44 upvotes, 3 direct replies (showing 3)
View submission: The history of the /r/xkcd kerfuffle.
I suggest that moderators of subreddits which are based on certain people's intellectual property should be removed when the owner of the intellectual property requests it
Bad idea. This would mean that Randall Munroe would ultimately be the super-mod of any subreddit that is about his work. So my sub-reddit, XKCDSucks would just be turned off on day one. Your suggestion that the problems you outlined at /r/xkcd are so serious that we should override basic principles of freedom of speech is comical.
There is already an existing mechanism to fix the problem you're describing and you've tried to embark on it. you start up a competing sub-reddit. I know it's not ideal (/r/xkcd will always be the default sub that a fan would subscribe to) but it works if the problem with the original sub is serious enough.
Comment by [deleted] at 09/02/2014 at 02:11 UTC
-1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
this is such a wildly inappropriate response to the situation and just breaks so many rules about discourse. You can't honestly believe that freedom of speech is in question here, the government has nothing to do with this situation. And, under the current rule, xkcd is being associated with subreddits that I'm sure Randall Munroe would vehemently disagree with. Stop trying so hard to be a vulcan and just look at the situation with general morals.
Comment by Wyboth at 09/02/2014 at 00:18 UTC
-4 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I see. I really meant subreddits about his work, not subreddits critical of his work. I'm not sure how to word that as a rule, though, but I meant the "default sub that a fan would subscribe to," like you said.
The problem with setting up mirror subs is when links to them on the original sub are censored, like what's happening now, and new subscribers won't know about the problems. But I'm sure you knew that already.
Comment by SanityInAnarchy at 09/02/2014 at 12:02 UTC
0 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Well, depends what you mean by "based on". An obvious solution here is to make Randall a super-mod of /r/xkcd, and maybe *directly* derived things like /r/xkcdwhatif (if it existed), and *not* of other reddits which parody it, or otherwise comment on it.
It's like the fair use exemption in copyright law -- or whatever the equivalent is for trademarks. I can talk about Coke all I like without running afoul of trademark law, so long as I'm not pretending to *be* Coke or to *represent* Coke. This is likely not actually a trademark issue, but that's how I'd handle it.
Trademarks are a violation of free speech. They're an *actual* violation of free speech -- you have zero legal right to free speech on Reddit, and zero legal recourse if the admins step in, but trademark law is the thing that stops you from making *your own* separate website where you pretend to be speaking on behalf of Coke.
And I think that's okay. I think trademarks are *exactly* the sort of thing that *should* restrict our speech.
I don't know if /r/xkcd would be covered under actual trademark law, but if Reddit *did* decide to treat it as if it were, /r/xkcd would be Randall's, and /r/xkcdsucks would be left entirely alone.