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?

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.

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