Is blocking someone unfair, or possibly censorship?

Question

I posted this pretty late last night...just curious what kind of input others have.
Thanks.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtsbBGSVO6aROhF8rwxtJOPsy6IX?qid=20070616010801AAdoUY2

Answer 1

Nope that's exactly what I do. I block people I know go around and report me by looking through my profile and just going down the list reporting anything nilly willy. Now they can't access my profile.

You might also want to consider setting it to private if you really have a problem with stalkers.

Answer 2

Well it depends on your reasoning I suppose. Some people I have blocked only because they blocked me first. Now, I've never been offensive or tried to be offensive (of course, I might have offended unknowingly) so I don't know why they blocked me besides they just don't like the kind of answers I give. Some people I have blocked because I know they would try to insult me regardless and I just don't want that as an answers because yahoo won't do anything about answers like that until it's been days or weeks later. And it pisses em off when they can't answer and insult you lol.

It's not unfair because perhaps you deserved it and it's not like there aren't other questions you can answer on the page. Censorship would be if you were kicked out of the whole section, not just one person's questions.

Answer 3

well yes, blocking someone on an open forum is censorship. i'm not saying you shouldn't do it, that's up to you, but it is censorship.
i don't know how you can tell who's reported you but if you know someone who is constantly reporting you for no good reason then it seems the only way to get around it.
i think this site would be far better if they scrapped the block feature and instead looked seriously at things that get reported.
addition after reading some other responses: the reason i say it IS censorship is because the blocked person is stopped from viewing and answering certain questions, it isn't just that you can block yourself from seeing their imput, you're actually able to block them from responding to yours. whether this is right or wrong, in an open forum it's definitely censorship.

Answer 4

No, it isn't censorship, all you are doing by blocking someone is preventing their answers from being displayed TO YOU.

Censorship would involve actions that would prevent someone from voicing their opinion at all.

Freedom of speech, also includes the freedom to choose which speech to listen too, which press to read.

Blocking a user is no more censorship, than is turning off the TV when you don't wish to listen to whatever is on.

Freedom of speech doesn't mean anyone has the right to a captive audience.

As far as "fairness" goes, I might not agree with someone's reasons for blocking a particular person, but it is there right to do so.

Answer 5

The more power people have, the more likely they will abuse that power. And from some of the lame-brained people that I see here, they will misjudge anything that is said.

But on the whole, Yahoo!Answers is not the most important thing in the world. That's my perspective anyway.

Answer 6

nicely, so a approaches I even have observed that I even have purely been blocked with the aid of one individual, a die annoying Bush supporter who apparently likes to dish it out yet can not take a sturdy refutation reaction, and would not enable digital mail responses. I seen blockading them additionally, yet then desperate that grew to become into petty and that i might quite depart blockading to others. (i do no longer ask that many questions besides). it is not relatively censonship yet in step with probability unfair in the experience that this is meant to be a public communicate board and if persons are going to place there comments accessible for all to be certain, certainly everybody ought to have the possibility to respond as long as they stick to the community regulations -- extraordinarily whilst persons are posting falsehoods, absurd generalizations and insults . My intestine experience grew to become into that the guy who blocked me is definitely cowardly and might't cope with or merely would not want to take heed to opposing viewpoints or refutation of so suggested as data yet so be it. :) playstation i will admit to the prospect that my solutions to this individual's questions might have been sarcastic or slightly insulting yet then i grew to become into purely responding in variety to the content cloth and tone of the question -- so I repeat the guy likes to dish it out yet can not take it.

Answer 7

I really don't see it as censorship... which is when you don't want them to be able to express themselves at all...

Blocking is more like parental controls on the TV... you can select what you want to allow in your own home, without controlling others...

Answer 8

It's getting rid of an annoyance from harrassing you.