Local subreddits r/nova, r/Virginia, r/VirginiaPolitics against conservatives and free speech

[Anonymous]

I am active on Reddit and a moderate conservative.
I would like to participate in civil discussion in our local subreddits, but it's seems to me that those reddits are VERY unwelcome to any opinion that can be considered "conservative".
Of course I have never made any post that can be considered as "hateful" etc.
In best case you just get attacked, painted as a "Trumpist" and downvoted to oblivion.
In the worst case you are banned by mods (I got banned from r/nova because the mods thought I am a "troll")

Since Reddit is a major platform for (political) discussion, how does this relate to free speech rights?

[jsteele]

You have no free speech rights on a privately owned platform. Your free speech rights do allow you to set up your own competitor to Reddit. That's why Trump couldn't prevent being kicked off Twitter and resorted to starting Truth Social.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am active on Reddit and a moderate conservative.
I would like to participate in civil discussion in our local subreddits, but it's seems to me that those reddits are VERY unwelcome to any opinion that can be considered "conservative".
Of course I have never made any post that can be considered as "hateful" etc.
In best case you just get attacked, painted as a "Trumpist" and downvoted to oblivion.
In the worst case you are banned by mods (I got banned from r/nova because the mods thought I am a "troll")

Since Reddit is a major platform for (political) discussion, how does this relate to free speech rights?

The beauty of Reddit is that you an start your on subreddit. Why not try that instead of complaining?

[Anonymous]

Fair enough. However, I think Reddit is not something like Facebook or Twitter. It sets some broad general rules, and lets the subreddit moderators (which are just ordinary people) to manage their subreddits in any way they like (including arbitrary censoring of posts).

Sure someone could create a "competitor" subreddit with no cost, however the existing subreddits already hold a great advantage, since they are around for decades (e.g. r/nova does not only have political posts but also various non-political ones, e.g. traffic posts etc.)

[Anonymous]

Try r/conservative, or wherever r/thedonald people went after it got banned

[Anonymous]

Sorry that you don't like being painted with the brush of your people. You are only as good as the company you keep. If you choose to stand in a tent with the current GOP, it is what it is. We can't help you to sleep at night about that.

Free speech does not mean freedom from all consequences based on your speech. It just means that the government itself cannot retaliate against you or sanction you for the speech it disagrees with. The consequences of your speech is that the people on those reddit board are banning you and telling you that you are a hateful troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try r/conservative, or wherever r/thedonald people went after it got banned

r/conservative is maybe too much right-leaning, and most importantly for me, it is not about local politics.

[Anonymous]

Conservatives are all about private business getting to discriminate against others (see: “gay” wedding cakes) until it applies to them.

[Anonymous]

r/nova is mostly people crapping on Maryland drivers. What did you post that got you banned?

[Anonymous]

I would argue that Reddit is not really a great place for political discussions simply because of the very binary upvote/downvote system. It is much better for specific communities where people are all on the the same page (sports teams, hobbies, pets, funny memes, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry that you don't like being painted with the brush of your people. You are only as good as the company you keep. If you choose to stand in a tent with the current GOP, it is what it is. We can't help you to sleep at night about that.

Free speech does not mean freedom from all consequences based on your speech. It just means that the government itself cannot retaliate against you or sanction you for the speech it disagrees with. The consequences of your speech is that the people on those reddit board are banning you and telling you that you are a hateful troll.

Wow. Case.In.Point. This is the kind of LWNJ the OP is talking about ^^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am active on Reddit and a moderate conservative.
I would like to participate in civil discussion in our local subreddits, but it's seems to me that those reddits are VERY unwelcome to any opinion that can be considered "conservative".
Of course I have never made any post that can be considered as "hateful" etc.
In best case you just get attacked, painted as a "Trumpist" and downvoted to oblivion.
In the worst case you are banned by mods (I got banned from r/nova because the mods thought I am a "troll")

Since Reddit is a major platform for (political) discussion, how does this relate to free speech rights?

Even leaving aside the private platform thing the only thing here that could possibly have implications for free speech is banning you. Otherwise, you're just complaining about other people's speech; you're free to voice your opinions, they're free to call you a Trumper. That's free speech in action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:r/nova is mostly people crapping on Maryland drivers. What did you post that got you banned?

I can't find the exact post, but it was about reopening schools back during the pandemic. My argument was just that Virginia should leave schools open and give parents the choice for either in-person or virtual learning, and ban indoor dining instead. Apparently my opinion was troll-ish and got me banned (after having collected a ton of downvotes ofc).

Anonymous wrote:
Even leaving aside the private platform thing the only thing here that could possibly have implications for free speech is banning you. Otherwise, you're just complaining about other people's speech; you're free to voice your opinions, they're free to call you a Trumper. That's free speech in action.

Well the thing is that if you continuously post stuff that people don't "like" in a sub, you collect a huge downvote total and mods ban you because of negative sub contribution.
For example, in r/Virginia and r/VirginiaPolitics you will see that all posts blame Youngkin (not a single one in support of him). If you start posting there in support of him you will get banned sooner or later 100%
Also see above

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:r/nova is mostly people crapping on Maryland drivers. What did you post that got you banned?

I can't find the exact post, but it was about reopening schools back during the pandemic. My argument was just that Virginia should leave schools open and give parents the choice for either in-person or virtual learning, and ban indoor dining instead. Apparently my opinion was troll-ish and got me banned (after having collected a ton of downvotes ofc).

Anonymous wrote:
Even leaving aside the private platform thing the only thing here that could possibly have implications for free speech is banning you. Otherwise, you're just complaining about other people's speech; you're free to voice your opinions, they're free to call you a Trumper. That's free speech in action.

Well the thing is that if you continuously post stuff that people don't "like" in a sub, you collect a huge downvote total and mods ban you because of negative sub contribution.
For example, in r/Virginia and r/VirginiaPolitics you will see that all posts blame Youngkin (not a single one in support of him). If you start posting there in support of him you will get banned sooner or later 100%
Also see above

Well you can aim a little lower and give City Data or Nextdoor a try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry that you don't like being painted with the brush of your people. You are only as good as the company you keep. If you choose to stand in a tent with the current GOP, it is what it is. We can't help you to sleep at night about that.

Free speech does not mean freedom from all consequences based on your speech. It just means that the government itself cannot retaliate against you or sanction you for the speech it disagrees with. The consequences of your speech is that the people on those reddit board are banning you and telling you that you are a hateful troll.

Wow. Case.In.Point. This is the kind of LWNJ the OP is talking about ^^

What's wrong with PP's comment? Seems spot on to me.