I have been very active on RAIN the past few days, writing posts, responding to comments, and participating in blog discussions...
I think this community is great and I try to post very intelligent and insightful comments.
But today, I noticed a few of my comments were "missing" from a few discussions???? (scratches head)
Don't get me wrong, I'm all about deleting "spam" comments or totally irrelevant comments from discussions, but to flat out "DELETE" comments because it disagrees with your thesis or does not “push your agenda”?
There was post the other day. It was a discussion regarding if Social Media was a “dead-end” or not… it was posted by a member who was in the business of SEO for agents. [I won’t mention who this member is, since that would be tacky ;)]
It took-off that day and became very popular… even made the “featured” section.
There were at least 60+ comments within a few hours… all mixed feeling. Some thought social media was an empty road… others thought it was the greatest things since sliced bread.
So it was mixed bag which makes for GREAT discussion and debate.
I noticed today, NOW the post count was down to the 40s?? That’s weird… did 20 or so people decide to “retract” their comments???... oh, and where was my comment?? I sure don't remember removing my opinion...
This got me thinking… was I just “CENSORED?”
Did I do something wrong???
I thought I was adding to the debate and discussion, contributing to the greater intelligence, providing a form of “VALUE” to the discussion and for the RAIN community.
But today, I’ve been DELETED!!! Erased from history!!!
Then I started re-reading the comments… OMG… all the “contrary” comments and debates that I remembered were ERASED TOO!!! Where’d they go??
The only comments that remained were those that said “I agree” or “Great post” or “You are right!”…
Did this member just delete the entire contrary comments for the purpose of pushing his/her own personal/business agenda???
Hold the phone… I thought we were in AMERCIA here people… the land of FREEDOM of speech and right to freely express our positions and opinions.
Sorry, I disagreed with the thesis, but that is what makes this RAIN community so great. A well rounded discussion of pros and cons.
I’ve had my share of comments that debated my stance, but in no way shape or form was I going to “DELETE” their comment no matter how heated I was.
I just don’t think that it would be fair to the commenter. He/She really feels strongly about their opinion that they took a few minutes to add-to the discussion, so who am I say they shouldn’t have that stance by suppressing their comment???
As you can see, I’m steaming over this… and just had to rant!
But do YOU “Filter” your comments?? What’s your opinion on this???
PS: I promise I WILL NOT DELETE your comments for any reason other than “Spam” =)
Thanks for reading my rant!
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