Readers of The Gate have been contacting me in recent months to let me know that the authors of other weblogs have been adopting policies which have increased the censorship of comments and restricted what is allowed — to the point with which comments are either deleted or not approved altogether.
Comments Will Not Be Censored Here at The Gate — Except For…
An increasing number of media sites which used to allow readers to post their thoughts in response to articles have since shut down their comments sections. That had me thinking about whether the Comments section at The Gate should remain open or be closed — but the majority of readers who responded let me know that the Comments section should be kept open…
…but at which weblogs are comments censored — and at which ones would you feel comfortable enough to express your thoughts and feelings?
The most comprehensive list which I could find is this discussion on FlyerTalk called Which miles and points blogs censor comments? I cannot verify the information in that discussion or how updated it is — but it is a start.
If you know of a better resource, please post a link to it in the Comments section below — and you are more than welcome to post examples of weblogs where comments are either censored or not permitted altogether.
Summary
I believe that now more than ever, people need a place to say how they feel — especially during the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic and the sharp political divide the world is continuously experiencing — even if what they say is less than perfect…
…and if a reader chooses to attack me in the Comments section — well…then that person is leaving someone else alone. Besides, to me, written insults are merely words and I do not let them get the best of me. I prefer to learn from you whenever you decide to leave a comment in response to an article which I wrote and posted here at The Gate.
Despite my personally being outright attacked over the years by certain commenters — I hesitate to call them readers because that would imply that they actually read the article on which they were commenting — I vehemently support keeping the Comments section open and as uncensored as possible for every article which is posted by me at The Gate. I want to continue to have a place where you can freely speak your mind without hesitation or retribution, as I still believe that the right to freedom of speech has been increasingly contracted lately; and I do not censor nor impose any rules for commenting — although the exception is that purely obvious “spam” comments are either deleted or never approved.
I intend to keep the Comments section open for as long as The Gate remains in existence, which is almost 14.5 years and counting — but I still would like to know your thoughts; so please post them in the Comments section below…
Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen.
