Dear readers,
As we’ve explained in previous posts, comments on social media and various podcasts dating back to 2011, no, we don’t “censor” comments, as a rule.
But that doesn’t mean anything goes.
We have general rules about posting comments that have been posted on the site since June 2009. They’re general because each comment is handled individually.
We’re under no legal obligation to moderate comments. We would have much higher web traffic if we ignored comments. Heck, maybe with increased page views from nasty comments, we’d sell some ads.
But we choose to moderate because, well, we live here, too.
Last week we (temporarily) “banned” a reader who shared a private citizen’s tax info on our Facebook page. We left it on our Facebook page for a few hours, because tax info is public information, after all.
We’ve done lots of stories on unpaid taxes for people running for office, or holding public office.
But the thread was basically a personal dispute between two people. Why does it have to happen on our Facebook page?
The comments were made under one of our stories — but it had nothing to do with our story.
So we deleted the thread and banned the person who posted it the tax info — at least for the weekend, so we could take time off (attend a horror movie convention) without having to worry about comments.
There are plenty of other places on the Internet for people to fight.
Claiming our action is censorship is like claiming you have the right to go to your neighbor’s house, light a bag of dog poop on fire, then ring the door bell and walk away.
We welcome comments, we welcome disagreements, but we’d like the keep the conversations from going off the rails.
And Another Thing
While we rarely delete a comment, we constantly get questions from people asking why we deleted a comment.
These people do not understand how Facebook works. I don’t blame them. It’s confusing, and who has the time to figure it out?
But here’s the most common way a comment disappears on Facebook, at least in relation to The Valley Indy:
1. We post a link to one of our stories on Facebook.
2. A person comments on the story.
3. Another person replies to the first comment.
4. The first person, for whatever reason, deletes his or her initial comment. The comment disappears, along with any replies.
5. We did not delete the comment and replies. The person who made the comment did.
Also, we have a strong profanity filter, which means posts with foul language won’t make it.
