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[Raoul F. Duke]

Speaking personally, I believe passionately in freedom of speech and opinion. I hate censorship as an abomination.

However, in a public forum, there has to be some limits on this, or the whole thing will quickly fall apart. Our #1 job as moderators is to preserve the forum and the collective rights of its members while they are there. And that's just what we're going to do.

We will not tolerate hate speech or blanket condemnations of racial/religious/national groups. We will not allow posts that could result in getting this forum shut down. We will not allow trolling or serious personal attacks. We will not allow the posting of pornography in any form. I wish such limits were not necessary. They are...as history shows over and over again.

Please be thoughtful when you post strong opinions here. Please respect the others on this forum, and their feelings. Make such posts reasonable expressions rather than simply bashing people you don't like. We don't want anyone to be gagged here. We don't expect your every word to be bland and inoffensive. We DO expect you to treat others nicely. If you will apply a little reasonable restraint to yourself in the first place, we will most likely never have to do it for you.

I look at it this way: In our home countries, we have the right to say pretty much anything we want to. What we do NOT have is the right to force our thoughts and opinions into the homes of people they will offend.

Well, the Saloon is home for its members, and those members should be free to walk into any room in their home without feeling attacked.

Finally, there is another side to this coin. If you choose to participate here, you are expected to display a reasonable amount of tolerance and open-mindedness towards the other members. Hypersensitivity will receive no more respect than will lack of consideration.

If you cannot operate within this framework, your choice will be respected...along with your right to not be here.