For those advocating squelching as a good solution. Think about this. The people most likely to squelch ch1 are probably the ones which should have been on ch1 and the ones causing a person to squelch ch1, should not have been on ch1.
Exactly!! (if a little obtuse --like Bilbo at his birthday party) Skuzzy's point is the key to the issue.
The "good guys" are the ones who liked Ch1 for the community, the ability to chat about a dogfight, and the occasional taunt. (OK, and the ability to hear the dweebs whine.) The "bad guys" cursed, shouted, dragged for rants with inflammatory political or religious statements, and generally acted with the class of soccer hooligans. The "bad guys" don't care, so they don't squelch. The "good guys" either sit in the stands shaking their heads, ignore the riot's damage, or they leave the stadium by squelching 1.
We have to acknowledge that both these crowds were part of channel 1. Now, taking away the default CH1 radio setting isn't censorship, it's zoning -- a distinction that should be easy for anyone with any knowledge of history. [You can't compare
that inconvenience with trying to read Solzenhitzen or the Bible in the old USSR.] So, HTC was faced with the challenge of trying to preserve the community for the good guys, knowing that the libertarian approach would give the hooligans license to tear the stadium apart. Historically HTC tried several approaches, none of which were entirely successful or entirely satisfactory. There is no perfect solution, so don''t argue like there is one -- HTC is balancing between two competing priorities, open community exchange vs. waste containment. Both are valid community needs.
Some of these posts have been whines about change, like "trying on new shoes." Some have inflamed an attempted zoning change into assaults on the foundations of liberty. Lets (try) to be reasonable here -- channel 1 had problems, and HTC is TRYING SOMETHING to deal with those problems. Relax, guys -- if it works, it works. If it doesn't we'll try something else.
That said, I'd go for the idea of letting the community police itself. If anybody gets squelched by 50 people, they cant enter channel 1 text for an hour. Simple, reasonable, and probably effective. Meets the needs of the good guys, remains accessable for the newbies, teaches the hooligans some self control. Seems like a winner all around......
