Blog management
i hope that readers of this blog will believe me when I say that I strongly believe in the free expression of opinions and abhor censorship. It was always my hope that all shades of opinion would be welcome here and that it would never be necessary for me to restrict comments in any way.
Sadly this has not proved possible and today I have had to restrict the ability of one reader to make comments. I feel that in some respects this represents a failure on my part, and I apologize for it. I felt I had to take this step as other readers were telling me they now felt intimidated from posting.
I hope that readers will understand this regrettable step.
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December 15, 2010 at 6:56 pm
How is this your fault. You did the only thing open to you.
December 15, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Hear hear – a pity, because that reader had some interesting things to say, almost none of which I agreed with, mind you. But the blog was becoming toxic.
December 15, 2010 at 8:23 pm
please do not take it as your ‘failure’, if anything the public/private dimension of any blog implies a sense of collective responsibility, and some basic netiquette in order to work, not that different from face to face communication, after all..
December 15, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Agree totally
December 16, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Absolutely
December 15, 2010 at 8:28 pm
I hope that you will not be too disappointed with what happened Ferdinand. Please keep going this blog.
December 16, 2010 at 3:26 am
+1
December 15, 2010 at 9:12 pm
I wouldn’t take it badly. It’s clear to all and sundry that you’re interested in genuine, reasonable discussion.
The internet, just like (and perhaps moreso) real life, occasionally requires taking steps to keep conversations reasonable. Open discussions have upsides and downsides. You’re merely dealing with the downsides, and doing so thoughtfully and respectfully.
December 15, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Not yours fault Ferdinand. Rather ours. Especially for those of us who are academics , rude responses, systematic rejection of others’ ideas or rejection of whole groups of students who have studied in the x or y universities are inappropriate at best.
December 15, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Thank you.
Initially, when that individual began participating, I too felt that he had interesting things to say and presented a different perspective. However, over time, while there were still occasionally interesting contributions, those got lost among the barrage of rants, hectoring and anecdotes in place of real evidence.
The fact that this blog does welcome contributions from anyone no matter who they are or what their perspective is admirable – and obviously the downside of that is, of course, that this kind of thing can happen. I’d rather see a lighter hand on moderation than a heavier one anyway, so don’t feel bad that things got to this point. We’re all adults and able to speak up for ourselves – as some of us indeed did try to do. Any fault lies with the individual poster who seemed unable to listen to concerns.
December 15, 2010 at 10:43 pm
The land must have law!!!
December 16, 2010 at 1:06 am
I think I know which contributor has been banned but I’m not certain. I must say that I’ve seen nothing that could be described as intimidating.
Incidentally, I think you should ask that contributors use their real names unless they have real fears which they are prepared to outline in a way which would preserve their anonymity.
December 16, 2010 at 1:38 am
To implement the above action I had to place all readers under moderation for a short while, for which my apologies. Normal posting has now been restored.
December 16, 2010 at 10:30 pm
You had no choice other than to take the action you did. And you maintained your dignity too, proving once again what a gentleman you are!
December 17, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Agree with all the above. Interesting to see that a good number of ‘regulars’ have made a welcome return. I think the major consequence was that everyone else was getting crowded out.