A Note Regarding Comments
August 4th, 2007 by Dan GillmorNew commenters here must have one comment approved before they can routinely post without moderation. A recent comment contained a Nazi reference, calling a public figure a Nazi (he isn’t one). I deleted it without letting it go through.
In our basic civility-rules stance, comparing people to Nazis is not acceptable. The only exception is if the person being discussed is or was an actual Nazi.
I emailed the person who tried posting the comment, inviting a re-submission with the reference taken out.
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August 5th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Isn’t that something the Nazis would do?
No really though, I don’t know precisely what the comment was, but your simple characterization of it as “a Nazi reference” is not a convincing argument for automatic censorship.
August 5th, 2007 at 11:17 am
I thought it was clear (and I updated to make it even clearer) that the reference was calling someone a Nazi.
In general, I subscribe to the idea that when someone feels the need to make a Nazi analogy, the argument isn’t going anywhere except in the rarest of circumstances.
August 7th, 2007 at 5:47 am
Godwin’s Law strikes again!