Wish I knew where the rule book is, it would make my life simpler on FR. I do moderate myself, if I said what I really think oft times it would be x rated.
I have a question sometimes when I am writing a post I notice a sentence below my post which says in red Loose Lips Sink Ships. At first I thought the moderator is certainly patriotic, then I concluded that I was being warned that I was replying to a government troll, lastly I took it as a warning that I was approaching an iceberg. If anyone knows what this means please clue me in. Thanks.
It means to be careful what information you post. We have FReepers from all walks of life and sometimes info is given that shouldn’t be. FR is also read by many people. It’s monitored by the left.
Without a clear set of written down rules ... It is often a guessing game. But even so ... rules covering every single circumstance can’t all be written down - THEREFORE - in the end, it’s totally up to the owner of a forum and his admins. Their actions are final, no matter what the rules say.
That’s why people are going about it all the wrong way, when they try to claim their “free speech rights” ... on a forum. I just laugh when I see that.
And that’s the reality for ALL FORUMS ... Free Republic included.
“I have a question sometimes when I am writing a post I notice a sentence below my post which says in red Loose Lips Sink Ships. At first I thought the moderator is certainly patriotic, then I concluded that I was being warned that I was replying to a government troll, lastly I took it as a warning that I was approaching an iceberg. If anyone knows what this means please clue me in. Thanks.”
It means “beware of unguarded talk”.
It comes from WWII during which it was used on posters (the wall version, not the internet version) to caution people about revealing information under unsecure circumstances. The idea is that if you casually tell your neighbor the departure date of your sailor son’s ship, you could be overheard by a covert agent who would pass on the information and endanger the war effort, not to mention the ship.
If I recall correctly, the phrase started being used on this forum several years ago to caution people not to reveal information that might be useful to the opponents with whom we were engaged militarily. We have Freepers who are knowledgeable and experienced in addition to the ones who just think they are, and sometimes folks first thought is not that the whole world as well as people in the future can see what’s written here.
Note that the idea behind the phrase is applicable to situations other than military.
“Loose lips sink ships” was a World War II slogan that was meant to encourage people to keep quiet about wartime secrets. The specific reference was that loose talk about wartime ship movements could be overheard by an unfriendly ear, who would then relay the information to the enemy, who would then know where to find the ship to attack it.
It goes back to WWII.
WWII wall posters |
It simply means, don't disclose secrets that might enable our enemies to piece together a clear enough picture to cause US losses.