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Posted on August 9, 2007
Filed Under Reason, Blogging, Web 2.0, Politics |
Any blogs–especially political blogs–that require you to sign up for an account before you can comment on posts is run either by cowards or people more interested in monetizing their blog (by selling your information) than in true conversation.
Here are some of the big cowardly offenders:
The Daily Kos
Blue Mass Group
Political Forum
MyDD.com
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You make a lot of generalities and assumptions in your post. You should do a bit of research and check out if these sites have a privacy policy of any kind.
Daily Kos’ privacy policy is here. They distinctly say they will not give or sell users information to third parties, period.
I’m sure that MyDD, Blue Mass Group, and the Political Forum are the same way, even without specifically stated privacy policies. BleedingHeartland.com, the community blog I write for, has a user registration system as well. Mainly, it allows for anonymity but under the same name so that trolls aren’t a concern and so that spam isn’t a concern.
My blog powered by WordPress also has a comment moderation feature, but doesn’t require users to login. This allows me to see some personal information, but only so I can judge whether the comments are appropriate and not spam. It isn’t a matter of cowardice, but simply being able to manage the content on one’s blog the same way individuals regulate who can come onto their property, etc.
Your generalization is that the folks running these sites are cowards because of the technology employed or simply for management purposes. Explain to me how requiring a simple registration process limits the amount of true conversation on these sites, particularly when Daily Kos is one of, if not the, most trafficked community political blog with thousands of users.
I think you should correct your post, or at least expand on your generalizations.
Hmm…maybe I should correct this post:
http://www.reasonwithpassion.com/2007/08/09/debating-with-liberalsstill/
I did generalize, admittedly. Here are my reasons: there is hardly any real conversation on Daily Kos. Traffic doesn’t equate to real conversation. It’s just a big liberal echo chamber with almost no dissent. That’s not conversation.
I know all about moderation, too, and I have no problem with that. I think moderation should be used on all blogs, equitably. Again, in this regard Daily Kos is a disgrace. They don’t moderate what should be (material that many find to be offensive), and they do moderate dissenting opinion. That’s their choice, but there’s no way I’m going to give them my personal information, or any other site for that matter. Moderation is enough. There’s no reason to require an account unless they are making money on it or they are scared of open invitations for commentary. There are more ways than just selling email addresses to monetize the collection of personal information, by the way.
So no, I won’t correct nor expand. My opinion stands, and it is my opinion. I have a right to it. You can disagree, but you’d be wrong.
I think what you’re looking for is a site with a conversation with folks of different opinions. DailyKos is a home for progressives talking about progressive causes and conversing about those, not necessarily conversing with those of opposing political views. There are those sites out there, but you usually can’t find them on big-name sites. My site is small enough that I engage conservatives and those of other opinions on ideological issues. Kos, MyDD, and others focus on a specific community for conversation and interact.
Mainly, what I’m seeing from you is a focus on conversation that DailyKos and others specifically offer to a particular constituency, not just a dialog for everyone from every spectrum. And that desire is a fair request, but Kos and others aren’t cowards for targeting a specific constituency.
This brings up another point that I’ll use to make my real point: why is it that democrats and liberals prefer to refer to themselves as “progressive?” There’s nothing progressive about a philosophy that avoids rational, reasonable debate with people of opposing views. There’s a lot of back-patting and “you said it, pal” but no progress comes from that. Like it or not, the so-called “progressive” movement does not represent a majority of the population; not even a close minority. It represents a very small segment of America, compared to the whole, most of whom seem to have nothing better to do than gnash their teeth about conservatives and conservative principles…but only to each other. They won’t engage conservatives in respectful, extended debate about real issues (see Kos), and yet they claim to have progress as their desire and purpose. Well, you can’t make much progress by ignoring the largest part of the population.
Conversation is the whole point of the blogosphere…that’s why they call it “the conversation,” but to ask or observe Kos, you’d think it was just another social networking tool like MySpace.
My assessment stands and is valid. Sites that require you to have an account to comment are either 1) scared of open commentary, which makes them cowards, or 2) willing to allow commentary on condition that they get paid for it. That’s not a very progressive policy.
Terribly ironic for a guy who doesn’t identify himself on his blog, the domain of which is registered by proxy. Who’s the coward here?
Very simple: those who deserve to know who I am, know who I am. I don’t volunteer it up to the world, not out of cowardice, but because I don’t like spam. And maybe so you don’t make snap judgments about me based on my name, color, height, etc. Or maybe that’s just crap, maybe I just don’t feel the need to pretend that by putting my name out there people will start to recognize me around the internet and I’ll end up famous, like Markos Mediocros, or whatever his name is. Or maybe no one cares what my name is.
It makes me wonder, why are you so upset that you can’t find out who I am? Maybe it’s smart of me to keep some veil of secrecy over my real-world identity so as to avoid the malicious recriminations of those who find it infuriating that they can’t beat me with logic and so might be led to resort to unsavory behavior.