Several of our sharp-eyed commenters here at Swampland have complained that their posts are not showing up in the comments section. As we have tried to keep this back and forth with our readers as open as possible, I was particularly alarmed to see this from James in Los Angeles this morning regarding the Scooter Libby case:
Interesting that every post I attempt that discusses this magazine’s role in this debacle is censored. I’ve been censored on this subject several times today, but also in the past, before you got rid of the porn that used to disrupt this site. Interesting. Y’all don’t want it discussed, okay, I get it. But we know.
I checked with the High Sheriffs on this one, and here’s what they told me: Although we have recently tweaked our filter a bit, it is set up to catch only profanity. Those comments are deleted in full, not just the offending words. (I think the commenters are figuring that out. I’m noticing a lot more creative use of little asterisks.)
But comments are not being censored for content or point of view, which means you can continue to be as critical as you want to about Swampland, the four of us and TIME. All that said, whenever I’m reading my fan mail here, I’m glad that my children have thus far exhibited absolutely no interest in reading this blog, though my 14-year-old was kind enough to acquaint me with the meaning of “wanker.” And I do think it’s time to cut Jay a break. But that’s just me.