A little note on freedom of speech

[Pit Bull]

I've noticed a lot of people thinking they can say whatever they want on the forums. Lots of flaming goes on because Evony mods delete post's, close threads, ect. I wanted to share something with the rest of the forums members about the First Amendment rights guaranteed to Americans.

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-circuit/1033262.html

As long as Evony remains a private company, they are entitled to monitor chat as they please. They may ban almost anything they want, with a few exceptions.
The ONLY way freedom of speech would apply to Evony, is if they were owned by a portion of the US Government, or if they become a quasi-public place.

1: Evony may not ban someone solely based on their color or religion. This also includes things like Gender, Culture, ethnicity, ect.

Yes, this is the only restriction on who Evony can and can not ban.


Public Vs Non-Public
Something like a sidewalk is considered a public place, even though it may not be owned by the government. You can say whatever you want on that sidewalk, as long as you're not being threatening or violent about it. Anyone can access the sidewalk, there are no restrictions, no membership fees, ect. With Evony, you must REGISTER to use their forums; therefor, it is a private forum. While you do have the right to freedom of speech on forums, and can not be arrested/sued for saying something non-harmful, the owner or a representative or the company, may at any time ban or ask you to leave, with or without warning.

1. Think telling someone in your living room to stop talking about a subject. It's your house, your rules, right? In Evony's case, this is a mod or rep sending you a warning or an infraction.

2. If they continue talking about it, you may ask them to leave. This is your right as a property owner. What they said isn't a crime, unless it was threatening, but you still have the right to have them escorted off your property. Evony's version of this is suspension and banning.

Long story short, Evony is definitely within their legal rights to ban you, and anything you say from their forums. Even if you are right about a topic, they can ban you simply because they don't want to listen to it. It's perfectly fair, perfectly legal, and supported by nearly every major institution in the United States. Evony is Private property, and so are their forums. They may do as they so please with their property. Nobody is keeping anyone here. You may all post on whatever you would like, read whatever you like, and reply to whatever you like, within limitation. This is a free service provided to us by Evony which we should all be grateful for. Now do i always agree on Evony's methods? Absolutely not, but the good outweighs the bad. Why else have many of us been playing as long as we have? We see more good in the future of Evony than harm, and even if we don't agree with Evony's approach, this is not our company or our game. It's Evony's.

Below I have listed some sites available for further reading on the subject. I hope they explain anything that I did not.


Various Blogs and News Articles from Reputable Authors-
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...ee_speech.html
http://cnreviews.com/life/society-cu..._20090426.html
http://www.timeforblogging.com/2007/...-be-moderated/

Reputable Educational Institutions and Government Websites-
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/5234
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/...estions-speech
http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/harass/substanc.htm
http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/freedom-expression

And some of you will think I'm crazy for including this last link, but I have had an alliance member personally tell me he trust's this site more than any government site out there. So for anyone who thinks like he does - Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_A...s_Constitution

I would like to give special thanks to Acer for helping in the completion of this thread. Evony Mods volunteer their own time to make our experience better. For this, they get nothing. No cents, no extra troops, no heroes. Just the satisfaction of keeping things running. These guys work for nothing to improve our game. We should show them respect, instead of useless flaming. As for Everyone else, I think it's high time we started enjoying the game again, instead of fighting for no reason.