There's Something I Want to Say
The internet is, and always has been, meant to be a marketplace of ideas. Censorship has always been an enemy of that marketplace.
That is why here at From the Front Row, I do not moderate comments. I have reasonable spam guards, I even allow anonymous posters (even though I don't like them and have experimented with not allowing them, but it just blocks out too many posters that I want to hear from), but I will never block anyone from posting on my blog. The only comments I moderate are on posts over 14 days old, which is where spammers tend to attack. But if you're not a spammer, I approve you.
If I deem a post offensive in a hateful way I may delete it, but I have never deleted a non-spam comment. I've left up posts that criticize me, my opinion, and my writing. If that is what you want to do, that is your right. It's a free country.
Bloggers that moderate their comments in order to assert some kind of dictatorial control over their site, deciding who may post and what they may post, are an enemy of the marketplace of ideas. They are the enemies of intelligent debate, and petty tyrants at that. They can justify it however they want, that it's their blog and their rules, but that will never change the fact that they are stifling free speech in an attempt to justify their own insecurities by not allowing those they don't like or don't agree with to post on their blog.
All are welcome here. Even the tyrants.
That is why here at From the Front Row, I do not moderate comments. I have reasonable spam guards, I even allow anonymous posters (even though I don't like them and have experimented with not allowing them, but it just blocks out too many posters that I want to hear from), but I will never block anyone from posting on my blog. The only comments I moderate are on posts over 14 days old, which is where spammers tend to attack. But if you're not a spammer, I approve you.
If I deem a post offensive in a hateful way I may delete it, but I have never deleted a non-spam comment. I've left up posts that criticize me, my opinion, and my writing. If that is what you want to do, that is your right. It's a free country.
Bloggers that moderate their comments in order to assert some kind of dictatorial control over their site, deciding who may post and what they may post, are an enemy of the marketplace of ideas. They are the enemies of intelligent debate, and petty tyrants at that. They can justify it however they want, that it's their blog and their rules, but that will never change the fact that they are stifling free speech in an attempt to justify their own insecurities by not allowing those they don't like or don't agree with to post on their blog.
All are welcome here. Even the tyrants.
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