'Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body."
Note the inclusion of media outlet (now some people do not consider the weekly to be a "media outlet", but that is for another discussion.). Bill can say it is not censorship, but it is IMHO
My opinion is that the endorsements and the editing of discussions on said topics are carried out in the best interests of the Weekly and not the city as a whole.
Posted by Nora Charles, a resident of Stanford, on Oct 25, 2012 at 4:57 pm Nora Charles is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
I enjoy reading the comments, ALL the comments, no matter what the writer's views. Certainly obscenities should be removed, but it's enlightening to know what people are really thinking about the issues. When so many comments are removed (as on some threads) it defeats the whole purpose of such a forum.
Posted by village fool, a resident of another community, on Oct 25, 2012 at 11:59 pm village fool is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
Nora - I too want to read. Having said that I can totally see why comments about kids/families are being cut. Another example/dilemma is the Boys Scouts thread providing prior to being cleaned (censored?) a glimpse to some frightening perspectives. I agree that some had to be cleaned, as a segment of the population was addressed in a very insulting way, but there is no trace now to - what is going on here, perspectives I thought belong to another time and place.
I'm actually pretty curious as to why thread is available only to logged in users?
Posted by Peter Carpenter, a resident of Atherton, on Oct 26, 2012 at 9:43 am Peter Carpenter is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
"why thread is available only to logged in users?"
I suspect that is because registered users have identified themselves to the Editors in advance and are using the same user name every time that they post - and that, statistically, registered users are more civil and less prone to 'flaming'.
Posted by Ducatigirl, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 26, 2012 at 12:36 pm Ducatigirl is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
I agree with Peter, as some unregistered users have really come out of left field with flaming rants. A few have needlessly targeted indiidual posters with some hidden agenda, and this is not the place for that.
If you ask Bill Johnson why certain posts were deleted, he will indeed explain it to you, and thenyou can see the sense in it.
Posted by village fool, a resident of another community, on Oct 26, 2012 at 3:35 pm village fool is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
Peter - I saw this thread totally coincidentally, I'm sorry that not many are not aware that becoming a registered user does not require disclosing personal identification. As far as I recall all it takes is a valid email, (which can be easily obtained), and no personal info is being checked when registering.
I'm sorry that not many realize that registering does not involve releasing personal info since I think that the community may be missing very important input/feedback. There were many threads where readers seemed to have important concerns/experiences but fear of being identified prevented them from sharing, especially when it was related to their kids, and thread became available only users who are logged in .
I'm sorry, because many times a single concern is dismissed as a non issue. Many times it takes several coming forward. Seems that many are afraid to share concerns even anonymously as registered users.
Editor - if I'm not mistaken, and disclosing personal info is not a must when registering, maybe it would make sense to let readers know? maybe by the note suggesting to register? I may be wrong, of course.
Posted by village fool, a resident of another community, on Oct 26, 2012 at 3:35 pm village fool is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
Peter - I saw this thread totally coincidentally, I'm sorry that not many are not aware that becoming a registered user does not require disclosing personal identification. As far as I recall all it takes is a valid email, (which can be easily obtained), and no personal info is being checked when registering.
I'm sorry that not many realize that registering does not involve releasing personal info since I think that the community may be missing very important input/feedback. There were many threads where readers seemed to have important concerns/experiences but fear of being identified prevented them from sharing, especially when it was related to their kids, and thread became available only users who are logged in .
I'm sorry, because many times a single concern is dismissed as a non issue. Many times it takes several coming forward. Seems that many are afraid to share concerns even anonymously as registered users.
Editor - if I'm not mistaken, and disclosing personal info is not a must when registering, maybe it would make sense to let readers know? maybe by the note suggesting to register? I may be wrong, of course.
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