Blogging is so Fragile

I was just a bit saddenned because I went to visit a blog where I had posted a few comments previously, and I wanted to see what the author had to say in response to my comments, only to find both comments mysteriously vanished. Instead of intelligent discourse, and some type of understanding correspondence, it was as though I had never been to the blog to begin with. Belonging to the blogger, it is of course their imperative to remove any comments from the site that they deem unseemly. However, my comments were not intended to be unproductive, nor were they spam, nor do I see them as outside of the topic, or even broader than their own range of views presented on the blog. I am mystified as to why I have been squelched in such a manner, my only regret is that I did not save the text of my comment somewhere else, so that I could now refer to it and try to analyze why I was knocked down. One of my comments even agreed strongly with the original author of the post.

I want everyone to know that they may feel safe and free in commenting on this blog (Mormon Gnostics). I will not delete any comments, unless they are spam, contain excessive swearing, graphic sexual references, or purport to contain specific items which are supposed to be held secret under covenant. And EVEN then, I will try to censor the post itself, and re-post it with a note to explain what I did, rather than just delete it.

I encourage all LDS bloggers to adopt a similar policy for your own blogs. I used to work for a man who implemented censorship on some forums he administered. They were at first alright, but before long, his censorship began to reach a point where he would censor any person who disagreed with him in any way. The forum turned into a bland place, where no discussion really took place because there was no debate of any form, and the problem solved itself by the forum ending up in disuse.

People are social creatures. We desire interaction. Even if you think something I do or someone else does is wrong, censoring it only gives us the chance to react with initial impulses of anger, whereas addressing the problem verbally creates the chance to achieve true reconciliation and come to a unity or at least to help the person avoid making the same mistake again.