Petition to End Moderating

Its a valid point Na. If the moderation REMOVES the post, then that is censorship because it has completely removed the possibility of another person viewing it and making their own opinion.

While moderating posts down on this site reduces the post to a header line, which I think some see as 'removal' in a way, people are still able to view the message, comment on it, and if they set their filters correctly, even moderate it themselves. To me, that is not censorship however it is akin to enforcing one's opinion on others without their consent, which can be seen as a form of censorship I s'pose. Then again, if enough people participate in the activity it simply becomes a democratic process like any state or federal election.

If on the other hand, a person was to choose what "newspapers" they themselves were to read or not read, this decision would not impact another's ability to chose similarly for themselves. This would be the same as the site having no moderation facility what-so-ever. Everyone gets to see everything and they choose to read or not to read as the case may be. However, newspapers and magazines are "moderated" in their own way through editorial approvals and so forth, so I think the comparison is a little lacking. Having no moderation on this or other sites would be comparable to a newspaper being run by the journalists with content approval. They could write what-ever they wanted, and you wouldn't have the opportunity to comment, unless you happen to write to the editor, and they didn't take offence to your letter. That would be more like an unmoderated, and registered users only site.

I'm getting a bit carried away here. You gave me a visual idea Na and I took it several thousand miles. I'll crawl back in my box now.

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins

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