I have to say I agree with the blogger's general point, although I remember that there were some very reasonable arguments for not making membership in the PPUK free, for example (running a party in the UK costs crazy amounts of money, etc). Supporting the Obscene Publications Act is, imo, as far as you can possibly get from the freedom of speech ethos of the Pirate movement (and the arguments for doing so seem to be generally along the lines of "let's not help load the cannon that's going to be pointed at us" - ie "we're not sure this is what we believe but we don't really dare to say otherwise"). As for keeping policy discussion closed to non-members, I wrote a pretty long comment to the blog post, but in short I would advocate opening up *discussion* to all forum members while closing actual *voting* on policy decisions to paying members.<br>
<br>In contrast to the blogger, I don't hope that someone will form a "PPUK #2" - that would just be counter-productive and harmful to both parties, and to the voters - but I do hope that the PPUK will take these problems seriously, and not just start chanting that "if we open discussion up, our forum will turn into 4chan".<br>
<br>Erika Nilsson<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/10/2 Chris Lockie <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chris@lockie.org">chris@lockie.org</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10pt;"><div>I have to say that this statement about 'obscene' publications and images...</div>
<div> </div>
<div>"It's not censorship, it's exercising good moral judgement on behalf of the voters" </div>
<div> </div>
<div>...makes me deeply uncomfortable. It's bloody cheeky of any political party to think I'll let them decide on my behalf what's right and what's wrong, what's obscene and what's 'acceptable'. I had no idea the PPUK was in favour of that piece of legislation and I'm unlikely to support them in any election if that stance remains unchanged.</div>
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<div><div class="im">-------- Original Message --------<br>Subject: Re: [pp.int.general] Pirate Party UK Critism<br></div><div class="im">From: Joonas_Mäkinen <<a href="mailto:joonasd6@gmail.com" target="_blank">joonasd6@gmail.com</a>><br>
Date: Fri, October 02, 2009 3:44 pm<br>To: Pirate Parties International -- General Talk<br></div><div><div></div><div class="h5"><<a href="mailto:pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net" target="_blank">pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net</a>><br>
<br>Altough I am not from UK, I do have to point out what the text made me think about you:
<div><br></div>
<div>He is quite right about freedom of expressing opinions, even if they are homophobic.</div>
<div><br>"<a href="http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=655" target="_blank">http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=655</a>"</div>
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<div>I disagree with this.</div>
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<div>To get the trust of people who in turn have lost their trust in the old parties, you need to be more open than them.<br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">2009/10/2 Kai Mast <span><<a href="mailto:kai.mast@freakybytes.org" target="_blank">kai.mast@freakybytes.org</a>></span><br>
<blockquote style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;" class="gmail_quote">Hey,<br><br>I would like the members of the Pirate Party UK to comment on this<br>blogpost.<br>
<a href="http://bitplane.net/2009/09/pirate-party-uk-fail/" target="_blank">http://bitplane.net/2009/09/pirate-party-uk-fail/</a><br><br>greetings,<br><font color="#888888">Kai<br><br><br></font><br>____________________________________________________<br>
Pirate Parties International - General Talk<br><a href="mailto:pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net" target="_blank">pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net</a><br><a href="http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general" target="_blank">http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br><br><br>-- <br>Joonas "JoonasD6" Mäkinen<br>Varapuheenjohtaja, viceordförande<br>Piraattinuoret - Piratungdom<br><br>Department of Mathematics and Statistics<br>Faculty of Science<br>
University of Helsinki<br>
<br>gsm +358 40 700 5190<br></div>
</div></div><hr><div class="im">
____________________________________________________<br>Pirate Parties International - General Talk<br><a href="mailto:pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net" target="_blank">pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general" target="_blank">http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general</a><br></div></div></blockquote></span></div>
<br>____________________________________________________<br>
Pirate Parties International - General Talk<br>
<a href="mailto:pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net">pp.international.general@lists.pirateweb.net</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general" target="_blank">http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br>