Censorship? My two cents worth.

Dear Diary is not a democracy. It is a free site run by two guys who have decided for whatever reasons to host a place where people can write journals. What they have essentially done is created a home in cyberspace and invited us to come inside and make a room for ourselves.

If you want room service, they do charge a little. Or you could just be nice and chip in a little cash towards room and board. They don’t insist upon it, although they are grateful if you do. They’ll even let you do what ever you want in your room. All they’re asking now is that you lock the door if you plan to do things of adult nature in your room. A reasonable request, since there’s a bunch of kids in the house, as well as people who would prefer not walking in on you while in the act.

Now, it’s your choice. Maybe you want people walking in on you while you’re in the act. They don’t even have a problem with that. But they want to make sure that kids (who won’t understand what’s going on) don’t wander in. So they issued keys and they’ve arranged for a separate concierge service to see to key distribution. But these things cost money.

This has nothing to do with censorship. You can take your friends and go elsewhere if it is important to you to have the door open during adult acts and you don’t want to pay for the privelege. The risks you elect to assume if you do so are all yours. Steve and Matt just won’t have it in their house. I have no problem with their decision to enforce certain standards in their house, nor do I have a problem with anyone who doesn’t like those standards leaving to find a place that better fits their philosophies.

What does offend me is that people are now yelling “censorship”, which makes a mockery out of what censorship really is. Everybody here has been offered an appropriate place to continue putting whatever they want on this site. If they don’t like it, there are still free places on the web that will accept their business. Books have not been burned, speaches have not been cut off, and innocents have not been dragged to jail as enemies of the state for speaking their minds. Do not hide behind the screen of righteous indignation simply because somebody has decided they don’t want you engaging in certain (potentially illegal) acts in their house.