都知道中国的言论自由还受到诸多限制，网络监管有点过于严格，尤其是关于政治方面的言论，在网络上过滤得太严，以致像憨哥这样老实本分的人，因为长年居住在国外，思想跟不上一片大好形势，不能与胡哥保持高度一致，所以帖子时常也是要被删除的，心里自然感觉很不爽。如今，国内的网站已经很少去了，咱现在没事儿就上美国和加拿大的网站，至少文学城至今没有删除过我的帖子，自我感觉还是很惬意的。那么，美国的网站和论坛真的就自由了吗？你可曾仔细看过美国网站和论坛的相关条款？
自由和民主是相对而言的。在美国的网站，同样有许多的限制。删除帖子和评论，也是家常便饭，屏蔽词汇也是在所难免。像是大家都喜欢看的美女隐约露点图片，在国内都没人管，在这里，如果在非色情网站出现或者贴在网站提供的私人图片库里，即便你只是给自己看，也不行，或者被立即删除或者会收到一封警告信，要你自己立即删除，如果不然，你要承担一切的后果。某个层面上，美国的网络监管，甚至比国内还严。一旦吃上官司，一样会面临牢狱之灾。前不久有一位美国妇女，因为网上辱骂网友被判有罪（题图），已经开了先例，大家都知道，在美国，判例是法官参照的重要依据，怕是以后这样的案件会更多。
（题图一）2008年11月26日，美国密苏里州49岁妇女洛丽•德鲁到达洛杉矶联邦地区法院。洛丽•德鲁利用虚假身份在“我的空间”注册，冒充一名16岁少男与13岁女孩梅甘•迈尔交往，对其进行讥讽辱骂并致其自杀。
（题图二）2008年11月26日，受害者梅甘•迈尔的母亲蒂娜•迈尔（中）到达美国洛杉矶联邦地区法院。当日，洛丽•德鲁被裁定罪名成立，并将面临最高3年监禁和罚款30万美元的判决。受害者家属希望此案的审判能引起全社会对互联网阴暗面的重视。
美国律师发出警告说：“任何一个人想用因特网或社交网络折磨另一人时，需要意识到如此行为将带来严重后果。”这一起不幸事件和法院的裁决，给我们敲响了警钟。或许，许多人和我一样，以前不太注意美国网站和论坛的相关条款，往往一略而过，现如今，当你注册网站网名和论坛马甲的时候，则必须把条款逐字逐句看仔细了，看明白了。今儿个我就把我常上的美国一个著名的自由论坛的条款拷贝下来，与你共同阅读，看看美国的论坛自由吗？
使用条款
LiberalForum.org is wholly owned by Custom Website Design Office, LLC. You must understand, acknowledge and agree with all of the terms and conditions ("Agreement") stated herein prior to registering for an account or otherwise using our forum or any other part of this website.
大意是：注册帐户或以其他方式使用本论坛或通过本论坛访问任何本网站其他部分的浏览者，在此之前，您必须了解，承认和同意所有的条款和条件（“协议”）
1. Prohibited Uses. You are strictly prohibited from using or promoting viruses, trojan horses, MySQL squeezing, hacking, phreaking, or any software or system that may threaten, damage or burden our forum, website, software, server, or any other website, software or server.
第1条大概意思是禁止使用各种软件手段来捣乱破坏，包括病毒、特洛伊木马等等，包括反复地上贴，导致论坛拥堵和承载压力过重，以及其他影响和危及本网站和其他网站、软件程序和服务器。
2. Disclaimer of Liability .
LiberalForum.org (and its owner Custom Web Design Office, LLC ) disclaims all liability regarding from the use of our forum or any part of our website. To be specific: In no event shall LiberalForum.org be liable for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special or consequential damages arising out, of or in any way connected with, the use of this website or with the delay or inability to use this website, or for the materials obtained through this web site, or for any claimed damage from our forum, or otherwise arising out of the use of this website, whether based on contract, tort, strict liability, or otherwise, even if LiberalForum.org has been advised of the possibility of damages. Our forum uses technology that is licensed from Invision Power Services (Invision), and Invision shall not be liable for your use of its forum technology. LiberalForum.org
第2条的意思是说该论坛不打算为论坛导致的任何不良后果承担任何间接、直接、附带等任何责任。包括论坛本身出了毛病无法打开阅览，等等。一句话，法律免责。
3. Suspensions, Terminations and Banning . LiberalForum.org reserves the right to suspend or terminate any member, or ban/block any member or user from our forum or any other area of our website, without providing a justification or notice if we feel it is in the best interest of our web community. LiberalForum.org If we suspend, terminate or ban you from our site and/or forum, and you attempt to circumvent this measure and regain access by registering under a new screen name or identity or any other method, we will construe this action by you as a form of unauthorized trespass. In such case, you have attempted to breach our security, and your information may be forwarded to authorities without notice to you.
第3条大概意思是本论坛的版主保留这个权力：可以禁止你上此论坛，或者删除你的网名，而且无需给你理由，也不需要事先通知你。如果你试图耍花招儿绕过，比如你在网名被禁的情况下，使用其它的网名进来，这被视做非法侵入，我们有可能在不事先通知你的情况下向政府权力机构告发你。（博主点评：美国也有告发啊，呵呵）
4. Forum Postings. LiberalForum.org makes website discussion forums available to its users. LiberalForum.org Any information that is written, pasted, posted or otherwise disclosed in these areas becomes public. You are advised to exercise caution when disclosing your personal or professional thoughts and/or information. Posts and any other form of submission by users express the views of the author of the message, and NOT the views of LiberalForum.org.
第4条说得是论坛的帖子，大概意思是该论坛是一个公开的论坛，你在此张贴的任何东西都被公开，因此当你透露一些私人的东西或者专业的东西的时候，你自己要仔细考虑，谨慎行事，你发表的东西代表你的观点，并不代表论坛的观点。
5. Copyright. You may NOT submit/post any writing, pictures or any other information ("works") on our forum if by doing so you would violate the intellectual property rights of a third party. Chances are that if you did not create the works yourself --or they are not widely known as being in the public domain -- someone else has copyright protection in those works. It is your responsibility to post works that are not in violation of federal, state and international intellectual property laws. Consistent with Section 2, above, LiberalForum.org will not be responsible for your infringement.
第5条说得是版权问题。大概意思是你不得张贴人家已经有了知识产权的东西，包括书面文字文件、图片和任何其他资料，不得违反联邦和州立的知识产权保护相关法律和国际知识产权法。论坛对你的违法侵权不负任何责任。
6. Code of Conduct. You must abide by our Code of Conduct:
A. Adhere to Forum Designations . There are certain areas of the board that allow participation from both Members (Liberals) and Non-Liberals. However, the "Liberals-Only" area is reserved for Members who already agree on basic principles and philosophy. Non-Liberals are not permitted to participate in areas designated for Members. Because this is a Liberal board, newly registered users are put in the Members category. Users who do not identify themselves as Liberals must send an email to info@liberalforum.org requesting that their designation be changed to Non-Liberal.
第6条说得是你必须遵守我们的行为守则。其中，规则A是说你注册进入论坛，一开始你就属于自由派成员，因为这是自由派论坛。自由派论坛有他们自己讨论问题的原则和观念，非自由派成员不得进入专门为自由派设计的区域，自由派成员如不想表明其自由派身份，必须发邮件到info@liberalforum.org请求改变为非自由派身份。
B. Be Civil . Don't use language that lowers the tone from that you would see on a television show (ie, "Crossfire" or "Politically Incorrect"). Attacking your opponent personally is not appropriate. What is considered civil in heated political discourse? For example, don't say "you're an idiot." Instead, you can say "that's an idiotic position." Criticizing aspects of people that are beyond their control, such as their race, gender, economic status, etc., are NOT acceptable.
(1) Flaming. You are not allowed to post messages where rudeness, obscenity, hatred, vulgarity, or any other "flaming" is directed at other users. Flaming that is directed at a moderator or admin will be met with swift and strict action.
(2) Excessive Profanity. While you may use profanity lightly as a mere exclamation to further express yourself or to underscore a point, you may not use excessive profanity in your posts.
(3) Adult Material. Adult material is strictly prohibited. You may not post or link to any adult and/or obscene material.
(4) Spam. You may not post messages that promote commercial products or services, or any form of self-promotion. This includes affiliate links or links to your own products or services. You may contact us to report spam at info@liberalforum.org .
规则B大概意思是说要讲文明礼貌，不要有过“火”和偏激的政治语言，进行人身攻击等，比如，不要说“你是白痴”，但你可以说“这是一个十分愚蠢的观点”。不能够批评人们超出了他们控制的方面，比如种族，性别，当前经济状况等等，如果你这么做，就有可能被禁止。可能被禁止的还有，粗俗不雅，不尊敬他人，成人淫秽资料，广告和垃圾邮件等。
C. Be Sincere. Don't post just to get people riled up. Don't disrupt the purpose of the forum, which is to foster genuine, and where possible, constructive dialogue between people of opposing ideologies.
(1) Misrepresentation. Do not post messages that contain intentional misrepresentation of facts, or intentionally distort the truth. If you present information where a material element of that message directly contradicts something you have said earlier, please be prepared to justify the change of information.
(2) Misdirection. Do not change the subject of a thread or post or otherwise misdirect a discussion.
(3) Identity. Do not pretend to be another user/member or otherwise lie about your identity.
规则C说的是要真诚，不要触犯众怒；不要扰乱论坛的目的，是在尽可能的情况下，促进人与人之间在不同意识形态和思想领域真诚、建设性地对话。更不要造谣，虚假陈述、歪曲事实；不要误导，不要伪装自己的身份。
7. Deletion, Modification or Moving of Posts/Threads. LiberalForum.org reserves the right to remove any forum posting that its admin or moderators consider inappropriate or in poor taste. LiberalForum.org. Our decision as to what we will delete will be completely subjective. In addition, we may edit, modify, or move your posts/threads at our sole discretion and at any time without notice to you.
第7条的意思是论坛的管理者和版主有权在不事先通知你的情况下，有权删除、修改或者移动你的贴子，版主们做这些事情的时候完全是凭主观的（subjective），只要版主认为你的贴子不合适，或者不合自己的胃口。（博主点评：看来这里你也不能够抱怨版主不公平，不客观，他们想怎样做就可以怎样做，你爱来不来。）
8. Severability: If any provision in this agreement is held to be unenforceable by a court of law or equity, this agreement shall be construed as if such provision did not exist and the unenforceable provision shall not be held to render any other provision of this agreement unenforceable.
第8条的意思是如果本协议中的任何条款被法律上裁决为没有约束力，那相关条款自然就失效了。
9. Applicable Law . This Agreement is to be governed by and construed under the laws of the State of Maryland and the United States of America.
第9条说的是这个协议是遵守了美国联邦和马里兰州的各项法律的。
10. Entire Agreement . This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement. The Agreement is intended as a complete and exclusive statement of the promises, representations, negotiations, discussions, and other agreements that may have been made in connection with the use of this Site.
第10条说的是这个协议是完整的。
11. Modification of Terms. We reserve the right to modify these terms and conditions at any time and without prior notice to you. It is your responsibility to return to this site to review our terms.
第11条说的是我们将保留随时修改这些条款和条件的权力，而且修改了也不会提前通知你，你的责任是经常回到这个页面察看我们的条款是不是修改了。
（时间有限，水平有限，没有逐字逐句翻译，只是大概意思，省得您说俺中文翻译很臭，呵呵。仅供参考，各位看客不必太较真儿。图片消息来自主流媒体。欢迎批评指教，谢绝侮辱谩骂，所有侮辱谩骂，隶属于发布者自己享用，恕不回复。谢谢大家！）
