# How do you see the future of the SDMB in light of the current political situation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [February 20, 2025, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567 "2025-02-20T09:12:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/1 "2025-02-20T09:12:26Z")
The First Amendment in the US constitution protects free speech, the freedom of press and the right of people to peaceably assemble. Well and good so far. But there are some restrictions too. “The categories of unprotected speech include obscenity, child pornography, defamatory speech, false advertising, true threats, and fighting words. Deciding what is and is not protected speech is reserved to courts of law.” (ALA). In these days as we have come to know the courts of law are very much prone to abide to the interpretations of the law by the new president and his team. Allow me a look to the northeast of the map: Putin started rather early in his presidency to curb the (already minute) freedom of speech and then went on to declare media and organisations not completely aligned to his perspective as “foreign agents”. They were stripped of any support, were harassed by police, financial prosecutors on so on. Those involved who did not manage to escape into exile found themselves convicted to long-term imprisonment. So back to the US again: imagine one of the Musk youths comes across the SDMB, reads through the comments, finds that talk about the president in many cases is not really favourable, he might find obscenity or fighting words. Would it be possible that the SDMB is declared an enemy of America and the president? He who does everything in his power to make America great again? Could the SDMB be declared a lunatic fringe? Could it be harassed and persecuted? What if Trump repeatedly uses the whole arsenal of the IRS or the OSHA against the SDMB or its parent company? On the background of the new political system in the US this does not seem as completely out of the question to me. What are your thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/2 "2025-02-20T09:31:57Z")
Elon can’t even keep anti-Trump talk off of the website he owns. There are about 4,000 social media platforms to go through before you get to “fan website for a defunct column from a print newspaper owned by a nonprofit”. ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/3 "2025-02-20T09:45:28Z")
4000 media platforms can be declared illegal in one fell swoop. Trump and Elon consider themselves above the law. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/4 "2025-02-20T10:33:25Z")
Eventually it’ll be shut down, along with all other non-fascist media. That’s how fascists operate. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/5 "2025-02-20T10:57:35Z")
> [@LouMa](#): > > What if Trump repeatedly uses the whole arsenal of the IRS or the OSHA against the SDMB or its parent company? I don’t think he’ll use the government itself against any such opposition. Even for him, that might be too much of a stretch. The US has “First Amendment! Free Speech, Baby!” too deeply burned into its brain to _officially_ go after people like this. But we have seen him already do what he will do: sue everyone for slander and libel. 10 million here, 10 billon there. Pay up and shut up, or it will get worse. And being the president, if you fight it, you’ll lose to him (fair and square!) because the judges will know that the fix is in. “See? He’s not 'destroying free speech in America! He’s just exercising his god given right as an American to “have his day in court”! Why do you hate freedom?!?” > [@Smapti](#): > > There are about 4,000 social media platforms to go through before you get to “fan website for a defunct column from a print newspaper owned by a nonprofit”. It’s a self-funding process. All he has to do is hire a few lawyers, tell them they get 10% of whatever they pull, and turn them loose. Even if they catch a few innocents in the net, why would he care? He still got paid, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/6 "2025-02-20T11:00:36Z")
The new fascist authorities don’t have the energy or bandwidth (or, frankly, the competence) to laboriously go through thousands of discussion platforms, reviewing content, and issuing takedown orders or otherwise making direct attempts to shutter the sites. _However,_ there is a much more realistic risk — pre-emptive compliance by cowardly ownership. If some sort of blanket directive is issued, many portals and platforms will simply shutter _themselves_, not out of obedience, but because they don’t want the hassle of trying to obfuscate their content or fighting more direct takedown efforts in the future. They’ll just fold. I cannot speculate as to whether the site’s current ownership does or does not have a backbone. ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/7 "2025-02-20T11:09:59Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > _However,_ there is a much more realistic risk — pre-emptive compliance… The NYT and Washington Post already show their preemptive compliance. I’m afraid many will choose this way just as a means to survive. So does the GOP, no open resistance to Trump, everybody tiptoeing around Mr President, nobody dares to openly mention his nonsense talk about Zelensky being a dictator. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/8 "2025-02-20T11:24:44Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > The new fascist authorities don’t have the energy or bandwidth (or, frankly, the competence) to laboriously go through thousands of discussion platforms, reviewing content, and issuing takedown orders or otherwise making direct attempts to shutter the sites. It’s really not that complicated; declare a handful of platforms they control permissible and outlaw _everything_ else. No news but Fox News, no social media but Twitter and maybe Facebook, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/9 "2025-02-20T11:44:20Z")
This board will die with us literally dying. No one cares much what we say anyway except us. Sad but true. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/10 "2025-02-20T12:16:05Z")
Control freaks like the people running the nation right now _do_ care. They want to erase every viewpoint except their own. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/11 "2025-02-20T12:52:02Z")
AI bots, and the E M data breach can now indentify each one of us and find what each and everyone is saying about them and also ‘punish’ undesirable behavior. Perhaps little annoyances like your phone won’t connect, Your supermarket orders won’t get any discounts, you get audited, your payment arrives late or is lost, your car registration disappears from the system, making it a nightmare of red tape to exist and making life easy for those who do. As such to speak out, I do feel most will be in a ‘code’ where those who share like thoughts should understand. ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/12 "2025-02-20T13:15:41Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I do feel most will be in a ‘code’ where those who share like thoughts should understand. Being in a code is typical and very widespread in dictatorial and oppressive systems. It might be hard to learn for those who are used to free speech. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/13 "2025-02-20T13:51:52Z")
The Dope is way too small a message board for the regime/administration to bother with. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/14 "2025-02-20T13:55:19Z")
Not if they want to build a database on each and every one of us, to give us something like a loyalty score. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/15 "2025-02-20T13:57:52Z")
True. I can’t find the poll, but I believe a few years ago, in IMHO, the poll was that very few Dopers were under age 30 or 40 and the vast majority were elderly. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/16 "2025-02-20T13:58:43Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > This board will die with us literally dying. No one cares much what we say anyway except us. Sad but true. this is the reality. How many active users are there on here, maybe a couple hundred? How many new users are joining? Not too many as far as I can tell… ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/17 "2025-02-20T13:59:12Z")
Serious question: What are the latest trends in poster signups and activity? I’m more concerned the board turns into All Trump All The Time and people tire of that and fade away. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/18 "2025-02-20T14:34:49Z")
For the future of the SDMB, I’d figure if it is shut down, it’s far more likely because some legacy media company discovers they own it. I haven’t kept up on this over the years as far as who actually owns it. Personally, I think it’s lucky that the SDMB was able to survive the software change a few years ago as the old version was unusable. Or, as others have mentioned, we’re an older bunch and those of use who have stuck it out through the pay to post era as well as the rise of other social media will eventually die off. We’ve lost so many members over the years to death or bannings. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/19 "2025-02-20T15:25:22Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Your supermarket orders won’t get any discounts That’s exactly what _Hitler_ did! ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/20 "2025-02-20T15:40:13Z")
> Elon can’t even keep anti-Trump talk off of the website he owns. Has he tried to? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567.md?page=2)