Censorship, Free Speech, and FF.NET

There is a lot of controversy on ff.net nowadays. A lot of words have been thrown around. Words like censorship, free speech, and a whole host of other things. I’m not going to delve into the cesspool of name calling right now. I’m just going to clarify what censorship is and how it’s applicable or not applicable in this case. To start with, let’s talk about the big C(and I don’t mean cancer). Here’s what dictionary.com had to say.
cen•sor–noun

1. an official who examines books, plays, news reports, motion pictures, radio and television programs, letters, cablegrams, etc., for the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political, military, or other grounds.

2. any person who supervises the manners or morality of others.

3. an adverse critic; faultfinder.

4. (in the ancient Roman republic) either of two officials who kept the register or census of the citizens, awarded public contracts, and supervised manners and morals.

5. (in early Freudian dream theory) the force that represses ideas, impulses, and feelings, and prevents them from entering consciousness in their original, undisguised forms.

–verb (used with object)

6. to examine and act upon as a censor.

7. to delete (a word or passage of text) in one's capacity as a censor.

So, we know what censor means. Jolly good. Now, how does this fit in with the current insanity on ff.net. For those not in the know, consider how lucky you are before reading on. If you are really that curious and simply must read on, you’ve been warned. Most of the controversy has come from the Twilight section, and MA rated fics.

As I posted in the blog previous, when I dug this old thing out of hiding, ff.net has a rating system. People have been ignoring this system for some time, and have gotten caught. Now, as any long time user of ffnet knows, there is a system in place to report stories that break the guidelines. The admins check out the stories that have been reported, and delete offending stories. To which there has been an outcry of “Censorship”, “Oppression”, “What about our FREE SPEECH!?” I paraphrase. I’ve also left out a few things, but those will be touched on at a later date.

To my knowledge, no one has told any author on the site; you can’t write about _____(fill in the blank) What has been said is, you may not post your_____on this site. Two different things. I don’t care if the muse hits, and you simply must write about Carlisle and his insatiable lust for goats in graphic, explicit detail. Have at it, and have fun. I do care if you decide that this Carlisle/Goats story ends up on ffnet. Wanna know why?

Well, since you’re still reading, I guess so. Ffnet used to allow MA stories. However, the site was hit with several cease and desist orders, from the actual authors of the real stories. The authors didn’t want their characters being used for explicit scenes on that site. Ffnet is a massive site, with no age limit to read stories on it. That’s why ffnet stopped allowing MA/NC-17 stories.

Free speech is a wonderful thing. I’m a believer in it myself. However, telling someone; this isn’t the proper site for your story, is not stopping them from using free speech. Even free speech has it’s limitations, legally. Like a person who yells “FIRE!” in a crowded theater when there is no fire. That can get you arrested. Telling the cops, “But I have free speech!” will not stop you from being in some deep shit.

So, I hope I’ve helped clear up some issues there. Have a great day.

Next up on Wesfan’s World . . . . Argument Fail, and how to avoid it.

This is Wes, signing out.