mike48t - I hear where you’re coming from about censorship, but after the landmark Pirate Bay case, webmasters have to be especially careful now, because it’s set a legal president that the big companies can point the finger at “hosts” of even links. Totally wrong in my opinion, but it’s far easier for them to do that than actually chase the real culprits. The law is an ass, they say though…
As for providing useful links, I find it’s always handy to contact the site admin or mods beforehand to check it’s ok. I know Jurdy is online most of the time it seems, so it wouldn’t take him long to reply with a “yay” or a “nay”. 😉
Although this forum is different in that it’s almost entirely adults who use it, the SI Games forum I moderate on, is used by a wide age range. Our youngest member is 7 years old, our oldest is 78. We have set in place “swear” filters, we strongly moderate unsuitable comments, such as racial hatred, rape, or bullying. They’re in place to protect the younger audience. Believe me, parents do complain if they see anything untoward, even though the forums have a disclaimer upon entry.
The problem these days, Somebody or someone, somewhere, must always be held to account, even within the internet. It does lessen the “freedom” we would all like to see on the internet and I’m all for less censorship. Unfortunately it’s usually the case that there’s always a minority who spoil things for everyone else.
Recently we received a lot of complaints on the SI Games forums because another user posted a link to download files for the game. That in itself wasn’t a problem, but the file host they used featured lots of XXX rated porn adverts. Obviously there were a lot of upset parents who were’nt happy when they saw the link and the ads, thus asking for it to be taken down.
Ultimately it depends on the nature of the forum and it’s audience. The particular area that I moderate is pretty free of problems normally, but I occasionally have to oversee other areas of the forums, which are a problem. Whenever anyone signs up to any forum, most have guidelines or rules, which if the user doesn’t agree with, then it’s up to them if they sign up or not. There’s no excuse if they feel aggrieved when they go against those rules or guidelines, so it’s fair enough it the admin/mods take issue.