Ugh, Comment Denied!

Blogs are a Rapidly Growing Sector

Let’s get one thing clear. Blogs are a rapidly growing sector despite reports that they’re dying. Both experts and enthusiasts alike continue to share whatever it is they have to share through WordPress, Blogger, and hundreds of other growing blog systems. The back-and-forth dialog that occurs through blogging is what made blogs the popular entity that they are today, and what will continue to attract this coveted interactivity for years to come.

In fact, dialog can be as valuable or even more valuable than the post that prompted it. It gives a vast audience the opportunity to validate, repudiate, even question a post and the author who wrote it — existing to share ideas and collectively develop thoughts at a deeper level than what just one person could achieve alone. Know what happens when that dialog is filtered?

It’s Censorship, Bias, and Misleading

Spam aside, most bloggers screen each comment as it’s posted, but a few will go so far as to delete any comment they don’t approve of. They censor comments that don’t agree with their point of view in an effort to reinforce the message of the blog post. It’s censorship, and because it’s biased, it’s misleading.

Example: I once encountered a blog post that enthusiastically described a kiosk which ‘helped’ humans communicate with plants (of all things). But the kiosk ignored the fact that plants communicate by emanating scents. The kiosk didn’t ‘smell’ anything or interpret what certain odors or what the strengths of odors might suggest. That would have a real feat!

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It instead, arranged randomly generated phrases and presented them on screen as if the plant sitting next to it was actually saying something. I normally would have brushed off the post as some sort of joke, except the post was on a tech blog known for promoting new advances in hardware.

And as predicted, my submitted comment, which explained how plants communicate with scents  — not pre-programmed, randomly generated phrases — went unpublished. All the accepted comments complimented the ‘genius’ behind the kiosk, and the ‘scientific breakthroughs’ that humanity is making with technology.

The accepted comments were so complementary in fact, the post appeared to be a sponsored or paid post published only to draw attention toward the kiosk’s makers.

Truth, Education, and Alternative Views Not Allowed

Truth, education, and alternative views were obviously not allowed at that blog. And that’s deceitful. Some poor schmuck, at no fault of his own, could be giggling at the idea that an Aglaonema modestum thinks “he’s handsome” when in reality, that is — in non-preprogrammed, random phrasing, the plant could be really grossed out at the idea its seedlings are infected with mealy bugs. This is, of course, all thanks to censorship.

It’s a bizarre (albeit, silly) scenario that could suggest real consequences when approached from serious perspectives, such as health matters, financial advice, or childrearing.

All Comments Welcomed

Filtered comments negatively impact the entire Internet community. They stifle communication and diminish our ability to come to a better understanding of things. Authors who unnecessarily censor comments look petty and reduce their credibility. If you’re truly passionate about a subject and its views, welcome all comments, whether negative or positive, and use the opportunity of each contribution to learn something new.

Learning is what we do all over the Internet, and it’s what we like to do here, at justoutsourcing.com.