Rules & Policies

About "Free Speech"

Freedom of Speech is a worthy concept and one which we support wholeheartedly. Indeed it is one of the founding principles of The Race Cafe. However, it is important to understand the limitations of this principle and not to abuse it.

You must understand that, especially in regard to website discussion forums, the argument "What about my right to free speech?" simply doesn't hold water either legally or morally.

General Legal Stuff

Free speech does not give you the right to publicly say whatever you like -- it actually has many limitations. There are more laws governing what you can't say than what you can.

You have the right to certain religious, political and other beliefs, and you have the right to express your opinions in an appropriate way without fear of oppression. This does not mean you can demean, insult, slander or offend other people. You cannot give away personal information without consent. You cannot publish adult-only material in a public manner. You cannot publish racist or hateful material. You cannot force your opinion on other people against their will. There are many, many things you can't do.

In addition, although you may have the legal right to express a certain opinion in a public place, this does not mean you have any legal right at all to express this same opinion on someone else's property or in someone else's publication.

Your Free Speech Rights at The Race Cafe

To put it bluntly, the only rights you have at The Race Cafe are the rights we decide to issue. This is our website and we run it in the way we believe is most appropriate to facilitate our goals.

If you invite us into your house or place of business, we will respect your values and your code of conduct. If you don't like swearing, we won't swear. If you prefer that we don't discuss religion or politics, we won't. If we don't like your house rules, then maybe we won't bother coming back to your house.

The Race Cafe is both our home and our place of business and you are our valued guest. We want you to enjoy your time here -- all we ask is that you respect our house rules. If you find that our rules are not to your liking, you don't have to visit. You are free to set up your own website and implement your own set of rules.

There is usually a way to express your opinion without breaking the rules or offending anyone. Sometimes you just have to work a bit harder to make it happen!

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