The first amendment to the Bill of RIghts for the United States says:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. "
Note that is says "Congress". It does not say "Website operators". Likewise, it does not say that you can say anything you want, any time you want, in any manner you see fit.
For example, you cannot yell "fire" in a crowded movie theatre for fun. You can not go on a plane and yell "bomb" just to get a reaction.
I don’t bring this up for the history lesson or to tell you something you already know. I bring it up because some are confused about this, and I hope I can straighten it out in a respectful manner.
One of the other things you cannot do (besides yell "fire" in a crowded room) is get on a website and make claims about another individual that could ruin their reputation, their business or their life. That can get you in to some very serious legal trouble.
We don’t want that. Likewise, we just don’t have any desire to have the type of website where when someone posts, they are made fun of because of poor typing skills, or because they just asked a rookie question. All of us remember what it was like to be a rookie, and I think it’s incumbent on us that have been around awhile to be helpful and positive to those just discovering a growing hobby like vintage sleds.
We’ve had a precious few cases were some people just didn’t understand this. Or perhaps, I or someone else volunteering to help out with the site just didn’t do a good enough job of explaining it.
In any case, I eventually heard the dreaded chant of "How dare you restrict my RIGHT to free speech!" To those people, I respectfully ask you to read again what the Bill of Rights says. Sorry, but I am not Congress. I’m just a guy with some volunteer help trying to make a nice site for vintage sledders that is a place I would like to hang out, where I’m okay with kids to hang out, and where those who have the most to share with all of us feel comfortable enough to do so.
Due to the ever increasing size of the audience reading and using vintagesleds.com, I recognize there is a great deal of responsibility that goes along with it. Sometimes, I don’t always get it right. I have no illusions about being perfect, and contrary to popular belief (cough) I will make an occasional mistake. I like to think I have learn from them. At least I hope I have.
Make no mistake, I do not take the responsibility lightly.
So what’s the point? Early this year we put new policies in place with some new rules. So far, they have made the website better, more inclusive and a lot less of a "drama factory". Traffic is way up (again) and the comments I got at Princeton about how the website has gotten better made me very happy, and humbled, indeed.
It can, at times, be challenging to say the least. It’s very much like trying to be in 4,000 relationships at the same time. On top of that, we battle scam artists, spammers, hackers, and occasional person who goes apoplectic when we delete a post or thread.
On very, very rare occasions we’ve had to ban people altogether. One of those people is way beyond apoplectic and is in full scale, 24/7/365 attack and assault mode. I wish that wasn’t the case, but because of past experience, I am aware that it’s merely part of the gig. You take the good with the bad.
Even with that, me and the people who help out all agree it’s all good!
Going forward, we know we have a ton of things that can be better ( I have a list on my desk that is 12 pages long!) and we keep making improvements everyday. I know that with the size of the site comes responsibilities. I do my best to live up to them.
My life and that of many of our moderators are lived mostly online – there’s nothing preventing anyone from getting ahold of me – or the moderators. We live out in the open with nothing to fear, nothing to hide. If you have a question, concern, idea or thought – let us know!
Don’t like something I said? Talk to me! Tell a moderator – they have full access to delete me along with anyone else who goes over the line.
And now back to our regular programming… have a great holiday weekend, and we’ll see you at Hay Days!