[pct-l] Help the Troll!!!

[Gary Wright]

On Apr 13, 2007, at 2:25 PM, dsaufley at sprynet.com wrote:
> Jon just has very different views.  We see a lot of that in the  
> hiking community.  We live in a democracy, and a society that  
> values free speech.

While I wholeheartedly agree with L-Rod's plea for good manners,
IMHO this is not a free speech issue.

If abstract discussion of individual rights isn't your cup of
tea, feel free to delete this message and and/or ignore me, which
is your right of course!

Free speech, as it pertains to individual rights and First Amendment
rights (in the US), is about the government restricting the speech
of citizens and not about citizens reacting to the speech of other
citizens.

Ridicule, mockery, contempt, taunting, and so on are all well within
the bounds of free speech.  Of course diplomacy, praise, agreement,
and endorsement are also within the bounds of free speech.  Sometimes
a negative response to speech is appropriate and sometimes a positive
response is appropriate but in either case it isn't a free speech
issue when it involves the interaction of private citizens.

I mention this because "free speech" comes up often on mailing lists
as a rational for preventing the group (or the administrator) from
imposing any sort of code of conduct on the participants.  But
mailing lists are almost always voluntary interactions of private
citizens and as such First Amendment analysis is simply not applicable
and ground rules  are entirely reasonable.  The particular ground
rules are something for the administrator or group to devise and enforce
on their own either explicitly or implicitly.


Gary Wright (Radar)