This post may be deleted, this thread may be locked, I may be banned. But I am going to say what I know needs to be said. Freedom of speech is a very important thing, i hold it near and dear to my heart. I exercise it daily, but that does not mean that I do not think before I speak. GrassCity is not a democracy, we are allowed to participate in these forums because a certain individual allows us to. He pays the bills, he makes the rules. Let us be very clear of one thing, this is not here for our pure enjoyment, these forums are used primarily as a marketing tool of GrassCity. It is paramount that we understand this. I despise censorship in all of its forms. I believe that when you silence someone you are not only taking away their right to speak, but also others right to listen and hear their opinion. No matter what is said the truth will always remain that, the truth. Silencing people does nothing but bring skepticism to the regime of the censor. There have been a lot of words said on this forum recently about censorship and 'conspiracies', resulting in countless lockings and numerous bans. This will probably be added to that list, although I strongly feel that it shouldn't. The City is not a democracy, we have no true say in what happens. To compare the moderators to Nazis is horrifying to say the least, comparing such a tragedy to something so trivial as an online web forum. But to some of this, it is our home. I spend a lot of time here and I have grown to respect many people, including the moderating staff who devote so much time to here without pay. It is because of these very people that you call 'Nazis' that there is some degree of order here. You scream blatant censorship one moment and demand a thread be locked the next. Hypocrisy will never go out of style. So what is this long post about? Is it just another stoner trying to 'make peace'? No my friends. What this is is a plea to those of us who realize that fighting with each other on this issue is not the answer. Objective and constructive criticism should not only be given, but needs to be given to both sides. We are not free here, and because of this we need to tread softly. Feelings can easily be hurt, friendships can easily be ended, and accounts can easily be closed. Respect is needed. Respect the members around you. Respect the moderators who help keep this forum together. Think before you say, i think if we did that there would be a lot less stupid posts. Until one side decides to present their problems articulately and accurately, and the other side agrees to listen and be open minded, we will continue to tear this forum apart. This is my way of saying, i dont want that to happen. "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. " ~Voltaire
im relativly new to the city and have really had nothing but a positive experiance so far. with that said i understand censorship is wrong, and you should be able to peacefully protest censorship, but to compare the administrator of this site, a citezen of the netherlands, a people who are very senitive to the nazi occupation during world war 2, to compare him tp hitler and the gestapo, is not only childish, but oppresive and bigoted, and for that alone they deserved thier ban.
Great post man, could not have said it any better myself. I agree with you 100% on that. +REP is more than deserved here.
Hello I am pretty new here and do not know or want to know what happened with the banning. But having been on other Marijuana sites I can tell you that this place is a lot more open to having people express their opinions. In fact I would go so far to say as this site has more freedom of speech than most sites around. If you want to learn where real censorship is for marijuana sites I would be happy to refer you to the site I was on. More than half of what you read here would be deleted on that site. This place is very open. Yes it is a business, Yes this place uses this forum to get search engine ranking. That is just wise business. I would not even know about grasscity unless this forum was here. I hate people getting banned as much as the next person. But this place is a hell of a lot more open than other sites. I am not trying to piss anyone off but I wanted to express this. I will still smoke with any of you who disagree. It is okay to have different opinions.
You obviously did not read what I said. The point is, that if one side opens their mind a little bit, and the other side presents their arguments properly avoiding the dreaded Ad Hominem flaw. It can be argued that this is no censorship, it is merely removing stupid posts that do not present criticisms, but present a pure negative energy. Present your argument coherently and properly, and if it still removed, then we move into the realm of censorship of ideas.
Dude if this is in regards to the other night, I still have no fucking clue why all that shit started, all I know is that I defended the city, and it got me no thanks whatsoever Voltaire FTW! lol
[quote name='Tokinblue'] Thank you to the few members who are actually sticking up for us. You got thanked, just not personally
Hey bro, great post man. I don't think there is one thing in your post that I disagreed with. Props bro. You defend GC for thanks? You don't need to be thanked to know you are a good GC member.
no I was -repped, that's what I meant by that. It just kinda felt like a little slap in the face. I mean WTF...
Oh understood, I saw your posts in that thread. You cool in my book Jolly, we need more cool heads on here like you . That thread had some valid points in there but all the other shit in there completely voided those points. That's all I'm going to say about that. Said and done, end of story. Let's move on.
thanks man, the whole thing was just outrageous, oh well. I miss some of the recently banned though, a few of them were nice blades..
I said I wouldn't say anything more about that but one more thing. I too will miss some of those blades. Defstones was cool in my book as well.