debate and censorship

Published on March 5, 2005 By tonto san pancho In Blogging

i am a new user at this site, this is my first real posting, except for a comment i made elsewhere yesterday. it was that comment in the forum however which leads me here now. my first joeuser experience was this: another writer had posted an invitation for debate, i came and made a comment, then it was deleted out.

i believe i was on topic and it wasn't offensive in a way i could determine, and i was speaking what was true for me; so what's the deal? is this common on this site? is this a real debate or just a platform to provoke some responses so that one can turn around and deliver their own views? i can understand some limited censorship in specific cases, but this seemed highly petty. it felt like, "i don't like the ideas you bring up, so i'll just delete them." it was sophomoric at best, pushing juvenile.

can some folks please help me with the culture here regarding what is considered debate and/ or how censorship is used. this is not something i have encountered in other forums i partticipate in - where comments are wide open and there is a very liberal tolerance for everyone's comments, however far-ranging those may be. thanks. ~tsp

Comments

Angloesque

on Mar 05, 2005

Well, that happens here. Everyone has the power to delete the comments made on his/her blog. Some people delete because you disagree with them. They're rare, and you might want to note who they are and not spend a lot of time crafting replies to them.

Some people delete replies if they're off topic. I do that. If one of my articles degenerates into partisan bickering, I delete those replies. If it degenerates into a flame war, I delete. Having said that, I've probably deleted less than 10 article replies (blog spammers excluded).

Some people delete replies if your grammar and spelling are very poor. I don't think I've ever done that, but been sorely tempted.

Some of our articles are cross-posted onto WinCustomize (politics, current events, Internet being some of the forum channels that always are, I think...?). A lot of WC users don't like JUsers and they'll delete JUsers.

Most people just let it go, however. Take some time and comment around. You'll figure out who's who.

(Also the admins moderate stuff that's in the forums.)

-A.

bakerstreet

on Mar 05, 2005

If it is the blogger I think you are talking about, he deleted my post, too. In this case I think there are questions he simply can't answer, and therefore can't bear to see the questions asked.

The sad part is many of these questions come from his "side", i.e. not differing so much with his opinions as with the way in which they are asked.

kingbee

on Mar 05, 2005

can some folks please help me with the culture here regarding what is considered debate and/ or how censorship is used. this is not something i have encountered in other forums i partticipate in - where comments are wide open and there is a very liberal tolerance for everyone's comments, however far-ranging those may be. thanks.

welcome.

if that was the only time you've commented, i saw it (your nick went into the permanent instant recognition file based solely on its entertainment value) and i got no idea why it woulda been deleted.

my feeling is this: if someone takes the time to comment on my stuff, it stays. if someone deletes one of my comments, i stay...away. permanently. while i may continue to read that person's articles (or may not), i won't be contributing to them. that may seem an overreaction, unreasonable or just plain contrary but we all have our lil foibles n shit.

to the best of my knowledge, i've not made anyones blacklist; i'll figure out how to deal with that when and if it happens.

Dr Guy

on Mar 05, 2005

Angolesque I think explained it well. Some people are very strict in their comments area. Others are not. Mine get off topic often, but I only delete bigotted hateful posts (Bigotted being any thing against a race color or creed). Each person has their own rules, and only time will let you know what to expect. Sorry that your first experience was negative, but most do tolerate debate very well, even the ones we do not agree with.

Welcome aboard, and I would say based upon who has responded so far, you have some great people to check out. As this is a weekend, some of the other great ones may be outside. But it is snowing here, so I am blogging!

Dr Guy

on Mar 05, 2005

to the best of my knowledge, i've not made anyones blacklist; i'll figure out how to deal with that when and if it happens.

Ignore them. Thats what I do.

Gene Nash

on Mar 05, 2005

The moderation of the comments is pretty much left totally to the person who posted the original article. (Unless it's in a technology category and a WinCustomize bozo gets hold of it. But that's just our little internecine war going on. Ignore that.)

I think I've only deleted 4 or 5 comments in the 15 months I've been here. (And one was accidental while experimenting to see what modifying the URLs would do. Whoops.)

Other people delete with abandon. For instance, "Aeryck" deletes every comment I leave no matter how rational or on topic. Just avoid those types of people. (Unless you want to make your point to them and them alone and don't care about the consequences.)

Gene Nash

on Mar 05, 2005

Some of our articles are cross-posted onto WinCustomize (politics, current events, Internet being some of the forum channels that always are, I think...?).

I think only the technology categories are crossed to WC. Politics is crossed to Political Machine. (I just went over there, I didn't see a Current Events categegory?)

(TSP, your account is not just a JU account but a Stardock account, so you became a member of all their sites with your one sign-up.)

Dr Guy

on Mar 05, 2005

I think I've only deleted 4 or 5 comments in the 15 months I've been here. (And one was accidental while experimenting to see what modifying the URLs would do. Whoops.)

Is this gene talking or Azsmart? JK. What is your alternate ego any way?

Angloesque

on Mar 06, 2005

Yeah. I deleted one yesterday or today by accident. I clicked on it to delete it, then decided it wasn't so bad, hit cancel, and the thing was still gone. Sorry whoever that was--it was on my Sudan article.

Gene, I thought Brad said, once upon a time, that Current Events and Politics were syndicated columns. I could be wrong. I don't make much of an effort to visit the other sites affiliated with JU. Thanks for checking that. (Durr...I've become one of those people who says things before checking them out. Must get ahold of self.)

-A.

Gene Nash

on Mar 06, 2005

Is this gene talking or Azsmart? JK. What is your alternate ego any way?

Close, you reversed the two parts. It's SmartAz (click here for the story behind the name). I stopped using it after people kept insisting on responding to the name rather than the content. It's still my username here, but there's a checkbox somewhere that allows your real name to be used instead of your handle. I've been doing that since July or so.

I thought Brad said, once upon a time, that Current Events and Politics were syndicated columns.

I thought so, too.

I was pretty sure Current Events were syndicated to Political Machine but I just looked again to make sure and I still don't see them. Maybe they're on a different site? They're probably syndicated somewhere.

Manopeace

on Mar 06, 2005

The only comments I ever delete are those made by certain banned individuals that often return with new identities. You can change your name...but your ugly face remains the same.
Welcome aboard! I think we are all looking forward to seeing what you have to blog about... and don't lose sleep if someone deletes their statements...you can do the same to them if you don't like what is said...

Dr Guy

on Mar 07, 2005

Close, you reversed the two parts. It's SmartAz (click here for the story behind the name).

Thanks for the link and explanation! I apologize for reversing it!

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