You have to ask yourself what is the point of telling us Hainan has legalised prostitution (not true as far as I can see), Chongqing has made individual use of VPNs illegal (ditto not true if you read the link), Guardian is blocked, CNN is not blocked, posting links to pirate software sites etc.

Point is that this is a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. The posters are exercising the purpose of this forum.

If you want to discuss the point (or lack thereof) of having such discussions, open a new thread.

I think you're missing my point

Hence the need for discussion rather than bulletins.

VPN is illegal but millions use it. Pretty much like everything else which is illegal. Anyway, Chinese internet is pathetic. It's about the worst in the world. All because of fear that people will 'talk' or find out stuff that everyone already knows and talks about. There are generally negative consequences when things try to get hidden in the long run. The truth always comes out in the end no matter how much it's censored. Actually, censoring a topic makes it even worse, or stand out more in one's pondering thoughts. Dealing with facts head on means you can then move on, rather than being continously stuck in some historical quagmire of intrigue

Discussion vs bulletins? I don't understand what you're driving at.

You can call it a bulletin board or a discussion forum or whatever you like. Someone suddenly arrives on here and their first few posts are about prostitution, gambling, pirate software, VPNs and internet blocking. Could all be innocent but exercise some caution.

Just saying.

I would say gokunming is both a bulletin board and a relatively pleasant place/forum for discussion..monitored by determined soul seeking thread watchers hell bent on strife

@vicar: "but millions use it.[...] everyone already knows and talks about"

In a country of more than a billion, millions is still less than 1%. I think that "everyone" in your comment is overstatement.

As personal example, last week when I tried to gently bring up the topic of the anniversary with my wife, fresh pictures from HK or mentioning an anniversary (or even a 30 year anniversary), didn't seem to ring any bells. I had to be quite specific about what happened in Beijing 30 years ago for her to connect the dots.

Only then she acknowledge that of course she knows about it (which I already knew since we have discussed this before).

Everyone may know, but I'd say by far less than 1% would have talked about this last week.

It probably deserves to mention why I brought up this with my wife begin with, since her reaction was not a surprise.

Our son will enter kindergarten next year, and eventually probably Chinese education system. I took the oppportunity to present her with example where I as father feel obliged to fill in the gaps left by that system.

A degree of argument arised from that.

Relevant to some comments in this thread, she eventually admitted that she worries what it could do to her son's life if he learned of such things that are not taught in Chinese schools. Her immediate reaction as a mother was that our son will be doomed to go to prison.

And that's how most Chinese public would defend the internet censorship. The propaganda machine has done its job, and even if many individuals wouldn't agree with the system, they fear how the government or their peers would react if they didn't act in unison.

They are a mere "1%".

Don't give up, nothing lasts forever.