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To: AndyTheBear; DiogenesLamp
I make what I think a very reasonable distinction between websites that operate as a club of likeminded people and websites that operate as a conduit of general communication

But isn't it up to the owner of the forum to decide how it operates?

Twitter could easily say they operate as a club of likeminded people who think the Twitter TOS is a good way to manage things and want Twitter to moderate the forum.

After all, it's more of a "club" than FR in that the entry requirements are stricter. All I need here is an email address.

And have you read the Twitter TOS that everyone who joins agrees to? Why shouldn't they be able to define the terms for using their product?

I appreciate the sentiment but this club thing is totally arbitrary and completely unworkable. How do you define a "club" in a way that's at all enforceable?

86 posted on 05/02/2022 11:44:00 AM PDT by semimojo
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To: semimojo; AndyTheBear
But isn't it up to the owner of the forum to decide how it operates?

Is this like asking how a trans identifies?

It seems clear to me that you can pretend you are one thing, but the reality is that you are what you are, and if you are handling millions of communications, you are a communications system, not a "club."

Twitter could easily say they operate as a club of likeminded people who think the Twitter TOS is a good way to manage things and want Twitter to moderate the forum.

And Mr. Levine can tell us he is a woman. So can Bruce Jenner.

After all, it's more of a "club" than FR in that the entry requirements are stricter. All I need here is an email address.

You are let in the door by your email address. If you start posting liberal crap, you will be shown the door.

I dare say Free Republic continuously evaluates its membership with an eye on keeping this a conservative forum, which is exactly what it is advertised to be.

And have you read the Twitter TOS that everyone who joins agrees to? Why shouldn't they be able to define the terms for using their product?

Contracts which violate the law are null and void. Twitter's TOS would appear to me to violate the law because they require people to give up a civil right.

I appreciate the sentiment but this club thing is totally arbitrary and completely unworkable. How do you define a "club" in a way that's at all enforceable?

Well having less than a billion users is clearly one way to do it.

88 posted on 05/02/2022 11:57:30 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: semimojo
I appreciate the sentiment but this club thing is totally arbitrary and completely unworkable. How do you define a "club" in a way that's at all enforceable?

There are likely to be borderline cases depending on exactly how one defines it that could go either way. But common sense I think will get us 99.9% of the cases clearly identified with little controversy.

1) Facebook: Open forum

2) FreeRepublic: Club

3) Democrat Underground: Club

4) Reddit: Open Forum containnig sub-reddits which are each clubs.

5) Twitter: Open forum

6) YouTube: Open forum

7) Church Website: Club or religiously minded people interested in the church.

8) Internal Twitter discussion board: Club for employees only (if there is such a thing).

9) Rumble: Open forum

10) Fox Nation: Club for selected individuals to broadcast content.

11) CNN+: Defunct Club for selected individuals to broadcast content.

I am not seeing very many hard or borderline ones. Do you know of any?

96 posted on 05/02/2022 12:35:00 PM PDT by AndyTheBear
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