Tuesday, January 11, 2011

LOL. I believe the offending comments that sparked this post were removed, although this isn't directly said. I don't like the negative tone of some blog comments either, but I am never sure how moderators draw the line, and I doubt it can be unbiased. I've been called worse too, btw. Why do I feel a Nileston News coming on?

2 comments:

J. Eric Smith said...

No comments were removed, although one of the Indie Albany writers left the site as a result of this kerfluffle. I was feeling guilty about having the site leaning to hard to the left, so invited a childhood friend from South Carolina into the mix . . . he did a good job, but the topics that were of interest to him were so provocative that they served only to create ill will within the Indie Albany community as previously constituted. I decided it was better to let Indie Albany be what it seems to want to be rather than to impose some sort of ideological balance on it. South Carolina friend left immediately thereafter. The end.

howzerdo said...

Big picture from the news was censoring Mark Twain,the AZ shootings, and the outrageous commentary. Little picture is that an anonymous comment [easily identified] calls me a bad word. TU blogs routinely publish vicious comments and censor others [with no rhyme or reason, very opaque], all the while being snippy about the policy. Then I read your "kerfluffle" (great word) post and it was one more spark. So I got out my pencils and drew. I was thinking about whether incivility consists only four letter words, slurs and threats or if disagreeing with someone's POV and being provocative were also not civil. I was wondering how comments can be moderated, whether it is a good or bad idea, and the elements of a policy. I was turning over the question of whether "moderation" is defensible in a democratic society with protected speech.