leighton w wrote:
There goes freedom of expression.
I agree to a point, but it comes down to paying for the costs of hosting this site with advertising dollars and keeping the real customers that cover the costs (advertisers) happy. The use of this site is free (outside the fee to post to buy/sell if you choose to do so). So just like all things free to use on the internet (Facebook, Twitter, etc), if you are not paying for the services, you are not the customer, you are the product. It is a trade off.
gbohannon wrote:
I agree to a point, but it comes down to paying for the costs of hosting this site with advertising dollars and keeping the real customers that cover the costs (advertisers) happy. The use of this site is free (outside the fee to post to buy/sell if you choose to do so). So just like all things free to use on the internet (Facebook, Twitter, etc), if you are not paying for the services, you are not the customer, you are the product. It is a trade off.
Or maybe I have drank too much corporate kool aid
Oh, I understand why Fred did it. He has to make a living. I just get mad that advertisers have that kind of influence.
I posted to Fred's OP and said that if everyone who spent time on this site paid for a subscription, then maybe Fred could get rid of the advertisers.
Looking at where Irma has already been I was hoping that those islands wouldn't be crushed
Puerto Rico,St Thomas and Sint Martin were hit hard I hope they recover some by November
They are 3 of the ports we are visiting on our cruise and I was planning on leaving some American dollars there
and hurricane Jose is right behind Irma heading their way
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. "
Fred had to make a choice on whether to allow the nudes and lose the advertisers, which would probably have jacked up the price of B&S subscriptions, or shut down the site, or agree to the restrictions.
There is a lot of fine art in museums and government buildings, but even our government officials at times have had difficulties with the statues in the buildings of the departments they were in charge of, and ordered them to be draped.
What breakfast looks like to a sheep. And...looks like we had a good breeding season judging by all those colorful butts. I hope the advertisers don't mind a pic of sheep butts!
NightOwl Cat wrote:
The text of the First Amendment is this:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. "
Fred had to make a choice on whether to allow the nudes and lose the advertisers, which would probably have jacked up the price of B&S subscriptions, or shut down the site, or agree to the restrictions.
There is a lot of fine art in museums and government buildings, but even our government officials at times have had difficulties with the statues in the buildings of the departments they were in charge of, and ordered them to be draped.
haha, the US pornography industry floods the world with degrading images of women and you want to ban artistic nude pics from a modest photo sharing website ? haha, what a laugh !
Lieutenant Z wrote:
haha, the US pornography industry floods the world with degrading images of women and you want to ban artistic nude pics from a modest photo sharing website ? haha, what a laugh !
Fred owns the site, he's free to do such things. As long as he's not discriminating on the basis of race, sex, religion, etc. he has the Constitutional freedom to do so. No loss of freedom of expression at all as any of those people that wish to post such images are quite free to go elsewhere.
Oosty wrote:
My thoughts are with all those in the path of Irma. Reagan, Ken and any others in the path stay safe.
Curtis mentioned having minutes to pack essentials - friends of ours were lucky to escape with their lives as houses literally burned as they left. The lesson is to get out in good time and leave the problem to the insurance companies. As Curtis' Sue says lives are more important than possessions.
Ingrid has a brother in Tampa FL and hopefully he will be fine. Communication with his big sister is not his strong suit!!
I'm in touch with Sue but she has no cell phone reception where she is staying, so we're having to be creative. I'm tracking the storm through the New York Times who have fine graphics. There is a European agency that apparently has the best tracking system. They develop 50 different tracking possibilities that create a broad picture of where the hurricane might go. This is updated every few hours. What appears to be happening is the storm is moving toward the west. A day ago it was projected to travel up the east coast of Florida, beginning at Miami. then breaking into the Atlantic north of Palm Beach. Now, the guesstimate has the storm landing to the west of Miami and tracking through the western half of the peninsula. That would take it closer to Tampa. But much can happen in the next few days. The storm is estimated to make landfall in Florida around 8 a.m. on Sunday.
As much as I respect Fred's need/right to exercise some control over content on this website, I have to agree with Philippe that Americans are quite schizophrenic when it comes to sexual mores. Of course, the country was founded by Puritans from England who found sinfulness in just about everything humans do. And yes, the pornography industry in this country has thrived for generations. The internet likely has more porn sites than anything else. I read an article in the New York Times about how pornography has changed with the advent of the internet and ubiquity of video cameras. Now ANYONE can produce provocative content. I don't celebrate that fact but let's get real here. I know advertisers are apoplectic at the moment because they've discovered the ads they pay for online often appear next to sexual or hate filled material. They're not happy. I guess a few "artistic nude pics" are too much for them. I can't remember whether I ever saw such posts on FM, so if I did, the occasion wasn't that shocking or impressive. I respect Fred and what he decides works for me. I recall, however, when the original owner of TrekEarth began "cleaning up" that website, it was the beginning of the end. He soon sold the site for what was likely a handsome profit. But the site had lost some of its edge, which had more to do with conversations than on offensive content. I'm not a doomsayer, but I wouldn't be surprised if Fred at some point decided to take the money and run. This is a very popular website and he has worked very hard to make it successful. I wish him well. I wish all of us well.
jhinkey wrote:
Fred owns the site, he's free to do such things. As long as he's not discriminating on the basis of race, sex, religion, etc. he has the Constitutional freedom to do so. No loss of freedom of expression at all as any of those people that wish to post such images are quite free to go elsewhere.
Lieutenant Z wrote:
haha, the US pornography industry floods the world with degrading images of women and you want to ban artistic nude pics from a modest photo sharing website ? haha, what a laugh !
leighton w wrote:
It wasn't Fred's idea.
Doesn't matter, Fred had choices - people that pay him $$ didn't like the content that their advertising was sitting next to. He was free to comply with their wishes or lose them as advertisers and do something else for income. All acceptable within our constitutional framework.
Personally I think it would be better for those kinds of images to stay, but I have no problem with Fred's decision. 'Nuff said, time to move on to other topics.
CGrindahl wrote:
If there isn't a picture IT NEVER HAPPENED...
You've got your marching orders Colin for your next trip to see your father. Make sure you bring one of you manual focus lenses...
Curtis,
I am heading back to the homeland in mid October. Date to be defined.
I just located my tartan sheep picture from 2003 so now I need to upload somewhere as EVIDENCE. It exists!
The OCD in me doesn't want to disrupt my Flick flow of London scenes right now.
I used to use Photobucket for such things but they stopped file linking without an extortionate fee which I was not prepare to pay.
For those of you interested then copy the URL below into a browser without the quotes at beginning and end.
