This is an hypothetical question.
Let’s say that some MB mod or admin bans you from any MB cause you’re using your Constitutional right of Free Speech. Not the Free Speech is warranted not only by the American Constitution, but of other countries’ as well. Well: there is some organ I can complain to, to help me to take legal action and even get some money refund for the, I dunno, humiliation of being banned & censored?
Not when you are clearly breaking the rules of conduct that you agreed to when you signed on here. Hypothetically.
Um, smartt-considering this is a PRIVATE BOARD, not PUBLIC board, no, you cannot sue.
You are new. STop it. YOu are REALLY pissing off the people at this board…
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=45185
Yes. You can tell it to the Easter Bunny.
No, the people from this board that are pissing me. And if it’s a PRIVATE board, why it’s available to the PUBLIC? No, your answer made no sense. About the link you showed me, those rules are recognized by WHAT ruling organ?
See what I mean?
Not in the case you describe. The US Constitution guarantees that the government will not create laws that infringe the particular rights mentioned, including free speech. It does not say that non-governmental corporations or individuals must offer free access to their media to all and sundry.
In other words, the owners of a message board can limit the speech on it in any way they please.
Also, in the case of most message boards (this one, for instance), there is a terms of service agreement that the user accepts when they join. If the limitations imposed are in accordance with the agreement, the user has, by accepting the agreement, accepted the limitations.
[Aside to you, smartt: I think you’d get along here just fine if you would use each forum for its intended purpose. Not everything you want to say is a General Question. Try out the other fora.]
BTW, smartt-you don’t live in the states…you live in Brazil. OUR constitution doesn’t apply to you.
This board is PRIVATELY OWNED.
Yes, you putz. But you have to be an American citizen. If you’re Brazilian, like you said (lied) you are, you are NOT protected by any US Constitutional rights. So there!
Yes, there is an organ you can complain to, it’s my ass. And you can kiss it too! 
Have a nice day!
The Chicago Reader would probably be glad to refund your money. Simply send them your cancelled check and they’ll process it forthwith. (Of course, demanding reimbursement when you have not actually paid any money is fraud. That can be punished by law and you can additionally be sued by your victim. You might want to consider just how badly you want to be punished–beyond the laughter that is now ringing in your reddening ears.)
Sheesh, concrete, would you please quit this? You’re embarrassing yourself.
Oh, at last a direct answer. There is a God.
Okay, but those terms of service are regulated by whom, exactly? There must be some country to “hang” the law, the terms; they cannot be just “hanging” on the cyberspace, know what I mean?
That’s all I want to know. This is a general question, roit?
Think of it this way. In the U.S. you have a right to free speach, you do not have the right to go to a newspaper and demand that they give you the use of their resources for you to distribute that speach. You have the right to create your oen web page to say what you like, but you don’t have the right to do whatever you want here. That is up to the owners of this site as determined by the moderators. The same moderators whom I think are being rather patient with you.
I’ll post the rest of my thoughts about this in your pit thread.
This is so mature. Vai tomar no olho do seu cu, palhaço. Speak portuguese? So you know what I just said.
Surely you can see that private establishments can be open to the public. Think of restaurants and stores. They may be owned by private individuals and still be open to the public, and those who own them have every right to expect certain rules be followed in their establishment. Try yelling obscenities in a restaurant and see how far your right to free speech takes you.
The people who own this board make the rules, and those rules do not have to be overseen or recognized by any “ruling” organization – any more than any ruling organization oversees the rules that you make about what is okay in your house or business.
The right to free speech – even if it applied to you – doesn’t mean you get to say whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want.
Dew ley lo mo chow fah hai!
By the way, President Clinton would like to try some young Brazilian ass, would you mind bending over?
The terms of service are regulated by the owners of the message board. If a user doesn’t agree with them, they should not accept them, and they should not participate in the message board. If they do accept them, they are stating that they agree with them and will abide by them.
I could create a message board, and create terms for it that would only allow one-legged left-handed Capricorns to use the word ‘Belgium.’ If I did so, I would be able to ban anyone that used that word without qualifying. The US government or the Constitution is not involved, just my property rights over the message board.
Hey smartt-speak Russian?
Tebya ne ebut, ti ne podmakhivai! Per-ee-staan haameetca-mudak!!!
Enough!
If I had to venture a guess, I would say that the country in which the server resides, would have jurisdiction if any lawsuits were to be filed, but if you agreed to the TOS, most likely you would be laughed out of court.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Jodi *
**
**
Yeah. NOW that makes perfect sense.
Yeah, but it’s legal, or constitutional?
**
No, I think you got it wrong. Everybody HAS the right to speak their minds, and people have the right to sue if they feel offended.
I’m posting a question. People are flaming me. Who’s breaking the rules?
Let’s say that I make a homepage/MB incensing racism, nazism and intolerance. Does that mean I cannot be punished for that?