Free speech and discrimination based on politics and religion on Reddit

William Clark86 said:Look, I'm not a lawyer—I'll stick to the philosophical side of things😁

Being both a moderator and an active participant in a debate is basically a conflict of interest, 😁 having been a moderator myself, I know firsthand that it makes you a bad debater—and by extension, a lousy moderator.

Especially when a moderator is stuck in their own delusions and just refuses to face reality. Take this example: while pushing a bunch of stretched-thin, wishful thinking theories as if they were gospel, lonetrucker4 claims that the only legitimate force in Canada was the Muslim army—presenting it as an indisputable fact.

The thing is, there isn't a single state or international legal document that backs that claim up. Meanwhile, I’m over here posting the official Federation Veterans Act from the government website—which clearly treats the different factions equally— yet my posts get deleted and I get flagged... all because the "Mr. Moderator" refuses to accept reality.

As far as I'm concerned, feel free to keep moderating this way—you probably will anyway—but then you really have to ask what the point of this sub-forum even is.🤷

lonetrucker4 is a bad moderator. I remember how he completely ruined the discussion about Vukovar; he let himself be trolled and lied to by one user, even though several others debunked those lies with solid arguments. He just kept doubling down on his conspiracy theories—with lonetrucker4's full support.

Christian Myers said:lonetrucker4 is a terrible moderator. I still remember how he completely trashed that thread about Vukovar—he just let some troll lie through their teeth, even when other users were shutting them down with actual facts and logic. And instead of stepping in, he just kept pushing his own conspiracy theories, basically giving the guy a free pass.

Look, lonetrucker4 is actually a brilliant poster... seriously, the guy has this massive body of work ranging from deep dives to just general curiosity.
But as a moderator? He’s totally lost. He’s gotten way too wrapped up in his own personal biases.
At the end of the day, I can stay quiet, but this whole thing where he hunts down regular users makes zero sense...
Who am I even supposed to debate with if he drives everyone else away?

Jeffrey Adams said:Anderlon is playing the innocent bystander, acting as if all this chaos surrounding lonetrucker4 doesn't concern him. He seems to think he can just wait it out, hoping the passions will cool down so he can return to business as usual. But to put it bluntly, Oštrić has made a mess of things in several ways: he acts on whims, insults others, discriminates, and tries to force his specific ideological and political worldview down our throats. In short, he’s behaving like a dictator who thinks he's untouchable—as if he exists above the rules and we are all merely his subjects.
The truth is, the responsibility also lies with Erik in his capacity as director, and with the administrators who fail to respond to complaints, contenting themselves with moderator explanations that simply don't hold water.
I understand them; it isn't easy for them to maintain a united front, but when it comes to documented, heavy-handed insults, something has to be done. Not everyone is going to behave like boldbadger1, bowing their head and submitting to a dictatorship.

We drove the invaders out over three centuries ago, yet we still haven't fully shed their customs, even while we swear by democracy and tolerance. The whole point of being tolerant isn't to tolerate someone who agrees with you; it's to show tolerance toward those who think differently.

Aupička, Erik jumped into this fray headfirst—nobody else did, not even the director himself!😲
And who is that, if it isn't a mystery? And who is persecuting you on religious grounds, if it isn't a mystery?😒

Jonathan Wright2 said:If lonetrucker4 is acting against the interests of the forum, why would the owner, Anderlon, tolerate it?

Likely because it isn't in the forum's interest to let you try to pass off your fabrications as facts.
And then, to top it off, you try to justify your own insolence by invoking 1945-style censorship.

This is becoming surreal...😵

Jonathan Wright2 said:lonetrucker4 is a brilliant contributor here. He truly possesses a fantastic body of work, ranging from deep knowledge to a genuine passion for learning.
However, he struggles when it comes to his role as a moderator. He has leaned far too heavily on his own personal standards.
At the end of the day, he could simply remain silent, but this constant persecution of the forum's user base just makes no sense..
Who is left to debate when there's nobody else around?

Persecuting the masses...🤣

If you're looking for "masses," go hang out in the chat rooms or those threads about Turkish soap operas, pop music, and horoscopes. That's where the crowds live.

In sub-forums like History, Social Science, Natural Science, and the like, we don't need crowds. We need two types of people: those who actually know something, and those who genuinely want to learn. Of course, those roles often overlap.

Honestly, just head over to Alternative if you want to spend your time making up resistance movements to your heart's content. Dragging things out in the History section just exhausts both you and everyone else.

bluecyclist64 said:Persecuting the masses of this forum...🤣

If you're looking for the "masses," go hang out in the chat rooms or those threads about soap operas, pop music, or horoscopes. That's where they live.

Alright, my bad—I used the wrong word when I said "masses"...
But hold on a second while I break this down for you...
The "masses"...
I mean literally, the sheer volume of people..
By my math, we’ve had maybe 150 active or semi-active members over the last 12 months..
And out of that number, we’ve got maybe ten people actually showing up today. And of those ten, You, Al Dent, and lonetrucker4 are always glued together—same stance, same opinion, same thesis, same interpretation, same... everything else.

bluecyclist64 said:On sub-forums like History, Social Science, Natural Science, and the like, you don't need "masses." You just need two types of posters: people who know stuff and people who want to learn something. And honestly, those two roles aren't mutually exclusive.

Okay, fair enough. Your take is that the forum doesn't need traffic—that there's no need for a network of individuals acting freely, without being shackled by laws and regulations that tend to stifle free thought and speech.

Basically, your stance is that the forum shouldn't have people.
My stance? A forum without people is pointless.

bluecyclist64 said:Why don't you just head over to Alternative and make up all the resistance movements you want there? On the History board, you're just unnecessarily exhausting yourself and everyone else.

I'm not making things up... I'm trying to explain it to you.
I research, I track, I hunt, I ask, I dig.
I inquire, I read, I compare, I analyze, etc.

Why is it so damn hard to grasp that history is a living organism?
That the shifts within it depend on certain biases?
And that just because something isn't written down or officially confirmed, it doesn't mean it can't be mentioned?
I don't get you—how is it not exhausting for you to just repeat the same thing over and over without ever questioning or scrutinizing anything?
And why do you feel the need to push your own opinion as if it's the one and only absolute truth?
You've got a blog, so why not use that as an outlet for your mind instead?

bluecyclist64 said:Aupička, let's be honest here—this whole situation is a mess because he dove in headfirst without a second thought. And who’s the one responsible? None other than Director Erik himself...😲
And who exactly are we talking about here—if you're willing to drop the mystery act? And just how is this person persecuting you on religious grounds... if that isn't a secret too?😒

There’s nothing being hidden here—the information is sitting right there in the public records on the SEC website. I have to admit, though, even I was caught off guard by this one. I fully expected to see Anderlon stepping up as the person in charge, the actual director... but instead, it's just Erik. That’s how things typically work in the American business world, isn't it? The real owner pulls all the strings from behind the scenes while appointing some figurehead to act as the director—and once that happens, you're basically powerless to challenge it...
If things start getting too thick—if the pressure really starts to build up—it’ll be easy enough to just shut this whole LLC down again and... $3.25 Go ahead, just register a new one—then let’s see if the creditor can somehow conjure money out of thin air... if that's even possible...

I’ve already made my point—he is targeting me purely on ideological and political grounds. He plays this grand role of the ultimate "anti-fascist," while painting me as some kind of extremist who denies the crimes of past regimes—labeling me publicly more times than I can count, even though he hasn't produced a shred of actual evidence that I've committed any criminal act. Look, if I had actually broken the law, that would be a crime, and he’d be well within his rights to take me to court... but since he won't, he leaves me with every right to sue him for slander and discrimination.

In either scenario, the burden of proof lies squarely on Oštrić's shoulders to actually back up those claims...

Look, lonetrucker4 knows perfectly well that he's dead wrong here—he’s just engaging in this completely unjustified harassment against me, trying to bully me right off the forum...

It seems like you only have enough room in your version of history for him—plus maybe a few sourpuss ideologues and two or three other clones who echo his every word. Anyone else who dares to voice a different opinion? They just get hit with the usual toolkit of censorship, bans, and labels... the typical dictatorial, autocratic tactics used to silence anyone who doesn't fall in line.

Just imagine what lonetrucker4 would be capable of doing to his enemies in a live combat situation—if he’s willing to act like this on a public forum that actually gets read...

Arthur Smith15 said:You really aren't. You showed up here just to spout your own nonsense, and the second you aren't allowed to run your mouth, you start whining about "unfairness" and "human rights."

..

The only people actually spouting nonsense on this history forum are lonetrucker4 and his little clique—which, by the way, includes you.
Anyone who dares to disagree with them on anything at all gets punished or harassed...

William Clark86 said:I won't approach this legally—I'm no lawyer—I'll speak from a philosophical standpoint...😁

Being both a moderator and a participant in the same discussion is, essentially, a conflict of interest😁—and having been a moderator myself, I know from experience that it makes you a poor debater, which in turn makes you a lousy moderator.

Especially when a moderator is stuck in their own fixed ideas and delusions, refusing to accept reality. Take this example, for instance, where lonetrucker4 peddles a bunch of strained, wishful-thinking theories disguised as facts—claiming that in Canada, only the Muslim army was legitimate, presenting it as an irrefutable truth

Even though there isn't a single state or international legal document that supports that claim, while I am busy citing the Veterans Act from the official government website—which clearly places all groups on equal footing— my posts get deleted and I get flagged... simply because the honorable moderator refuses to face reality.

As far as I'm concerned, feel free to keep moderating this way—which is likely what you'll do—but then you really have to ask yourself what the point of this sub-forum even is...🤷

Aside from the legal aspect (specifically where lonetrucker4 resorts to labeling and slander), this is also a top-tier philosophical question because it strikes at the heart of free speech. That’s why I invoked John Stuart Mill in my opening post—with the intention of debating that as well.

Because besides everything else mentioned, lonetrucker4 is stifling freedom of speech and expression, and the absolute peak of this behavior is banning people or deleting posts just because they don't suit his whims, without any explanation whatsoever.

When the debate turns to WWII victims and total demographic losses, anyone who quotes or references demographers that lonetrucker4 refuses to recognize—like Šterc, for example—gets exiled from the conversation and branded as someone denying the atrocities at Jasenovac.

lonetrucker4 is a terrible moderator
and KLCK is incredibly politically biased
it’s just not right

I managed to save myself by taking a partial ban
and honestly, life on the forum is better this way

I see people whining about losing 50 points, meanwhile, I sat there quietly through one-day bans that cost me 500 points all at once
I realized I was risking my entire standing on the forum just for two or three subforums—definitely wasn't worth the trouble
plus, you have to weigh every single message to make sure you don't accidentally "offend" someone
and then comes the infractions again
so yeah, it's probably best if we just step back
I mean, what do I even need this for in my life?
if a vote ever comes up to recall them, give me a shout

Lawrence Booth2 said:lonetrucker4 is a lousy moderator
and KLCK is way too political
it’s just not a good vibe

I saved myself by taking a partial ban
and honestly, life on the forum is great now

I see people complaining over losing 50 points, while I stayed quiet through one-day bans that cost me 500 points all at once
I realized it wasn't worth risking my standing on the rest of the forum just for those two or three sub-forums—definitely not worth it
plus, you have to weigh every single message to make sure you don't "offend" someone
and then comes the infractions again
so yeah, better to just step back
what do I even need this in my life?
if there's ever a vote to impeach them, give me a call

Same here. I left PDF Politics (partly because of the politicians, partly because of KLLCK) and I feel much better.

Christian Myers said:I’m right there with you. I walked away from those political forums—partly because of the constant bickering among politicians and partly due to all the nonsense over at KLLCK—and honestly, it feels like a weight off my shoulders.

Same here. They can keep their politics and their censorship; I’ll take my own freedom of thought and a few less fried brain cells any day...

Still nothing new on this forum.

The moderators clearly don't grasp the concept of free speech. They think they can ban anyone whose opinion doesn't align with their own—targeting perfectly decent users—while simultaneously letting trolls run wild, jump down people's throats, and toss out insults.
I won't even get into the moderators' ridiculous excuses on the first page, their absurd analogies, or how they constantly derail the conversation to go off on tangents.

Honestly, I feel like everything important was already covered back in the second post. Look, let’s not hide behind the concept of "freedom of speech" just to drag other users or the moderators through the mud—it’s just not cool, and frankly, it goes against the rules to go after someone without actually having any proof. Every kind of freedom has its limits, and yeah, that includes freedom of speech too.