After that quick experiment I tried a long list of words based on discussions with a few people. Several of words in the list ended up as "flagged" words and were replaced with asterisks. Incredible!
CLICK HERE FOR LARGER VERSION.
Now, see how petty for Alldeaf to censor Deafreedom, Deafsummit, Deafmadness (currently inactive but you can see the archived part), and Deafparent (no longer active but you can see the archived part).
There is no justification to do this sort of invasion of privacy on a regular basis. Even under a "spamming rule" it doesn't apply to PMs having a friendly conversation mentioning another deaf run forum site. If the receiver of PM messages feels that he or she has a spammed PM then simply forward the offending PM to one of the moderator and ask for help there. Censoring other people's Private Message is good way to ruin their trust. How many other unknown flagged words are there in AD's list of "offending" and "offensive" words are there? No one knows except the moderators.
Here's an interesting question. How come only four forums were censored but not the other three such as Deafchat ("temporarily closed" like...for long time but you can see the archived section), Deafonline2 (or Deafonline), and Deafnotes? Well? Oh, fer crying out loud, don't give me the spamming justification when one can forward the offending PM to the proper moderator who can easily address that rather than resort to flagging "questionable" words in the first place. Typing in the word n***er and seeing it get censored on the receiving end in a PRIVATE message (PM) isn't about spamming, is it? No. But an outright invasion of AD members' privacy, no matter how vulgar the PM might be between two consenting adults.
As I continue to learn about other deaf run forums and what moderators have done in the past I found out that at least one member was banned when one of the moderators actually used that member's PM (flagged words or otherwise) and subsequently banned him/her based on what was said in his/her PMs. A fact or a bit of truth stretched some? How much power do these moderators have anyways regarding PMs? I know that PMs cannot be read by a 2nd party unless they know the password but what do I know? How people got banned because of their PMs with the flagged words were justification in banning that member? I don't know but I suspect that was back during the earlier days when many forums were up and running and competition was fierce to retain members. But regardless of what happened in the past there shouldn't be any excuse to remotely censor words for fear of spamming. Time to grow up and be more responsible and conscious on the privacy issue. As Dale said, who is the owner and moderator of Deafreedom, about PM,
Anyway, PM's and Emails are sacred around here, I wouldn't read 'em.And, no, I'm not trying to advertise Dale's Deafreedom site but to show a voice of reason, common sense and sanity knowing what's right and wrong when it comes to privacy issues and moderating. Invading members' PMs is good way to lose their trusts.
Remember, this is a Private Email. "P" means private. Not censorship. Or looky loos into emails. Things like that. It's either a private message or not. Otherwise it'd be an Orwellian or Big Brother thing going under your radar without knowing exactly what are moderators are doing in those forums behind that screen of theirs. Have they peeked in the past? I wonder. As they say, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Stay tuned, I have more including wacky excuses for person to be banned or why messages were censored. Politically motivated or just a bad moderator?
