Since I get a couple messages about it a week, I'll mention it here again: there's no rule that says you can't discuss politics on IAM. After the bombing there was roughly a one week voluntary moratorium (it was not enforced, just recommended). I'm not really sure how to make it more clear, but it was for one week, not permanently.
The reason it was instituted is because a frightening majority of people here proudly flying US flags decided that the patriotic thing to do would be to send insults, slurs, and death threats to people such as myself who do not feel that the US government is acting in the best interests of its people, and to post strings of ethnic slurs and general bigotry. Rather than delete hundreds of people, I called for a “cool down” perioud.
So if you want to make whatever political posts you want, you can. You're not going to get deleted for disagreeing with me or anything like that. If you want to post about how proud you are that the US bombed some hospital or murdered some children, or how the US is the freeest place in the world so to protect that it's best to suspend freedom, or you want to yell out your pride that the FBI has reinstuted torture as a legitimate part of interrogation, fine. Just don't let your comments degrade to insults and bigotry and calls for ethnic genocide you will be removed. This place isn't anything goes — many things will not be tolerated.
Now, any time I say that, I get a few emails whining about how I'm taking away your right to free speech. Free speech, even in the freeest societies is not free speech all the time everywhere. If you send an article to a magazine they have no duty to publish it. If you call a friend and insult them, they have the right to hang up on you. If you go to a club and start chanting white power slogans, they have the right to throw you out. Same deal here.
If you do not like the rules here, I 100% support your right to start a site of your own and pay the bills yourself and say whatever you want. If you want to do that, but don't have the skills required to make the software, I'll even consider selling you a license to the software I developed for this site.
On a side note, 5000 COBM.CA cards just went to print and we should have them within the week. They'll be sent out (free of course) to all the first set of Canadian members and ministers so they can help spread the word.
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