The Politics of Moderation

If you are looking for my Thursday Thirteen, please click here.

As regular visitors to this blog know, my posts/polls are normally related to pop culture. Because of recent events, I've decided to make a one-time deviation from the format. In addition to voting in the poll in the left sidebar, I hope you are able to read the following post:

The other day, I was talking with a blogging friend and we agreed that there are two reasons one would enable comment moderation on their blog:

1. To eliminate Spam, trolls and mean spirited comments

2. Because they are reluctant to let anyone with a different opinion share their views

Recently I had an encounter with Lauren, the author of the blog Can You Be A Part Of My Life? Although I had an unpleasant exchange with her earlier this summer, I still read her blog on occasion. One thing I noticed is that Lauren sometimes has a tendency to go on the attack against those who don't share her views. In a post about the Saddleback Forum, she stated that if she were to have an abortion, it would affect no one but her. Lauren also said that comments stating that she would be hurting a baby would be deleted. When a commenter countered that abortion does affect the man (he even drew on personal experience), Lauren tore into him like a hyena does a zebra on one of those Animal Planet documentaries. Because Lauren's words are hers, I won't use any direct quotes here. However, you can read them in the comments section of the various posts that I've linked to here.

Last week, she wrote an anti-Obama post titled Is This The Change America Needs? When Pjazzy answered the question in a respectful way, she felt the wrath of Lauren. She called Pjazzy super ignorant, compared her thought pattern for choosing Obama to Hitler/Chavez, and that was just in the first three paragraphs (her response totaled 8)! A natural reaction for many would be to return the attack and that's what Pjazzy did. Lauren countered by doing a separate post (click here to read it) in which she included Pjazzy's response, along with her comments. I took issue with Lauren's attempt to make herself look good by describing her original response to Pjazzy as simply a "reply". As a result of this incident and the previous one with the gentleman who voiced his opinion about abortion, I decided to respectfully voice my concerns to Lauren in the comments section of the post. Although my comments briefly appeared on Lauren's blog, they (along with Pjazzy's in which she thanked me for what I said) quickly vanished.

Last Friday, Lauren wrote a post about McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate titled Vagina Or Penis I DON'T CARE (she has a fondness for typing in all caps). One commenter stated that they were leery of Palin because they had never heard of her. In Lauren's response, she mentioned that until less than 2 yrs ago no one had heard of Obama outside of his home state. Since I knew this to be untrue, I wrote the following:

"It'll be interesting to see how McCain's pick of Palin as his running mate plays out. Will it sway more of the Hillary supporters McCain's way or will he lose more votes because some don't like the prospect that should something happen to McCain, we'd have a female President?

You mentioned that until less than 2 years ago, Obama's name was never uttered in anyone's household except for extremely local towns in his home state. In actuality, Barack Obama came to national prominence 4 years ago when he gave the keynote address at the DNC in July 2004."

Lauren responded by insisting that no one knew Obama outside of his state until less than 2 years ago. She went on to say that by questioning one of her statements instead of sticking to the topic, I was being a typical liberal. To illustrate the point she made in her response to the commenter, Lauren cited that she didn't know me before she started blogging. I responded by saying:

Lauren, I never said that giving a convention speech is automatically going to thrust someone into the national spotlight. However, in Obama's case, I think it did. I remember that Obama's keynote speech in 2004 did generate buzz from the media. Below is the link to a clip of PBS pundits giving their analysis of Obama's speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36IsXj686Vc

I also recall some of my friends, co-workers, etc. talking about the speech afterward. You mention that there was no talk about Obama in all the states after he made his speech. In all seriousness, I am wondering how you know that. Do you subscribe to newspapers in all 50 states? Did you visit all 50 states? Just asking. Having said that, you and I can agree to disagree on the impact of his speech.

You said that I'm making this about what you said instead of sticking to the issue. Since I know that people were talking about Obama in my home state (which isn't the same as Obama's) back in 2004, I knew that your statement about his name not being uttered in anyone's household except for extremely local towns in his home state until less than 2 years ago wasn't true. Is it not OK for me or others to address comments that you make on your blog?

You mentioned that my comments were "Typical typical liberal attempts to put so many directions in the conversation that we get lost and forget what's really the topic." Three things:

1. Making sweeping generalizations about one's political beliefs doesn't accomplish anything.

2. Is your not knowing me before you blogged sticking to the issue? If you think so, that's cool. However, I thought the issue at hand was politics.

3. Since I don't recall ever telling you what my political affiliation is, I am wondering how you could know whether or not I am a liberal, conservative, independent, etc.

Hey, did you notice how I didn't type any words in all caps to make a point? :-)

Lauren (who began using comment moderation last week) chose not to post those comments. However, she did post her response to those comments by saying that she wouldn't post my comments if I didn't stick to the topic of the original post. I replied by asking her what she was afraid of; adding that moderating comments in the manner that she does makes her blog one-sided and boring. As you can guess, those comments didn't see the light of day either (I didn't think to save them so I can't include them here). She posted a lengthy response accusing me of demanding that she do things my way (not true) and trying to change the subject/topic (wrong again).

To me, not posting a reader's respectful comments but posting your response is distasteful. I wouldn't be surprised if readers are thinking I cussed her out or something! It's akin to both Lauren and I having guns. The only difference is that hers fires bullets, while a flag with the word "Pow!" comes out when I pull the trigger on mine.

I have no issue with sticking to a topic when I comment. However, it was she who brought Obama into the conversation (with inaccurate information) and chose to comment on my political beliefs (which she had no way of knowing). By Lauren's rules, she can go off on any tangent that she chooses. However, if you decide to address any side topics that she brings up, be prepared to get slapped down.

One of the aspects of blogging that I enjoy the most is the exchange of various ideas. Last year I deleted the comments of an anonymous poster who used a racial epithet and part of me regrets doing so. Although I no longer allow anonymous comments, I don't use comment moderation. There was a commenter who aired her anti-gay views in a post I did about gay male intimacy. Although I completely disagreed with her, she was allowed to voice her opinion.

Comment moderation can be a good thing (to eliminate Spam and abusive commenters) and it's a blogger's prerogative to use it any way they see fit. But if you use it to muzzle people who either disagree with you or call into question inaccurate statements that you are presenting as fact, what's the point? The title of Lauren's blog asks the question "Can You Be A Part of My Life?" For the sake of my sanity, I think I'm gonna answer that with a resounding "No!"

As a side note, Lauren has an open invitation to come over here and join in on the discussion. I told her as long as she keeps it clean and respectful, she can say whatever she wants.