Hello World,
following feedback we have received in the last few days, both from users and moderators, we are making some changes to clarify our ToS.
Before we get to the changes, we want to remind everyone that we are not a (US) free speech instance. We are not located in US, which means different laws apply. As written in our ToS, we’re primarily subject to Dutch, Finnish and German laws. Additionally, it is our discretion to further limit discussion that we don’t consider tolerable. There are plenty other websites out there hosted in US and promoting free speech on their platform. You should be aware that even free speech in US does not cover true threats of violence.
Having said that, we have seen a lot of comments removed referring to our ToS, which were not explicitly intended to be covered by our ToS. After discussion with some of our moderators we have determined there to be both an issue with the ambiguity of our ToS to some extent, but also lack of clarity on what we expect from our moderators.
We want to clarify that, when moderators believe certain parts of our ToS do not appropriately cover a specific situation, they are welcome to bring these issues up with our admin team for review, escalating the issue without taking action themselves when in doubt. We also allow for moderator discretion in a lot of cases, as we generally don’t review each individual report or moderator action unless they’re specifically brought to admin attention. This also means that content that may be permitted by ToS can at the same time be violating community rules and therefore result in moderator action. We have added a new section to our ToS to clarify what we expect from moderators.
We are generally aiming to avoid content organizing, glorifying or suggesting to harm people or animals, but we are limiting the scope of our ToS to build the minimum framework inside which we all can have discussions, leaving a broader area for moderators to decide what is and isn’t allowed in the communities they oversee. We trust the moderators judgement and in cases where we see a gross disagreement between moderatos and admins’ criteria we can have a conversation and reach an agreement, as in many cases the decision is case-specific and context matters.
We have previously asked moderators to remove content relating to jury nullification when this was suggested in context of murder or other violent crimes. Following a discussion in our team we want to clarify that we are no longer requesting moderators to remove content relating to jury nullification in the context of violent crimes when the crime in question already happened. We will still consider suggestions of jury nullification for crimes that have not (yet) happened as advocation for violence, which is violating our terms of service.
As always, if you stumble across content that appears to be violating our site or community rules, please use Lemmys report functionality. Especially when threads are very active, moderators will not be able to go through every single comment for review. Reporting content and providing accurate reasons for reports will help moderators deal with problematic content in a reasonable amount of time.
Oh, sorry, are you saying the use of guns is justified and nonviolent if the intention is to reduce further violence?
Drag wonders if this principle could be applied to any recent events…
I guess we’ll just see how much or how little good comes of all this very soon, won’t we?
Best possible case scenario: it’s still legal to rip people off and privatize healthcare, so that just keeps happening but at least we get to feel good about punishing that one guy’s family for his crimes.
Worst case scenario: A very large number of copycat killers (secretly funded by overseas autocrats) drag Taylor Swift across pavement, Bill Gates burns alive in his home, and both of their heirs invest everything into fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the new US Administration views the situation as worthy of enforcing martial law and deploys the military on its own people. Congress is reluctant at first, but it could always be one of them killed by a vigilante next.
But most likely scenario is still that nothing has changed, nothing will
That other health insurance company already walked back their policy about not covering anaesthetic for the whole of a surgery. Muad’dib has already improved the world.
TBH it’d be hard to organize a board meeting, write up, and sign off on changes like that in like a day so there is a chance that was coincidental timing. You could just as easily say their reversal was the result of the Governor calling them out on it.
If you believe that his family was punished, then do you believe that the death penalty as used by the justice system is also a punishment on those people’s families? Because kin punishment is generally considered a human rights violation, and is illegal in the US as far as I’m aware.
Are you comparing the justice system to vigilante’s killing unarmed civillians in the street as equals?
Let me tell you the difference. You could have voted to change the laws, voted in the people who selected the judges, when you’re arrested it’s the result of choices made by every eligible american citizen, in some states including felons.
You don’t get to choose if a guy who shoots you next week. You don’t get to state your case before a jury. It’s a system where the people most willing and able to commit harm are kings.