Eliminating Medium Spam is as Much “Censorship” as PBS “Censoring” Sex Scenes From “Mr. Rogers”
There is a world of difference between censorship and abiding by a mandate — once said mandate is defined.
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There is also context for everything.
No singular definition of “censorship” fits all circumstances.
I’ll take a preemptive strike or two.
From the ACLU: Censorship, the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are “offensive,” happens whenever some people succeed in imposing their personal political or moral values on others. Censorship can be carried out by the government as well as private pressure groups. Censorship by the government is unconstitutional.
Hell, check out Wikipedia for a comprehensive overview.
When you’re done with all that, you may want to review my Medium article, below:
As excerpted from the article, which addressed not only my efforts to improve this platform via a formal mandate but also an accusation that I was encouraging censorship: With the acknowledgment that Medium is not The New York Times, would the NYT publish self-promoting articles from writers selling courses, consultations, et al? Of course not.
Why? Because they’re a respectable newspaper?
No.
BECAUSE IT’S NOT IN THEIR MANDATE.
Frankly, such articles do not even appear on NewsBreak, as a closer comparison, as self-promotion is not in their mandate either. Vocal, I believe the same.
And so on.
SO, WHAT IS MEDIUM’S MANDATE? WHAT IS MEDIUM? WHAT DOES MEDIUM WANT TO BE?
If Medium is an anything goes platform, something that includes blogs, ads, sales solicitations, false claims about earnings and the like — never proven and easily faked visually — then effectively it’s the Wild West.
