Saturday, March 15, 2008
Why comment moderation is wrong
I hate blogs that moderate comments. I hate blogs that only allow readers to post comments after they have been approved by the blog’s owner. Nothing demonstrates just why I hate comment moderation more then a recent post on Occasional Superheroine. Valerie D’Orazio, the blog’s owner, must first approve a comment before it appears on her blog.
She wrote a post that asked if comic book creators and other funny book professionals should have private security with them when they attend comic book conventions. What would prompt such a question? She pointed to a recent discussion that took place on Newsarama between TV producer and comic book writer Marc Guggenheim and comic book reviewer and blogger Kevin Huxford. The discussion spiraled into the recent WGA writers strike and Marc Guggenheim’s comment that there was nothing wrong with a non-WGA member crossing a WGA picket line. Huxford rightfully pointed out that no good union member approves of or encourages any person to cross a union picket line. Guggenheim responded that since Huxford didn’t work in Hollywood and wasn’t a member of the WGA, he lacked the ability to understand the “nuances” pertaining to the WGA strike. Huxford responded to this snarky comment by stating that since his knowledge of the particulars was being called into question, he was turning the matter over to the WGA so they could decide if Guggenheim actions were indeed improper or not.
Of course some people freaked out over this.
Valerie D’Orazio tried to make the asinine assertion that Kevin Huxford posed some type of threat to Marc Guggenheim’s physical well being. As if reporting someone to their union for encouraging or condoning people to cross a picket line means that next they will obtain a high powered sniper rifle and try to take them out from 500 yards away at the next Wizard World.
That’s just dumb.
What does this have to do with comment moderation? She wont allow Kevin Huxford to defend himself. Over 45 comments have been left on Valerie D’Orazio’s post. None of them have been from Kevin Huxford. She evidently is not allowing them to get through. Who else is she not allowing to comment? I left two comments. One she approved, the other one she did not. Why not? Because my opinion didn’t mesh with her opinion? So what? I just don’t get that. Click here to read my second comment, the one that she didn’t “approve”.
Allowing a free flow of ideas is an important part of the blog equation. When a blogger employs comment moderation and uses it to filter out opinions that differ with their own, they might as well ditch the blogging platform and just write Word documents. It’s dishonest. It gives the false impression that everyone reading and commenting agrees with the author. That very well might not be the case. Bloggers shouldn’t be afraid of people not agreeing with them. Bloggers shouldn’t be afraid of someone pointing out that they are wrong. They shouldn’t use comment moderation to discourage dissenting opinions. In fact, they should be encouraging people to weigh in with contrary opinions.
My guess is that Val has recently gotten a taste of what it’s like on the other side of the fence (I believe she heads up Friends of Lulu, or something like that), and maybe she’s been the target of some weirdness already….or enough weirdness to trigger some paranoia.
Her decision to be so controlling over the comments is a puzzling one, especially since she routinely delves into provacative topics that are bound to generate some wildly divergent opinions. That unwillingness to fully engage in that type of “public opinion arena” (warts and all) is, at best, disingenuous and, at worst, extremely manipulative. I completely understand editing comments for crackpot comments or obscenity, but if she’s going to present herself as this Wise Arbiter of the comics scene, she should be more honest about it.
Mark, you made some really good points. I totally understand someone editing or moderating a comment for vulgarity or obscenity - if that is the type of blog they are running. For instance, I wouldn’t expect to see someone leave a comment using obscenity on your fine blog. I would expect you to either delete it or edit it almost immediately. That’s not what is going on with Val’s blog. She blogs about some fairly extreme stuff.
She asks for opinions, but then wont let her readers see opinions that are contrary to her own. That’s too hammer-sickle like for my tastes.
Personally, I kinda like it when someone weighs in and disagrees with me about something. I like to hear opinions that are contrary to my own. Plus, sometimes I’m wrong about stuff. How am I supposed to know when that happens unless someone sets me straight?
FUCK!
Just as the movie Twister showed us there are “good tornado chasers” and “bad tornado chasers,” there are also good bloggers and bad bloggers. Rick is a good blogger. (Luckily for me, I get so few comments on my own blog that I never have to make any judgment calls about comments.)
This is totally retarded. That Gugenheim guy (or however it is spelled) claimed the other fellow didn’t understand. So, in an attempt to better himself, the other guy went to the union to learn more. If Gugenheim was so sure he was in the right, and mere mortals like us simply couldn’t comprehend his approach, what did he have to worry about? What a baby. His comics stink, anyway. Maybe that’s why he is so pissed off.
Bare in mind I really just glanced over the story.
No Sloofus, you got the gist of the story. And I don’t think it was Marc Guggenheim that got his panties in a twist. I think it was mostly Dan Slott that was trying to make a big deal out of it.
I think Guggenheim was talking out his ass. He seemed to me to be one of those WGA types that thought the ultimate thing you could do for the WGA strike was to walk the picket line for an hour - if there was somebody there to capture the event on film or video. The idea behind a picket line is NOT to get face time. It’s to encourage people — not just other union members — to honor the strike.
I don’t even blame Joe Quesada for going on the Colbert during the strike. I thought he was in the SAG union, but I guess he’s not. Being that he’s not a union member, his first obligation is to Marvel. I do fault Guggenheim though. At the very least, he should have tried his darnedest to talk him out of appearing on the show during the strike. He should not have excused it, especially publicly.
SHIT COCK!
Schooly, why are you doing this? I don’t get it.
When I begin to blogging, I ‘ve set blog for comments moderation. Some times ago I’ve understand I’m wrong!
neploxo tak, i`m glad,