That’s a fairly broad and loaded question. We tend to defer to moderators for taking actions in the various communities. The question you’ve asked here has no context to it. It’s like asking if it’s ok to talk about getting drunk. Yes, you can talk about getting drunk. Can you talk about encouraging people to get drunk and then go drive a car? What about drinking to the point of alcohol poisoning? What about encouraging people to get drunk in a MADD community? All of these have different context to them and you can obviously see where in at least some of them you’d likely find yourself with a warning or being banned from the community (and in one, there’s potential your own mother might call you out). I don’t think it’s possible to list out all of the possible scenarios a particular topic is allowed to be discussed. So my answer is, read the code of conduct of this server AND the one of the community you are posting in (paying special attention to the sections about harassment along with the definition of harassment), then use common sense about whether a particular topic is allowed.

what is your stance on this decision by the LW admins

I don’t have one. LW and DO are very different in size (number of users, number of communities, AND traffic). I also won’t get drawn into a debate about how one instance chooses to govern vs how we do (not saying that’s what you were doing, just saying this is my only reply on the topic)

Also, IANAL and neither is @[email protected]. We are not about to say this instance allows you to comply with all legal obligations for your geographical location in the world - that’s up to you as an individual.

I won’t speak for @[email protected] (he’s the primary admin, I just pretend to help out 😉), but I see no reason to be a “USA focused instance”. We are open to anyone, anywhere as long as they are interested in open, respectful discourse staying within the code of conduct. Additionally, IMO having instances be “go to” instances kind of goes against a core concept of the fediverse. Anyone can run their own instance and get content from other instances (I don’t recommend it though 😱). Themed instances are fine, but they don’t advertise themselves as the “go to” for that theme, they just simply cater more to that style of communities. And with that description, Discuss.Online’s only “theme” is that you discuss… things, online 😜

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