No shoes, no shirts, no service.....
Ever seen that sign on a business? How about "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone"? Those rules are made by individual business owners, who I might add, can impose any rules they want so long as they don't violate the law. If this is Doug's business, then the same applies. Its not a public place, but a private place open to the public. Not unlike Doug inviting us into his personal computer.
The courts have, for a couple of centuries now, long held that the sanctity of the home is paramont among our rights. If the analogy of "this is Doug's house" is true (electronically speaking) then how would any of us feel if someone came into our house and insulted us? Or chastised us for our shop set-up? Or anything about our personal space at all? Should we do these same things to anyone else? After all we are here by invitation.
Free speech? Censorship? Intollerant moderation? This thread in itself speaks volumes about how open this forum actually is with regard to those issues as it has been allowed to be continued. If you will read the rules, and I quote,
"Posts complaining about and/or criticizing moderators will be deleted." It appears to me that Doug is not only thick skinned but tolerant of opposing views and wants everyone to have a public say about issues that pertain to the group as a whole.
So why would we complain about anyone in this whole group publicly? Is it to stir debate? Not the purpose of this forum. Is it to gather other members opinion(s) on the running of this site? Its Doug's site not ours, he could pull the plug tomorrow if he wants. Is it to put pressure on, or to influence any moderators decision on what gets posted? I think the purpose was to let an opinion be know which could be accomplished by a PM to the one person who has any authority to do anything about it.
Doug is not the king, he is not the president, he does not hold the constitution in his safe. He is just a plain guy who enjoys the same hobby we do and has found an ingenious way to give us a place to gather with those of like interests while helping his family out. Who here doesn't wish they would have had the thought first or the ambition to take on such a project that takes up so much personal time.
We all have particular issues which stir up our emotions, our passions, and cause us to spring into some sort of action usually by jumping on the band wagon waving our flag and crying out about the injustice of it all. First Amendment rights rank close to the top of my list as well. I love a spirited debate amongst intelligent people and especially friends, but in the right place and time. This is not the site for that type of activity and can only lead to hard feelings and a degredation of the overall enjoyment if
WE participate in it.
Come on guys, this is a non-issue. We are talking about a couple of photos posted on a website that we can get about anyplace. I think it is decent of Doug to think of the families and their feelings involved especially immediately after the incident should they find out. How would you feel?
There are PLENTY of other things to get impassioned about like the look in an abused kids eyes, or the desperation of parents who has a kid strung out on drugs that they can't find, or the look on a persons face when you tell them their spouse/son/daughter/mom/dad (you fill in the blank) has died. After 23 years as a Police Officer, what gets posted in a message board doesn't even make the needle on the meter bobble.
Lets lighten up, build airplanes and regail each other with funny stories!
