Rights and Privileges of Public Virtual Spaces
Stack Exchange has established itself as a safe haven for experts and nerds. There are now 171 different subpages of Stack Exchange, whereby stackoverflow is one of the best known. Here, engineers, consultants, professors and all kinds of technology enthusiasts as well as sceptics discuss the problems of a programmer’s everyday life. Questions are asked, up voted, down voted, edited and at least answered.
But what happens if we feel unjustifiably treated? A short story about self-defense on the internet.
In order to maintain such a high level and to protect visitors from pointless or simply nonsensical questions and comments, the Stack Exchange site relies on its moderators. They take care of the observance of law and order, so to speak. They are mostly long-time users of the mentioned sites and protect the privileges of their users to the best of their knowledge and belief.
However, stackoverflow has become much more than just a common Q&A platform. It is often used by employers and project managers to evaluate potential employees. This is generally known. Many users therefore worry about their reputation and gain points every day. Accepted and verifed answers and well-ordered questions are therefore of great importance for any developer.
Not only the questions and answers help to collect the coveted points, but also the editing of questions and answers. To be exact, everyone gets +2 points for an accepted change of another user. No matter how long or short the edit is. From a technical point of view, there is no limitation or restriction. Therefore, it is worthwhile to start with this as a fresh user, in order to obtain a certain amount of points that open up new privileges in a short period of time.
Unfortunately, however, it is the case that such methods are not desired by the moderators. Even if the questioners accept the amendments, this does not appear to be a determining factor for the validity of the amendments. The account of formerly NEXT LEVEL SHIT was therefore punished and suspended for 7 days. His username was reset and his points were frozen. Unfortunately stackoverflow does not yet express itself at all.
What is questionable at this point is not the single experience of an individual in a large community, but the question: What is the Internet for a legal space? Which applicable law can be invoked and can your lawyer assist you in such a situation? The situation described here is certainly not an isolated case and affects only a few, but the question has to be asked whether virtual places have room for morality and rightness.
These are, in fact, virtual places where quasi-moral actions are carried out, but without any possibility of appealing.
The moderators have decided to suspend the user and deprive him of his virtual identity. Surely this was done in consensus with other moderators. Nevertheless, one question remains unanswered:
Is the use of a public virtual platforms a right or a privilege?
Especially since users of facebook and Google would meanwhile argue that it is a right, but this is only obvious. Publicly, we are becoming accustomed to privileges and mistakenly understand them as a right. No one can guarantee that facebook, Spotify, Google or Wikipedia will still be available tomorrow. No one assures us access to these platforms or sources of information.
