My old forum got nuked last month over a single political joke

I ran a small car forum for about 200 people for five years. Last month, a user posted a joke about a local politician that got flagged by the host's auto-mod system. The whole site was suspended without warning, and they demanded a full review. It took me 18 days of back-and-forth emails, sending my ID, and rewriting the community rules before they restored it. Has anyone else had a host pull the plug first and ask questions later?

3 comments

3 Comments

dixon.james2mo ago

Was the joke really that bad, or are hosts just too jumpy now?

jamief672mo ago

Honestly I used to think hosts were just being safe, but @dixon.james is right about them being too jumpy now. Seeing a whole community get shut down over one dumb joke is crazy. It really makes you lose trust in the whole system.

nancyjones2mo ago

Switching to a paid host finally stopped that nonsense for me.