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Them good ol' moderation blues...

Tue, 5 Apr 2011, 02:07 pm
Bass Guy26 posts in thread
This is an old chestnut of mine, but... I've noticed in the reviews section a couple of instances where unfawning comments have been moderated down- simply because they didn't follow the rapturous praise of other postings on the same thread. This happened with "Zastrozzi" a week or two ago, and has just happened on Gordon's "Company" review thread today. Neither of these posts could be construed as trolling, slanderous or even mean-spritied; it's just they had the nerve NOT to say "This is the best (fill in the blank) I've ever seen...". Some of the critisisms offered were pointed, certainly- but well reasoned, and certainly nothing that amounted to hate-mail. In the case of the Zastrozzi one, it DISAPPEARED COMPLETELY from the site. I went back to read it again and it had simply vanished, and I've been unable to locate it again. And considering one of the chief admin folk here was in that particular show, one is tempted to smell a rat or two.... And this is one of the problems I have with moderation (as I've bleated about from the get-go); sure you can "moderate things up", but should you have to? If someone is silly enough to post something hateful (and I'm as guilty of that as anyone on this site) leave it up and let people respond to it. Don't hide it because it disagrees with the general tenor of the conversation. I like reasoned debate- if I want irrational stupidity, I'll read (or post on) facebook. I would have thought this site could withstand more open discussion. What are everyone else's thoughts? Assuming this hasn't been moderated out of public view.... Eliot McCann

Assumptive consumptive.

Fri, 8 Apr 2011, 11:00 am
David, I don't necessarily assume "posts in this forum are objective and free of bias"- I know damn well they're not, but naively wish they were. Witness, for instance, the staunch defence of the Melville president in his opinion that the Zastrozzi posts were "more of a diatribe than a review". ;-) My bleat is merely the faint wimpering of the forlorn hope that people play fairly- on both sides of the coin. But maybe I should disabuse myself of that ludicrous notion... obviously anyone not willing to sign their name/on-line identity, but hide under a nom-de-Plinge, is not to be taken remotely seriously. And the voters are left free to run amok dictating what is seen on this site. If you are content with this state of affairs, cool. Chivalry isn't dead; it's just not very well... El

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