSELF. No one made him do it. All this site did was offer advice in how to “get the feel” of castration while still being able to “go back to normal” after brief trial run. Real castration is forever; a few months of a drug regimen is reversible.

In case no one noticed, that is why this site is here. What YOU decide to do with the information is up to YOU.

What we are responsible for is keeping BAD information off of the forums. Some examples would be discouraging DIY-surgery or allowing “cutters” to advertise here. We are also responsible for dealing with complaints from members who feel harassed.

It takes a LOT to get yourself banned. It really does.

I would also offer this last statement to anyone who thinks that we're all just a bunch of ban-happy idiots. YOU don't know what's going on in our PM's or email that can contribute to someone being banned. So before you start throwing accusations around, stop for a moment and take the time to realize that all administrative actions are carefully considered, and all communications taken into account before any action is ever taken.

[Riverwind (imported)]

Paolo, your post on this subject was sure nicer then mine, did we have a role reversal?

Well I hope everybody heads your words.

or

They could suffer mine.

River

[Arab Nights (imported)]

Those are very reasonable points, Paolo. I thank God I am not in your shoes and having to put up with a lot of nonsense. Having said that, any comments on the following: If somebody did all the cranky stuff, got banned and upon reflection decided that, yes, they needed to clean up their act. Could that person get re-instated and how would they do it? I realize that this is a highly unlikely situation because mostly problem people are problem people and will be problem people all of their lives(see how nice I can be - I am editing the descriptive Anglo Saxon I normally use). But, just to say it happens once in a blue moon, could and how would that person get back in?

[Paolo]

But, just to say it happens once in a blue moon, could and how would that person get back in?

By sending an email with a valid subject line and a sincere apology.

No one's ever tried it, and I keep waiting to see one.

Emails that keep ranting on the issues that got 'him' banned won't do it...

[Dave (imported)]

I'm not a terribly complicated person. What you see is what you get. (Not the avatar, that's my fantasy)... But as one of the "raging, prolific political" posters, this is what I think.

1) Politics isn't everything. It isn't my life. I don't want it to fill all of my time or come to possess me. However, I'm not shy about voicing an opinion.

2) This isn't a public board. It's private. Even the largest political blogs will block you if you say the wrong things. There are always rules to participate in discussions. Every web site that lets you post your comments (pause) is someone else's web site. If you want to say anything and everything that comes into your mind, get your own web site. That sounds insulting and rude but it isn't. Your words belong to you and not EA and not me and not Daily Kos or anyone else. If you want your words posted uncensored, create your own website.

2) The people who read and post on the EA have a common interest and they want to read about those common interests. Now we might have the opportunity to post about politics for favorite pizza, or top ten movies or the latest joke making the rounds, but that is fluffiness to the board. Gender issues, nullification, sex drives, castration, transitions and all the other EA issues are the meat of the board. (I probably forgot some issues, if so, it doesn't mean more than my list isn't all inclusive.) To come back to my point, the people who read and post on the EA board want to read about those issues. The fluffiness, the face-to-dace meetings are all part of the subject matter of the EA. The fluffiness is getting to know people and getting to understand them. We should appreciate the differences between people and enjoy them for being special, for not being "us"...

3) Politeness helps. Rereading and reviewing a post before posting helps.

4) What happened last year on the politics board was outrageous from all points of view. It was the prime example of that old saying "Never discuss politics or religion." It was a raging pit of screaming and yelling and vituperation and obnoxiousness. Not that I agreed with the shutdown. That stung because I couldn't gloat over the results. However, I ain't fragile or delicate. I quickly got over it. The EA isn't here for me to get my political jollies. That was my realization. the EA is here to inform people about loss of testicles, sexual desire, by choice or by accident or by disease.

5) No one is going to let you post instructions on how to commit crimes or how to permanently damage yourself and die trying. You can't skate up to that edge and think you'll get away with it. WHY? Because there are real stories of near death experiences that you should avoid.

Pittsburgh had a court case where the "cutter" called an ambulance after he got in over his head. The Judge (being a wise person) still convicted the cutter for not having a medical license, etc... but gave him a lecture and put him on notice, next time was jail. The Judge also lecture the person for being foolish and not using proper medical channels. The reason is obvious. It is the duty of a person to the society they live in to see that they do not harm another by a foolish act. Now I repeat: No one is going to let you post instructions on how to commit crimes or how to permanently damage yourself or another and die trying. You can't skate up to that edge and think you'll get away with it.

6) I almost don't care to know exactly why "MOI" got banned. It's the same as I don't care what my neighbors do inside their houses or on their properties. They are law-abiding citizens and it's their property. I don't even look or try to watch. Life is too short.

[Paolo]

Thank you, Dave.

[randy (imported)]

By sending an email with a valid subject line and a sincere apology.

No one's ever tried it, and I keep waiting to see one.

Silly question, but how would the banned person know that is all they had to do? Being banned from reading this message and all.

[Batman (imported)]

By sending an email with a valid subject line and a sincere apology.

No one's ever tried it, and I keep waiting to see one.

Emails that keep ranting on the issues that got 'him' banned won't do it...

It would seem to me the people who are likely to email an apology aren't the ones who are likely to ever get banned in the first place

Great Job Mods!

Batman

[JesusA (imported)]

Silly question, but how would the banned person know that is all they had to do? Being banned from reading this message and all.

Anyone can READ the Archive. Someone who has been banned cannot POST to the Archive. They can, however, write directly to the Archive moderators through a link on the front page.

Other than spammers, cutters advertising their services, and the under-aged, banning is a last resort only after trying to reason with the person. Posts are deleted only for good cause.

The only case that I was actively involved with was a few years ago. There was an Archive member whose personal hobbyhorse was that we needed to castrate little boys to return to the golden age of the castrati. He kept highjacking other threads to post on his favorite topic. His posts got pulled. He got warned. He kept at it, claiming that he personally knew young boys who had been castrated to preserve their soprano voices. He even sent photos of a couple of the boys to an Archive member who had given him an off-Archive email address, and who then forwarded them to me. (A forensic photographer conclusively demonstrated that the photographs were Photoshopped versions of photos of boys from a porn site.)

After increasingly strongly worded warnings, he was banned. Shortly after, he signed up again under two different names and began holding public conversations with himself on the Archive about important it was to castrate little boys. He's the source of the warning from Paolo about banning an entire country! The Internet service provider that he used is banned, though we still do have some members from his country.

The same individual also posted similar pleas to castrate little boys on a Renaissance music site. He may also have been (and may still be) posting such things somewhere on the Internet. He just won't be back here.