Well first I just wanna say that to even post about this issue I needed to make a 2nd account. But I think it needs to be said that there has obviously been censorship on this forum recently. Certain topics disappear, some get locked and fade away, and certain voices get silenced. I’m just saying this is America and we just had 9/11 and freedom should reign in this country. My 2 cents anyways.
4 Likes
First of all, I basically agree with you: a couple of times recently, threads have been locked that I might have liked to chime in on.
On the other hand, this is not America. Your keyboard might happen to be in America, but this is the Internet. Further, its a privately owned site. I’m no lawyer, but I think that even in America, the written word for public consumption is freedom of the press: meaning you can own some kind of publishing media and say what you like with it.
8 Likes
Gcaptain can do whatever it wants. It has first amendment rights just like everyone else. But I think we should acknowledge that this is not just a user generated forum controlled by the users. There is a strong editorial hand working above the forum. It’s all controlled. Again, every right do whatever they want. My point is just pointing out that certain important topics are being deleted.
What exactly was locked/deleted?
I’m assuming they’re talking about the spamming for traffic to the maritime legal aid site.
When everything you post is something from your blog, that’s exactly what it is, spam. There’s another member that used to do this with his conspiracy theories and received the same stern talk I’m hoping the admin gave you as well. He’s still around but has “seen the light” about spamming the forums.
It’s certainly a subject that needs to be addressed, but slinging every “letter” into a new topic is counterproductive to what you’re trying to do, especially as a new member to the forums. You’re preaching to the choir for a good portion of us, and for those others that don’t see anything wrong will not be swayed by your posts. If you absolutely feel the need, make a thread in Scuttlebutt and stick with that one thread. Don’t spam the forum, and don’t play the idiotic “no, I’m not the guy that created the blog!” cheekiness. We don’t care who you are. Hell, most of us would care less if Joe Hazelwood or Francesco Schettino were on here trying to preach safe coastwise navigation.
13 Likes
jbtam99 hit it out of the park. Exactly right! Also, I don’t see any maliciousness or conspiratorial motives when the different site monitors delete comments, threads or lock down ancient or severely off topic threads. On scuttlebutt & political topics, I’ve notice both hard left & hard right leaning commenters be suspended & treated the same which is pretty impressive in our current political environment. I’ve frequently visited dozens of forums over the years & IMO this is one of the best. Professional, informative & goofy enough to keep it entertaining.
6 Likes
Anything having to do with sexual harassment/assault or Maine Maritime Academy are some things I’ve noticed
-
stop accusing me of being someone I’m not;
-
let’s see how long before this gets censored:
Someone told me recently that around 1990 or maybe the late 80’s a female at Maine Maritime supposedly committed suicide while on the MMA training ship, but that her friends thought it was actually not a suicide. And so I started looking online to see if I could find a story about it, and I only found one reference so far. But maybe someone on this forum has heard about this incident?
Here’s the link:
And it says:
While the transition from a strictly maritime training school to a better rounded college has had its bumps, the changes do seem to be working. Gone are the dark days of a decade ago, when the beating death of a midshipman on a Portugese island during the academy’s annual training cruise, the at-sea suicide of a former woman cadet who charged she was mistreated by academcy officials, and a series of charges of sexual harrasment and abuse hung over the campus like dark clouds.
“I really do think the place has turned the corner,” former president Curtis said in a recent interview.
Anyone know anything about this “suicide at sea?”
IMHO, your post, query is pretty synonymous with what’s happening in the whole country today.
People are less and less able to differentiate between fact and opinion. And people are willing to get into fights, and will run others over (either literally or figuratively) to ‘make their opinion the dominant one’.
Its ok to put out your opinion. But to slander someone over opinion is not correct. When it becomes a he said, she said (but what I have to say is the only opinion that should be heard) then you may as well shut the barn door because the horse has already escaped.
1 Like
The query about the at sea suicide?
It’s documented in a reputable newspaper
This is acting wonky. my entire comment was deleted. try again.
you and I were cross posting. I didnt know the exact topic you were making your OP about.
But, Having been around sexual harassment before it does happen. Not solely M to F but M to M F to M and F to F. There is another aspect to think of. I’ll stick on one gender for now.
Guys have been screwing (literally and figuratively) shipmates for generations over any excuse: Advancement, Career, Competition, Reputation, you name it. Gender non specific. (it happens for many reasons.) Whatever the motive, its ALL Harassment. I don’t differentiate between gender or race. Harassment is Harassment. Title X applies to all.
It is nothing new, and I am not a supporter of only calling it ‘sexual harassment’. its MANY forms of harassment. Not that I like it, don’t see it, or haven’t had to tell a couple guys to STFU about it in my time aboard. But, when it gets to he said/she said it becomes useless bitching.
4 Likes
I didn’t notice any of that being censored.
2 Likes
I think you are mistaken. Au contraire, I find that the gCaptain community has an uncommon tolerance for differences of opinion, and the only subject on which I’ve seen evidence of a firm editorial stance is on the subject of #BLM:
Apart from that, pretty much anything goes, a fact I value tremendously. Take the running gun battle between @ombugge and @c.captain as an example; I don’t think I can say it much better than I did here:
Inasmuch as there is a consistent trend towards sexual harassment threads getting locked or deleted, I believe that it is due to the aforementioned issues with promoting off-site content, combined with an intrinsic tendency for such threads to descend into the sort of unproductive exchange that must be curbed in order to maintain a healthy climate for meaningful discussion.
I’ll take this opportunity again to thank @john and our team of moderators for creating this space and keeping it free!
11 Likes
A lot of us, including myself, have gotten away with a lot over the years here. Its been borderline free reign and the plug has only gotten pulled when it needs to. Saying john and the moderaters have been fair is an understatement.
8 Likes
The person operating the SaltyDog69 account has had their account suspended with a reason posted as “Cease-and-desist letters”, does anyone know what that means? Did the operators of this forum get sent a legal letter by someone?
1 Like
Ha. Probably by Ryan himself.
2 Likes
Wow… that’s one I haven’t seen before. Looks like their Instagram account got the axe as well. Maybe for the same reasons?
Yes, this is exactly what I’m talking about.
So if the folks at gCaptain receive a cease and desist letter from an attorney (possibly one posting under several pseudonyms on this very forum) they should “fight the good fight” and ride the ship to the depths below?
I’ve been on some other forums over the years that were eventually shut down because they we’re not properly moderated. We are allowed a whole lot of leeway here and if you’ve been here half as long as the rest of us you might realize this.
There is a vast difference between blatant censorship and running a tight ship.
5 Likes
The Instagram account was shut down by the owner after he got so much shit from everybody that somebody actually started a meme page against him. After threatening to sue everybody who ever looked sideways at him, all of a sudden he was gone.
1 Like