Originally Posted by
TheWIFE
Well, as of last night i was letting this go. I did, however, check to see if the thread that spurred my involvment was deleted...it was not, much to my chagrin.
"Counselor", your opening statement and defending arguments are not only poorly researched, they are deeply flawed as you are wrong on every point in your appeal. You should have done your homework before representing your client, ruggedterrain40. If you had simply researched past threads for RT40, you would be privy to the fact that about 95.5% of the threads that RT40 has involvement in since his previous temporary ban has been lifted ARE indeed of the nature in which you described them not to be. He has violated many, if not all, of the standards put in place by the administrators of this message board, and all within a 24 hour time frame. I can go on and on if you need me to further elaborate, dogboysdad, but be forewarned, this is not my first rodeo in the courtroom.
For the rest of you that are in favor of appealing ruggedterrain40's ban on the argument alone of expressing speech freely, refer back to the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech not mean you can say whatever you want, anywhere you want, to whomever you want without being held accountable for your actions. Without having to give you an entire lecture on the American Constitution, the Bill of Rights and amendments, you have the right to speak freely about concerns and the well being of the state in front of congress without being sentenced to punishment for your opinions. You cannot, however, say "bomb" in an enclosed public space without immediate reprocussions. Verbal threats are an expression of speaking freely, they are not expressions of free speech as you defend the term, and they can be held against you in a court of law. Keep in mind, we all have the right to remain silent; that IS black and white. Verbal assaults are considered slander, and depending on your state and local govt's laws, one could be locked up for making such remarks as those seen on these meeage boards in the last 36 hours. Do you need further elaboration?
Finally, to the moderators: what is your argument for allowing ruggedterrain40 to come back to these boards, again? This messasge board is a private entity where the creator(s) have complete jurisdiction over all of its members. You have the right to kick out whomever you wish and deny access to whomever you wish. If you feel the need to allow this member in question to return to said message board because of his Constitutional Rights, they need not apply here. However, this board has its own rules and regulations (or constitution as it were) that we as members have all agreed to abide by. RuggedTerrain40 has violated all of said community standards on this message forum numerous times, has been banned twice (to my knowledge) and you are in favor of inviting him back once more to disturb, offend and threaten your members in good and high standing? Yes, this is your website and you can do just about anything you want with it, but why would you allow and encourage that behavior to go on?
One more thing, i am absolutely dumbfounded that the moderators have not removed the explicit thread that they know sparked my involvment onthis discussion board. Changing the wording around does absolutely nothing to make the situation right, nor does substituting characters and symbols for the derrogatory language. RuggedTerrain40 violated every one of the board's standards with his comment regarding taking indecent liberties with Cuppednlocked's wife, that would be me in case there is any confusion. The thread which started out as harmless took a turn right into sexually explicit and violent in nature, and it should be removed out of respect for the members immediately.
My closing argument is this: moderators, keeping people like RuggedTerrain40 away from your message board may not be a cure-all to nasty banter on these forums, and you have the right to grant him another chance, but is it more important to look out for his best interest or the best interest of your members as a whole? That is the question that i leave you with.
Post Script, since i do not have permission to enter the war room and vote in the poll that pertains to this thread, please note that my vote would be to ban RuggedTerrain40 from this discussion board permanently, just in case i didn't make my opinion clear enough in my arguments above.