Since warez/piracy answers are removed, why aren't illegal drug posts removed?

July 27, 2006 1:05 AM

This may be a dumb question. If I remember correctly people have had their posts removed for suggesting warez/piracy/etc. as an answer to a AskMe post. If that's so, why are posts suggesting that the user take illegal drugs allowed? This is not to say I am antipersonaldrugchoice, but I want to know why the discrepancy.
posted by Kickstart70 to Etiquette/Policy at 1:05 AM (35 comments total)

If I remember correctly people have had their posts removed for suggesting warez/piracy/etc. as an answer to a AskMe post.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that those instances where that happens are ones in which someone reading the thread has complained? Because in general, discussing and even linking directly to torrent sites seems to be copacetic.
posted by juv3nal at 1:17 AM on July 27, 2006

The simple answer? The DEA is less able to sue the pants off of Matt for being a conduit of free speech and information.

Think of it this way. If the AskMe was directly attempting to obtain and distribute illicit drugs, it'd be deleted just like requests for wares or cracks were.

Information about drugs is a different story - they aren't the drugs themselves.

Likewise, computer and software security questions will remain as long as they aren't specific about attempting to crack or reverse engineer a specific product.

In both cases there's a commonality - be it requesting or distributing the drugs themselves or directly enabling the distribution of pirated software. There's an actual product - not information.

That being said these are both rare examples of when a non-specific question is better than a specific one.

A map is not the actual geographic territory.
posted by loquacious at 1:22 AM on July 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

You need to chill. *hands Kickstart70 some reds*
posted by Plutor at 5:26 AM on July 27, 2006

Usually warez and piracy as answers won't go anyplace, but asking questions like "How do I get this thing that I am supposed to pay for, but for free?" won't last. Drug law is hazy and varies from country to country but giving out information about drugs [not like where to buy them, more like how to manage them and learn about them] isn't against the rules. Most of the borderline questions stay in and, as with a lot of AskMe questions, how the question is phrased really does matter.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:18 AM on July 27, 2006

The problem is that in some jurisdictions links to warez sites or usenet can get someone in trouble either through civil or criminal action. Links to NORML, not so much.
posted by the ghost of Ken Lay at 6:46 AM on July 27, 2006

Are you so sure there are no jurisdictions that ban links to illegal drug info? And even if there aren't, there are jurisdictions that ban things like talking about Nazis, or talking about democratic reform, so maybe that's not a good guideline.
posted by aaronetc at 8:12 AM on July 27, 2006

You can actually use MetaFilter to link someone to illegal warez, etc, which could expose Matt to liability.

I still have not found the Firefox plugin that allows me to pass you a joint on the Grey (but yes, drug questions have been deleted).
posted by scarabic at 8:23 AM on July 27, 2006

...posts suggesting that the user take illegal drugs allowed?

No mention of questions, or supporting links, only suggestions.

There were quite a few "answers" promoting the idea of praying to an invisible boogeyman in the sky for guidance, so I suppose it was rather naive of me to not assume the level of discourse was so serious that it would be shattered by a suggestion to expands ones mind in another fashion. Inlining an image of a vulture was deemed inappropriate, if you're looking for a metric.
posted by prostyle at 8:40 AM on July 27, 2006

Inlining a vulture image was not an answer to the question.

Most of the drug questions are not about how to obtain drugs, but rather how to deal with them [often dealing with quitting, or otherwise finding a way to incorporate realistic drug use into one's life] or learn about them. It's very unlikely that, given the wealth of drug information out there, anyone would decide to target MetaFilter. The same can not be said for the RIIA/MPAA.

My gut feeling is the drug laws are mostly known and can be mostly approached with some understanding of consequences, both for the poster and mathowie. Piracy/warez topics are still being hotly debated and litigated and are in a much more dicey area in an industry known for dramatic and punishing lawsuits often found, after the fact, to be without merit.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:55 AM on July 27, 2006

I liked the Internet better back in the frontier days, before the long arm of the law and rampant commercialism took hold.
posted by keswick at 8:55 AM on July 27, 2006

Don't bogart that comment.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:20 AM on July 27, 2006

It's only going to get even better, keswick.
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 9:20 AM on July 27, 2006

This thread brought to you by AT&T.
AT&T: Your world... delivered.
posted by squirrel at 10:26 AM on July 27, 2006

Everything I needed to know about drugs, I learn from MySpace.

Uh-oh! Yellow dog in wall! YELLOW DOG IN WALL!
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:30 AM on July 27, 2006

Well when sites like The Hive (which was amazing, I learned more about chemistry from that place than I think a 4 year institution, you actually saw ideas take place then new methods develop and explanation on how conclusions were worked out -- truly cool, I almost wonder if all the drug companies worked together in such a way they could have cured cancer for $1 a treatment), or Erowid or the variety of other sites such as Overgrow survived, I don't see how anything Metafilter could possibly compare. Note that I know The Hive and Overgrow are no longer around, being taken down had to do with associations to unscrupulous selling of controlled chemicals and association with seed banks respectively. The content itself did not get the sites taken down, to the best of my knowledge. I think that the consequences of drug use and the potential for abuse are so well known at this point, that it would be foolish or naive to believe that people are not well aware of the negative side effects of recreational use or that censoring such topics would curb misuse of drugs. Anyway, I think as long as the question isn't, "Quick, how do I make Meth with chemicals only found at Home Depot, Osco and OfficeMax", there's no chance in hell they'd get in trouble for it, nor do I think it is ethically wrong. That's not to say I see terrible, just terrible DARE and urban legend advice here in drug threads ("my friend's friend tried marijuana and is now a schizophrenic"), but that's a larger problem with sites such as AskMetafilter.
posted by geoff. at 10:40 AM on July 27, 2006

this explains why my answer "spanish jose has all the rock you need, just call 646-765-4321, and tell him jazzy sent you, if you're in the new york area." was deleted.
posted by shmegegge at 10:43 AM on July 27, 2006

Exactly. The comment was deleted because of the lack of caps.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:45 AM on July 27, 2006

*dials 646.765.4321*

*gets voicemail*

*declines to leave message*
posted by dersins at 10:59 AM on July 27, 2006

You got that, man? I'm in the coffee shop, across from the high school.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:02 AM on July 27, 2006

I've seen questions asking how to buy street drugs deleted. Offering advice about the benefits of taking the drugs is related but different enough to pass the test, it does not specify how to break the law, but offers opinions. I expect, someone saying they thought warez sites fulfilled a vital social role (rather than linking to it) would pass the same test.
posted by edgeways at 11:03 AM on July 27, 2006

scarabic writes "I still have not found the Firefox plugin that allows me to pass you a joint on the Grey"

*begins coding*
posted by mr_roboto at 11:35 AM on July 27, 2006

just don't slip those pills in your computer's CD tray
posted by matteo at 11:51 AM on July 27, 2006

A map is not the actual geographic territory.

Technically it is, isn't it?
posted by freebird at 12:15 PM on July 27, 2006

That would explain the crinkling sound under my feet. I thought it was my shoes.
posted by Zozo at 12:24 PM on July 27, 2006

scarabic writes "I still have not found the Firefox plugin that allows me to pass you a joint on the Grey"

*begins coding*

put me on your mailing list plz
posted by ludwig_van at 12:26 PM on July 27, 2006

Scale: 1 Inch = 500 Micrograms
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:27 PM on July 27, 2006

Headwiggin' the angry inch, Flo?
posted by loquacious at 12:56 PM on July 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

Now that's funny!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:59 PM on July 27, 2006

A map is not the actual geographic territory.

Man do I wish you'd said that in French.
posted by cortex at 1:09 PM on July 27, 2006

*begins coding*

*begins rolling*
posted by squirrel at 1:10 PM on July 27, 2006

Une carte n'est pas le territoire géographique réel?
posted by blue_beetle at 2:21 PM on July 27, 2006

When you point to the moon, a dog will look at your finger.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:43 PM on July 27, 2006

Just so long as he doesn't pull it.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:46 PM on July 27, 2006

*points to the moon*

Hey, what's that smell?
posted by dg at 6:16 PM on July 27, 2006

It's made of cheese, y'know.
posted by loquacious at 2:39 AM on July 28, 2006