Out Of Bounds
As much as I hate doing it, I had to delete a comment today that I found particularly offensive.
And if I found it offensive, my guess is other people would take offense to it also.
As a reporter, I believe in freedom of speech. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I had to remove a comment because it’s been that long.
But sometimes a person says something that I feel goes beyond the bounds of good taste. And as much as I hate to be a censor, sometimes it’s necessary.
Otherwise you’d have the Wild Wild West of the Topix forums, where it wouldn’t be a day without slamming someone.
That’s one of the advantages of having a small-time blog like Life In The Slow Lane. There aren’t that many comments, so it’s not an overwhelming task to hit the delete button if someone treads into an area that I find objectionable.
But on sites like Topix, well, they say they have forum administrators and they have a way to report abuse to forum administrators. But do the forum administrators pay any attention to the complaints? Based on my experience, no.
That’s probably because Topix has a hefty “user agreement” that absolves them from any responsibility whatsoever for the postings.
Of course, this “user agreement” also says that Topix reserves the right to remove any posts that are deemed harassing toward others. Yeah, OK. Obviously they haven’t visited the Massena forum lately.
I don’t have a user agreement on this site and I don’t restrict who can and who can’t comment. I believe in open dialogue, even if someone tells me I’m an asshole – and yes, somebody has done that and the comment still stands.
But I want people be respectful in their comments, and I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
And if you don’t want to play along, sorry, but I always reserve the right to move the comment into the trash bin.
Let’s hope I don’t have to do it again anytime soon.
