Something aggravating just happened...

[TN al]

I am in my local public library on the public use computers and I just discovered that DU is blocked. I checked to see if that other conservative Neanderthal site was similarly blocked and guess what, it wasn't. Now I live in absolutelyredville, Tennessee. But that is no excuse. The librarian who unblocked it for me told me that sites can be requested to be blocked because some sites children shouldn't be going to. I told her there is absolutely nothing on this site that would interest a child but there is a lot on this site that would piss off the redneck neanderthal conservatives that live here. She told me I could talk to the director if I wanted to about it and I told her that I thought I would like to do that when my session ended. Suggestions on what I should say to her in about half an hour?

[angstlessk]

1. There should be sign on's for over 18 and under 18 and

anything political should not be blocked for the over 18 crowd! they are the voters and need information from ALL sides of the aisle.

[mike_c]

2. that DU is a large community that discusses a wide variety of issues...

...both political and non-political, but that it is fully moderated. You might want to show her a copy of the posting rules regarding civility, sexual material, etc.

Be prepared however-- lots of public institutions have rules against providing access and support for openly partisan web sites, etc. DU is certainly that, and while FR is MUCH worse, DU's partisanship is apparent simply from its name, while FR requires a visit and a thorough clean up afterward.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. This happened to me at the library of an elementary school I was

subbing at. Since when is DU a threat to the morality of youngsters?

[radfringe]

4. the director will probably say

somebody complained about foul language which is why they blocked it

for ammo, I'd print off a couple of pages from the other conservative Neanderthal site which contain foul language (won't be hard to find such pages, the problem would be in deciding which page to print)

tell her if the DU is blocked for foul language, then the other conservative Neanderthal site should also be blocked as well as these additional sites... then hand her a list of all the other conservative Neanderthal sites you can find

p.s. please include the White House web site... lol... that one is really foul

[lonestarnot]

5. Curtailment of freedom of speech by a library?

[noamnety]

6. I'd check if some of the conservative sites are blocked

If they are going to block this one, you may as well make sure they are "fair and balanced" about it.

There is some foul language here though, and despite the mods' occasional efforts, the lounge threads tend to have a lot of sex stuff. Can't really have it both ways, allow mature humor and then get mad that the site is given a mature rating some places.

[Possumpoint]

7. Language

More four letter words are allowed on this site then allowed on most others. I understand why it would be blocked so children can't view it.

[Fredda Weinberg]

8. Be calm and explain that political speech is protected.

I bet they'll be sympathetic. They may have been used, so please give the director the benefit of the doubt.

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. Umm, it's a public library .....

funded by tax dollars. They need to unblock it pronto. Someone may have requested it to be blocked, but it's their responsibility to exercise judgement. Frankly, I would imagine that their are a fair number of conservatives that would want to be able to "monitor" the activity on DU. On occasion, I go and read Free Republic for a little dose of lies and ignorance, AND I SHOULD BE ABLE TO!

[H2O Man]

10. Sure.

Libraries are supposed to be a place that helps people have access to all types of thoughts and opinions. DU is like a good book -- and, indeed, there are several published authors who frequent this site. You can mention that people like Elizabeth Edwards, John Kerry's stepson, and Gen Wes Clark's son participate on discussions on DU. Concentrate on the positive, rather than negative things about who might find DU offensive.

[Blackhatjack]

11. Remind the director she is a public employee, and as such is required to serve all the people ...

In North Carolina a public library official is not allowed to make decisions on a partisan basis, and allowing one partisan group to be accessed and blocking another is not serving all the people.

Ask her 'who' requested the site be blocked? On what did she base her decision to block this site? Are there standards for deciding what sites are blocked, and which sites are not blocked?

Sounds like a LTTE situation, call the ACLU, and notify the Democratic Party of the partisan use of public facilities by a public employee.

[Tesha]

12. They almost certainly buy a "service".

That service has almost certainly decided that we are
bad but FR is okay; this is true for a number of the
"site filtering" services.

The librarians will blame it on the service.

Whether you can escalate this to anyone who cares
depends on how loudly you then complain.

Tesha

[Warpy]

13. You could start with "HOW DARE YOU?

That's exactly how I'd start, but I tend to lose my manners when I'm in a First Amendment mood.

Threaten to contact the state ACLU. Follow through if the dope tries to block the site again.

This is unacceptable. I can understand a library nanny to restrict porn sites to children. I cannot understand restricting any site to an adult!

[Breeze54]

14. Nothing in the adult section should be blocked at all!

If they want to block on the kids computers, fine but not on the adult computers!! :grr:

Nothing is blocked at my local libraries!

[Richard Steele]

15. Perhaps you should gather a few of the racist, sexist, violence-endorsing posts...

...from those "other" sites, and FORMALLY ask that they be
blocked because of THAT crap.

Just to see what the response is, of course.

[Raejeanowl]

16. I Like the Free Speech Approach

I would challenge (lightly but pointedly) regarding the process of determining when a site is inappropriate for children, just to ensure that the request to block isn't some sort of a partisan attempt at infringement. Tell them it's going to become more important to be legal and fair as the next election cycle looms. Who knows, it might be the library branch director personally. Take it higher if you wish.

BTW, I had no problem visiting DU via my local library's computers during my recent "CPU crash" down time. It would never have occurred to me that anyone except die-hard conservatives considered it threatening.

[DemReadingDU]

17. What happened?

Is DU unblocked now?

[Whisp]

18. it could be over some of the language here.

thread titles like F***king, f*ck, f*ck., etc.
could be that simple.

Not sure if the other sites, am supposing you mean Free Republic, have rules against swearing. If they do, that Could be a partial explanation.

[rug]

19. Be tactful and don't mention the religion/theology forum.