For the Attention of The National Autistic Society

What is to stop literally anyone from signing up to this website to spread disinformation? What are your safeguards?

There is no automated process so it is down to people to report posts they believe to be spam or abusive.

I don't think they are here to police the accuracy of information however. They can respond is someone is giving dangerous advice about using drugs etc but if it is for political opinions then that is down to freedom of speech.

Can you cite any misinformation that has been spreading recently that is provably incorrect?

Caelus had an interesting thread the other day? Has it been deleted now?  I guess the mods must be listening to my entreaties somewhat.

I understand the position you are taking regarding freedom of expression.  It's turning the forum into a very unpleasant bear pit and exacerbating my mental suffering and the suffering of others

I'd love for the to be a nice place to visit but I fear it never will be.

The rights of some take precedence over the health of others according to this lore.

You say that for political opinion their is a policy of freedom of speech here,  Is this limited in anyway? What do the community rules say?  Are you Ian, enforcing the community rules? Are you deciding them?

Are you Ian, enforcing the community rules? Are you deciding them?

Nope, I am on par with you here in my lack of power - in fact I have no desire to moderate others. I am interested in balance and fairness more than anything else.

I'd love for the to be a nice place to visit but I fear it never will be.

This honestly pains me to hear you feel this way.

I would like us to be able to discuss anything open and honestly and that involves dealing with people who have trauma and sometimes a restricted world view as a result of their life experiences.

I would prefer for us to be tolerant of their views so long as they stay within the letter of the rules here.

The rights of some take precedence over the health of others according to this lore.

This is the nature of rights - they should be immutable. In a decent world others would respect this and be civil but in this age of social media, people have grown accustomed to virulent defence of their opinions at the expense of socal niceties.

For us to only talk about nice things would mean we cannot talk about a lot of the trauma related issues that plague us and this would negate much of the good that comes from this site.

I cannot in good faith suggest a solution that meets your needs as it requires others to comply. We could ask for politics to be an "off limits" subject which would require the mods to change the rules - would that go some way to make you willing to stay?

Are you Ian, enforcing the community rules? Are you deciding them?

Nope, I am on par with you here in my lack of power - in fact I have no desire to moderate others. I am interested in balance and fairness more than anything else.

I'd love for the to be a nice place to visit but I fear it never will be.

This honestly pains me to hear you feel this way.

I would like us to be able to discuss anything open and honestly and that involves dealing with people who have trauma and sometimes a restricted world view as a result of their life experiences.

I would prefer for us to be tolerant of their views so long as they stay within the letter of the rules here.

The rights of some take precedence over the health of others according to this lore.

This is the nature of rights - they should be immutable. In a decent world others would respect this and be civil but in this age of social media, people have grown accustomed to virulent defence of their opinions at the expense of socal niceties.

For us to only talk about nice things would mean we cannot talk about a lot of the trauma related issues that plague us and this would negate much of the good that comes from this site.

I cannot in good faith suggest a solution that meets your needs as it requires others to comply. We could ask for politics to be an "off limits" subject which would require the mods to change the rules - would that go some way to make you willing to stay?

I have never encountered any shade of opinion in the Labour movement that has favoured that policy.

I do hope this remains the case and the membership of ECHR is sustained.

Once Labour have had a significant time to handle the pressures of dealing with the immigration situation then their perspective may be revisited I think - it is an immensly difficult situation to deal with and a significant burdon on the budget, plus has stirred up a lot of civil unrest.

With the more welcoming attitude in place then I would expect the immigration flow to increase as candidates see the country as a more desirable destination once more. This will add to the pressures.

While the country remains in the ECHR then their options are limited if how they can restrict the flow so I imagine the conversation will turn this way at some point out of desperation.

I cannot suggest a solution one way or another and I will be watching with interest to see how the party line changes with exposure to reality.

I think the term is that they are between a rock and a hard place.

I think we'll have to respectfully disagree on the prospect of this government withdrawing from the ECHR. I can tell you that I have never encountered any shade of opinion in the Labour movement that has favoured that policy.

Ian said:

Brexit has nothing to do with the EHCR

The reason I linked the potential withdrawal from the ECHR to Brexis was that the government had gained confidence in its ability to withdraw from the organisations that it thought would hinder it.

This government will not be withdrawing from the ECHR.

It was being considered by the previous government and I'm pretty sure the new government will give it at least consideration at it allows it to bypass lots of the rights that are preventing it from clamping down on dissent. The issue with the previous government is discussed by the BBC here:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cl55n29v2ppo

I don't want this to descend into an arguement about what Labour would do and what the Conservatives would do - history has taught us that politicians do what is in their own interests and a ECHR withdrawal would allow them more power to silence dissent - and that Pandoras box has already been opened with the ground work done by the last government.

I don't believe for a moment that the politicians are interested in our rights - only in being in power and will say what they want us to believe to get there.

This has happened time and again in the last 50 years and I don't see it changing.

Yes.  I did not realise I was spelling his name wrong.  My mistake.

Former Member

My point is that comments were made about me rather than Iain (the person with a double "i" in his name.)

I quote:  "are you Ian, enforcing the community rules? Are you deciding them? " 

I think that both Iain and I are aware of our own identities, even if others are confused, and it is rude to suggest otherwise.

Indeed.  This government will not be withdrawing from the ECHR.  Human rights are important and must be protected.  Without our human rights legislation the population of Britain would be completely beholden to the state and could be dominated by a potential authoritarian government and/ or politician

Brexit has nothing to do with the EHCR.  The European Convention on Human Rights is an international treaty to which the UK is a signatory. Indeed, the UK was instrumental in setting up the treaty, which took effect in 1953.  THe EEC (later the EU) was not established until 1957, and the UK joined in 1973.

The convention is now incorporated into English law by the Human Rights Act 1998. So we have (a) an Act of the UK parliament, and (b) an international treaty, to which the UK is a signory. I am not a lawyer, but my best guess is that Parliament would need to both repudiate the ECHR treaty and repeal the Human Rights Act 1983 to "get out of the ECHR".

Because of the  volunteer moderation this forum is basically a free for all where anything goes. 

Although I think the moderation team are finally getting in more involved and issuing restrictions on some posters.

BUT it's taken years of people like Deborah and I complaining and riots in the streets for them to take any action.

I don't know if you are implying that I have a restricted world view or not

No implications were made or intended.

I've just been through the community rules and there is no guarantee of absolute free speech here.  Not in the rules. In fact many things here are supposed to be prohibited.

It is actually a truth that there is no enshrined free speech at all in the UK, only freedom of expression:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_United_Kingdom

While there is no general right to free speech in the UK, British citizens have a negative right to freedom of expression under the common law, and since 1998, freedom of expression is guaranteed according to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as applied in British law through the Human Rights Act.

With us being out of the EU now then the government are within their rights to remove this law should they choose.

In fact many things here are supposed to be prohibited.  Racism, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Sexism for example.

There are laws covering hate speech around these so while the rules may not be specific about them, there are laws preventing them and NAS should act in accordance with these to remove them.

Debbie said:

Unless Iain is having an identity crisis he will know he isn't you

Now I'm having an identity crisis? Who am I really?

Noted.

I don't know if you are implying that I have a restricted world view or not but I will choose to ignore it.

I've just been through the community rules and there is no guarantee of absolute free speech here.  Not in the rules. In fact many things here are supposed to be prohibited.  Racism, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Sexism for example.. All of these forms of expression can and do lead to violent attacks on our streets.

As has been stated the moderators are volunteers and can't police the forum day in day out.

I'm certainly not going to be policing the forum day in and day out and it's not your job either.

But the community rules are clear and are there for everyone to read..

Ian said:

Please note that I am not Iain - if you look carefully you will see that my name is spelt with only one "I". Thank you.

Unless Iain is having an identity crisis he will know he isn't you

Please note that I am not Iain - if you look carefully you will see that my name is spelt with only one "I". Thank you.