that hideous censorious impulse
I like Mark Frauenfelder of Make / BoingBoing. I’ve swapped emails and phone calls with him, and he’s a nice and decent guy.
The other day, he posted this:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/28/com…
Compunctious smirk of Justice Department official accused of federal crime
Posted by Mark Frauenfelder
My five-year-old daughter pulled this same face when I reprimanded her for sneaking a box of brown sugar into the backyard to feast on it.
Monica Goodling, a former Justice Department official who served as attorney general Alberto Gonzales’ liaison to the White House, broke federal law by discriminating against against job applicants because of their political views, a new report says.
I left comment #1 on the thread:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/28/com…
“Can we get a picture of Hillary Clinton’s compunctious smirk when she was accused of the exact same federal crime in the TravelGate scandal ?”
Comment #2 was
http://dynamic.boingboing.net/profile/Va…
Seen the same smirk on Dubya as well. Must be endemic to this administration…
Mark Frauenfelder responded to my comment in good cheer:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/28/com…
Go find one!
Good for him!
Then Teresa Nielsen Hayden “disemvoweled” my comment:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/28/com…
Cn w gt pctr f Hllry Clntn’s cmpncts smrk whn sh ws ccsd f th xct sm fdrl crm n th TrvlGt scndl ?
and sent me this email:
Subject: Re: This is just to say …
…that I have disemvowelled one of your comments. Will it help if I tell you there’s nothing at all personal about it, purely a rules thing, and that I value you as a commenter?
Sincerely,
Teresa NH
…and yet, comment #2 (“Seen the same smirk on Dubya as well. Must be endemic to this administration…”) is still there in all it’s vowely glory.
I wrote back to TNH:
Mark Frauenfelder didn’t seem to have a problem with the comment…
Can you point me to a list of “the rules”?
That was five days ago.
No response yet.
UPDATE: I emailed Mark, he emailed TNH, and she’s going to tell me The Rules for BoingBoing. I think that this is a pretty good resolution. I commend both Mark and TNH for stepping up to the plate when they could have just blown this off.
More after I get the rules from TNH.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:16 am
You better believe Auntie Terry values you as a commenter, Travis: another chance for her to judge and find you “wanting”.
Having done that, she gave a little shiver of pleasure and drew her shawl a bit closer.
PS. Don’t be holdin’ yer breath on the list thing, neither!
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
See – this is why I read blogs – until five minutes ago I didn’t even know there was such a word as ‘compunctious’. Now I not only know of the word but i know what it means.
Plus TJICistan is much more entertaining that ‘word of the day’ email.
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Surprises me not. Her “Moderating” leaves much to be desired.
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
The Haydens are a pair of left-liberal hypocrites. They have no taste for dissent from their opinons; they certainly won’t tolerate it at a site over which they have power. There’s no point in expecting either of them to change at this late date in their devolutions.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Did you ever wind up finding that picture?
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I am quite amused that your comment in its original form still survives, quoted in Mark’s response. This is what they get for delegating moderator authority…
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Lets make an agreement: we go to the next readercon with a video camera and give her the Micheal Moore treatment. Deal? :-) only serious
August 5th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
I kept checking back into the thread, but TJIC never came up with the picture.
PermaChris: Yes, the comment survives in Mark Frauenfelder’s response. You must not have noticed that hat frequently happens in Boing Boing’s threads, and not just when the comments are quoted by Boingers.
August 5th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
[quote comment="157585"]I kept checking back into the thread, but TJIC never came up with the picture.
[/quote]
It seemed sort of pointless when the one Clinton comment (
was disemvoweled and the six anti-Bush comments were left in place (including a seventh by you, the moderator, arguing that the Bush administration is – it seems – far worse than any other administration).
But perhaps I’m wrong.
In all seriousness: why is
“Can we get a picture of Hillary Clinton’s compunctious smirk when she was accused of the exact same federal crime in the TravelGate scandal ?”
worthy of being moderated away, but
“Seen the same smirk on Dubya as well. Must be endemic to this administration…”
topical, interesting, and valid?
August 5th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
TNH: Answer this, please.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Teresa Nielsen Hayden wrote
>…purely a rules thing…
Ok Teresa, what are the rules?
Teresa, answer the question. Your comment of August 5th, 2008 at 1:47 pm does not answer the question.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
BTW, a few moments ago, I posted an anonymous comment (held for moderation) on the post that reads:
I wonder what the odds are it will clear moderation.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
We’re (*) curious, but not hopeful.
(*) My great great great great great grandfather came here on The Sandwich!
August 6th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I have too much time on my hands today. My respect for BoingBoing is falling fast (not that I previously had an opinion on the matter)
TNH posted
So I logged in and wrote:
Neither of my comments have cleared moderation yet.