Posted by Tom Plattenberger on November 10, 2007, 9:57 am
Message modified by board administrator April 19, 2008, 1:01 pm

J Bay Folk... Most administrators of Bulletin Boards and Forums such as this do engage in some form of censorship. On this board, we are lucky to have very little need for censorship and perhaps that is a reason that some people might be surprised to know that there is any at all. We have amongst us, three JBay Watchdogs. They operate anonymously and in fact, don’t even know who each other are. They are enabled to immediately delete the sexually explicit spam that pops up here from time to time. Those posts are the only ones that they are trusted to delete. The decision to delete anything else falls to me. This can be burdensome at times. As I said, luckily there is very little need. I don’t have any cut and dried rules. Most people can sense that not all boards are alike and they respect the tone I have tried to set here. When people wish to gossip, engage in character assassination and spread rumors and innuendo, there are other places, only too happy to oblige. If not monitored and possibly censored, a board such as this has the unfair advantage to persons who post here to accuse. When posts such as this come to my attention, I have to weigh the accusation against how much damage might be done to the accused. In some cases, it must be taken into account that the accused might not speak English, might not have access to the Internet and might not be able to defend themselves. In other instances, I try to draw a line between what is an attempt to take a private dispute public and what is rightfully of public concern. This is not the fun part of hosting a Bulletin Board. Is Jaltemba Bay Folk an “open forum” for the free expression of anything a poster wishes to express? No, it is not now and never has been. Am I always fair? Probably not. It is in my nature to favor long-standing friendships with people I trust. This should not be taken as a measure of distrust in another party. Can a person be barred from participating on this board? You bet! Be civil. Tom Plattenberger p.s. One more thing; we are reminded that it is illegal for foreigners to engage and disrupt the political process in Mexico. At times, we all become frustrated with the way things are done and this expression is allowable. This board will not be a place to organize a remedy that involves the removal of public office holders, boycotts or other illegal activities.