Philosoraptor store ban, originally uploaded by ** GoSpeed Racer **.
Banning bloggers from sims and stores because you disagree with them or are afraid of what they may say is censorship. It’s happened to me of course and it also happens to fashion bloggers and anybody with strong or differing opinions on anything.
http://momola.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/gospeed-racer-banning-bloggers-from-sims-and-stores/
Thank you, GoSpeed
I don’t agree. For me it’s the same as my dad who on occasion told nasty customers that they were not welcome at his shop any longer (RL). He just rather didn’t sell them his creations. In SL, you cannot escort people out the door of your shop. A ban is an effective substitute. Of course, as a blogger, you don’t have to like this. But censorship? Nah, seriously exaggerated. The blogger can still express their feelings over the brand.
Banning in SL is a way to punish and silence people for many reasons. “How dare you criticize me!. I’ll show you, I’ll ban your ass so you’ll see how much power I have!”
It’s a very weak attempt though. Nowadays attempting to shut people with threats, blackmail, and bans are counterproductive. If you have a loud enough voice you will be heard and the overreacting party will be shown to be insecure and their reputation takes a hit. However if you’re a person with no public outlet you can be silenced. How many residents who have disagreed with a store owner, land owner or group owner have been banned for simply expressing their opinion?
BTW I think we all know what my picture is referring to. Let me give you an example. Suppose someone said that a photo in your Flickr photo stream looked bad for whatever reason. Let’s also say they said this in Plurk or in a group chat. Would it be right for you to ban them from whatever SL parcel or group you had control over? That would be pretty petty would it not?
It’s clearly not censorship though? Store owners are more than aware that bloggers have alts, and can use those to get in. Yes, it’s not the smartest move by a store owner to make, but that’s their choice.
If a restaurant bans a critic for giving them a bad review, they close that person off from coming back in the future and seeing if their food/service has changed, and closes the door to a future good review. One could argue that that may be censorship.
If a clothing store bans a fashion critic, the critic can just get a friend to purchase an item, or order it themselves online. That’s not censorship – it’s just someone holding a grudge.
True Prad, maybe not the best example of censorship. But it is attempt to punish someone for their opinions. Retaliating against someone who differs from you is pretty messed up. It’s also stupid if the recipient of isn’t going to be harmed by their actions and can in turn make it worse on them.
On a higher level it’s pretty damned hilarious that people can get so bent out of shape by what happens online.
Both ways, Gospeed. Blogger and creator alike might consider getting a real life before getting all upset about their seconds.