Freedom of speech? Not with Treasure Island Media

[bbfan74]

Many people are against bareback porn and therefore want to censor them from events such as Folsom for example. However, TIM (Treasure Island Media) is one of those companies who seems to believe in censorship more than anyone else.

Throughout the last couple of months, TIM has censored, removed, deleted and/or modified my posts on their forums.

It all started when their actor Dawson made a racial comment about Asian people. I don't recall his exact words. I then accused him of being a racist and TIM censored me. First they stated it was not the real Dawson. However when Dawson confirmed it was him, all my posts my deleted instantly!

When I wanted to discuss their censorship with them... they, guess what, deleted those comments as well.

For me, this is it. I don't buy any TIM movies anymore. I also don't subscribe to their sites anymore. Especially not with many good alternatives (Slutmachine.com for example has a great new site, and also Machofucker.com has better videos than TIm and you can even download them).

[rawTOP]

Funny you mention Treasure Island and Asians... The last scene I featured of theirs had an Asian guy bottoming. And my (Asian) fuck bud Jayson Park has done videos for TIM... I don't think TIM is particularly racist. Mind you the Asians they use seem to be more mixed race - they're not into the "typical" stereotypical Asian... But big deal - each studio has their "look" and they do find Asians that fit their look...

As far as the forum posts - did they delete Dawson's comments as well? White guys from Boston (e.g. Dawson) aren't the most open minded when it comes to racial minorities. I had a Latino boyfriend who went to college in Boston - he liked white guys but said Boston was a challenge... It's not Treasure Island's fault that one of the performers is a bit racist. Personally I can see where a studio wouldn't like that whole conversation on their forum - it's not compatible with their brand... In that way Treasure Island's forum is a bit of a problem for them 'cause the conversation on it can tarnish their brand...

I (clearly) don't have those sorts of issues... You can discuss racism all day long on here if you want (and I'll probably agree with you most of the time).

[seaguy]

I think they were also deleted because you included links to the content of other studios and it's usually the case the a porn producer will remove that type of posting from their forums and boards, especially if its a link to a competitors website.

[bbfan74]

Well, it was not just these posts that were deleted.

As far as I know, Dawson's comments were not deleted. But I haven't really checked.

I actually never said that TIM was racist but that Dawson's comment was.

And yes, Cory Koons is hardly Asian. He is half Asian, half German. And most of the Asian guys the feature are mixed... if they feature any at all.

Yes, it's true, the last message was deleted because I had included a link to Slutmachine video. However, they could have simply removed the link instead of removing the entire text. But obviously it is not even allowed to MENTION other studios on their forums. So all in all, there is a lot of censorship going on there.

[BootmanLA]

I don't think there's a question that it's censorship (broadly defined). But editors of publications have always done that, especially for reader contributions; they can only devote so much space to letters and select those they think are most fitting and relevant. It goes without saying they had to fit within the scope of the mission of the publication.

In the internet age, with virtually unlimited 'publishing' space, we tend to think that any time a reader post is removed, there's something nefarious at work. But if TIM's purpose for its website forums doesn't include discussion of whether TIM performers are racist (or sexist, or whatever), then it's not only within its rights to edit, but may find it necessary, in order to avoid having the board deteriorate into a flame war. Simply being right on the facts isn't enough to justify a "right" to publish via someone else's site. Even if you're right on a moral issue.

[Pig Bottom]

Many people are against bareback porn and therefore want to censor them from events such as Folsom for example. However, TIM (Treasure Island Media) is one of those companies who seems to believe in censorship more than anyone else.

Throughout the last couple of months, TIM has censored, removed, deleted and/or modified my posts on their forums.

It all started when their actor Dawson made a racial comment about Asian people. I don't recall his exact words. I then accused him of being a racist and TIM censored me. First they stated it was not the real Dawson. However when Dawson confirmed it was him, all my posts my deleted instantly!

When I wanted to discuss their censorship with them... they, guess what, deleted those comments as well.

For me, this is it. I don't buy any TIM movies anymore. I also don't subscribe to their sites anymore. Especially not with many good alternatives (Slutmachine.com for example has a great new site, and also Machofucker.com has better videos than TIm and you can even download them).

People do not know what Freedom of Speech means. It means you can say what you want and the government can't put you in jail for it. Any website can remove any post that they do not want in it. You don't have a right to freedom of speech on the internet as long as private people or companies are running sites. If they donb't like what you say they can remove it and tell you to get the fuck out.

[bbfan74]

I'm afraid that is NOT what the term freedom of speech means. You can look it up on Wikipedia if you want: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech

It says: "Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship or limitation, or both."

[NY40]

Andy - you're wrong - Freedom of Speech and Censorship technically do not apply here. If the government censors your posts, then yes, that would be a violation of Free Speech and also Censorship. But there's no government involvement here. Do I agree with what TIM has allegedly done? If it's true, not really. But I do think others have a point? A lot of sites are really pissy about anyone putting a link to another website on their message boards - even if it is relevant to the conversation (it doesn't sound like yours were...). I'm sure the moderators don't have time to go through all messages to look for this sort of stuff, so they just blanket delete, perhaps automatically, anything without a non-TIM url. Just repost your comments without weblinks.

A good percentage of Machomoe videos are from TIM, by the way.

You're citing Wikipedia? Really?

[Pig Bottom]

I'm afraid that is NOT what the term freedom of speech means. You can look it up on Wikipedia if you want: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech

It says: "Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship or limitation, or both."

Don't you know that all private websites have terms of service that basically say if we don't like what you say you we can remove it and ask you to leave.

If you feel your freedom of speech rights were violated please take the matter to court. The court clerks will laugh over it for years and it will be thrown out before a judge even knows about it.

[bbfan74]

Of course I know that every forum moderator is allowed to delete/modify whatever messages are posted.

Still, what I say is true: That freedom of speech (being allowed to say what you want to say) is not somthing which is practiced on the TIM forums, because they do not allow their members to say what they want. This is all I was saying. I was not refering to the term "freedom of speech" in a political way.

@nybb1972: I never mentioned Machomoe... I mentioned Machofucker who are not associated with TIM at all, except for the fact that they used to distribute their DVDs for a short while, which - as far as I know - they don't do anymore.

And yes, of course I do I cite Wikipedia. Why not? It's the year 2010 and by now you are even allowed to quote Wikipedia in term papers at Universities :-)

[rawTOP]

I think the point is that Treasure Island's primary business is porn, it isn't running community web sites. They could violate free speech all day long and their porn would still be incredible. So who cares if they don't protect free speech? They're still a great porn company...

And as others have pointed out, there is no right to free speech on forum sites. Free speech means you can start your own forum site and the government can't censor it (in most cases).

[BootmanLA]

Andydeck,

There is a difference between "freedom of speech" (as a concept) and "Freedom of Speech" (as referred to in the US Constitution). They are related concepts, but the former is a general term and the latter is a specific application.

I don't know which universities you are referring to, but a quick survey of the academics I know resulted in a 100% contradiction of your suggestion that Wikipedia is an appropriate source to cite in a term paper. I don't discount its value (it's often the fastest way to find the (likely) answer to a question, such as "When was George Washington born?", but none of the professors and instructors I consulted would accept that as a citation. The point they made was that being user-edited, and with often-questionable sources, Wikipedia was at best a guide to finding other, more authoritative sources. It's certainly not a dictionary, and I would never cite it for the definition of a word or phrase.

In any event, it's not that there are simply two states: free speech and censorship. Beyond the fact that TIM has a "right" to edit or remove content from its site, in order to be useful, it HAS to be ready to prune off-topic information; otherwise, I could post a recipe for prune danishes in their forums and scream "censorship" when it was removed.

TIM decided, presumably, that a post accusing one of its performers of racism was not on-topic for the discussion board. Even if you're right that he's racist, even if telling the world about racists is a moral imperative, TIM doesn't have to provide you with a platform from which to do that. And it's not censorship if they simply decline to do so. It's editing. There is a difference. And please don't go citing Wikipedia entries in an attempt to prove me wrong.

[bbbtm20]

Now if only rawTOP would practice that kind of censorship, he could delete this totally unsexy thread and I might get the last five minutes of my life back...

[jridge]

Many people are against bareback porn and therefore want to censor them from events such as Folsom for example. However, TIM (Treasure Island Media) is one of those companies who seems to believe in censorship more than anyone else.

Throughout the last couple of months, TIM has censored, removed, deleted and/or modified my posts on their forums.

It all started when their actor Dawson made a racial comment about Asian people. I don't recall his exact words. I then accused him of being a racist and TIM censored me. First they stated it was not the real Dawson. However when Dawson confirmed it was him, all my posts my deleted instantly!

When I wanted to discuss their censorship with them... they, guess what, deleted those comments as well.

For me, this is it. I don't buy any TIM movies anymore. I also don't subscribe to their sites anymore. Especially not with many good alternatives (Slutmachine.com for example has a great new site, and also Machofucker.com has better videos than TIm and you can even download them).

Im shocked that Dawson might be racist. I'm just wondering if he would still let an asian fuck him bareback. (Which Im sure he would. He doesnt seem to discriminate in that area.) Anyway, I love Dawson, anyone know if hes into Latinos or other minorities?

[NYCKinkDad]

Andydeck - you said, "...Dawson made a racial comment about Asian people. I don't remember his exact words." So, you want feedback on censoring your outrage over racism when you can't even establish what the supposed racism was? You also state that, "...Cory Koons is hardly Asian. He is half Asian, half German." Cory describes himslef as Asian. He might be surprised to find out that he has been fooling himself all this time because you have determined that he isn't. Your comment about Koons is racist in itself.