Because I’m a modern girl, and because of the industry I work in, I read a lot of internet forums and blogs. It’s great to read individuals sharing ideas and debates that span continents, whether I agree with them or not, and see how everyone expresses their thoughts. Some posts are hilarious, some offer brand new perspectives, others are downright poorly thought out and make me want to beat their owner with a heavy dictionary.
What really frustrates me is moderation. I do see the need for it in some situations; when spammers get into the comments, when people risk committing libel. But it does bug me to read a slew of comments berating someone for an inflammatory posting and not to be able to judge for myself because the posting is gone.
I think moderators can be a bit click-happy. Even if a comment seems likely to cause upset to the original poster/blogger, I wish (in most cases) it would be allowed to remain. Some might think that’s pretty callous of me but firstly, if you post on the internet you open yourself up to people having – and sharing – opinions about you, fair or not; and secondly, if you post on the internet, you should have some degree of accountability for what you post. So if you post something that marks you out as a complete arsehole, it should remain for all the world to see.
The security and anonymity you get behind a computer screen means that people do often say things online they wouldn’t have the guts to say to someone’s face. Maybe those people might think twice if they knew that their vomit might actually be kept.
