By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:42:25 +0000

Hey guys. I’ve been listening to the ongoing discussion on 508 about the T&G comment boards and local blogs in general, and I thought I’d share my experience. Like many people in the city, I have an ongoing fascination with the surreal horror show that is the Telegram & Gazette comments section. And since I often use the “controlled distraction” method of dealing with ADD, I had gotten into the habit of keeping the T&G comments page open as I did other work. And I found myself often adding to the comments, sometimes to advance the conversation, sometimes to lob a grenade or two. I became used to dealing with usual cast of characters, including the two or three crazed right-wing whackos whom the folks from the 508 Podcast accurately and amusingly characterized as “hating everything in the world”. I posted simply as “Jim” and occasionally as “Earl Camembert” when one or two other Jims turned up, so as to avoid confusion. I made an effort to balance my comments evenly between insightful, informative, cogent points of debate and complete, off-the-wall wiseassery. I sort of had the impression that the folks running the online edition of the T&G were hip enough to see that I was just sort of riffing on things. Trying to keep it interesting. That was until the T&G ran a story on John Silber. I don’t even remember what the story was about. Something about education, I think. Anyways… John Silber, right? So I added a comment. It was the only one for that particular story. I simply said “On a related note, Season 1 of “Flipper” comes out on DVD this week.” So, okay, it was a bit of a crass comment, but I thought it was edgy and kind of funny. So an hour goes by and I’d forgotten about the comment, and then all of a sudden – WHAM – they went nuts! My inbox filled with about ten T&G “You have violated the terms of service” form emails. It was like the guy on the other end, in the T&G’s web office, just went crazy and kept hitting the “send” button. Now I had fifteen of them. Then about twenty. Then it stopped. But the next day I got another one. And I got another one the day after that. And I found none of my comments were being posted. They were ripped. And they have been ever since. I am banned. Banished. Cast adrift. Just to test them, I started posting again this week under a new email address. No sillyness. Just boring debate points. That lasted one hour before they axed me again. So that’s my story and that’s my lesson: don’t make fun of John Silber or the T&G will revoke your privileges and send you to the woodshed.

Comments on: 508 #51: Models

By: Jim