INDYMEDIA censors DISSENT!

whats the post, what are you talking about, etc? otherwise this is just spam.

please, oh oppressed opposition, enlighten us, which comment did indymedia "censor"?

If you think SF IMC censors based solely on dissenting opinion, take a look at how many posts I have in the archive. B-)

I highly doubt you could offend more people here than yours truly. And for having allowed it, I give them props for living up to their promise of an open newswire.

Whatever happened in your case, was most likely a publishing or other technical glitch. I've seen it happen a few times, with perfectly innocuous content.

*Sj

they eliminate inflamatory or controversial material. I saw some hot commentary a few days ago about the philipines that was eliminated, it seems like the manegement of this site only wants to see opinions they agree with or can easily dismiss.

Which was?

our article database, "webcast," does have a screw or three loose. so for instance, sometimes the entire newswire on the front page disappears. this is not "censorship," this is a "zero-budget web site."

if any "hot" comments are missing, let us know specifically which article (the six-digit article number in the URL), so we can refresh it. otherwise, bull - shit.

it was ELIMINATED.

point taken...

http://www.indybay.org/search-process.php?fetch=15&hidden=hidden

They KILL anythinng that doesn't fit their agenDA of WORLD DOMINATON!!!

fucking Pigs...

These PRicks CENSORED me.!

INDEPENDENT...My ASS.
THEY wiped out my FUCKING opinions.

Speaking as someone who has been involved in sf indymedia for a while now, including the editorial working group, I must say that this post is just complete lunacy. I'm not even sure why I'm responding really, given the "ineptitude and insecurity" of the apparently "impotent organ" that has wasted so much time by posting this, but I am. These are, of course, my own thoughts and not those of the editorial working group as a whole.

Until about several months ago, the SF-IMC editorial working group had an editorial policy that could be summed up in a short sentence: it doesn't exist. Participants have been adamantly opposed to hiding posts, except duplicates, test posts, and errors, and have firmly believed that readers were quite capable of thinking critically and incisively about each and every post that was put on the newswire. Noone wanted to be a moderator, noone wants to "censor" posts, and noone wants to drive any ideological agenda except perhaps that of information liberation and perhaps the overthrow of the capitalist system. This hands-off policty worked well for a good long while. The amount of, and I'm putting this nicely, useless bullshit that came through the newswire was kept to a minimum.

You will no doubt realize that having an innocous amount of spam and abusive posts is no longer the rule here, as the newswire has been periodically flooded by corporate media reposts, racist, sexist and homophobic diatribes, and a lot of wasted words that are strung together in barely coherent sentences, all clearly, imho, with the intent to disrupt sf-imc as a functioning community space for news, discussion, debate, and education.

And still, noone wants to be a moderator, noone wants to "censor" posts, and not a single editorial volunteer wants to keep "dissent" off the newswire. We are busy with more important things, as are the great, great majority of SF-IMC readers/participants.

Yet the past several months have inspired us to come up with a hopefully comprehensive editorial policy, one that will keep the newswire as free as possible from the egregious and disruptive attacks that we have seen in recent months, while at the same time adhering as closely as humynly possible to the ideals of open publishing. When this editorial policy is agreed upon, it will be posted to this site immediately and be available for all to critique and discuss.

And for the record, any and all posts that are called "censored" by the wingnuts out there, are really just hidden from the front newswire. Look at the bottom of the newswire and you will see "view hidden articles", which will take you to a page that lists all that which the editorial working group has hidden from the front newswire. All are still readily accessible, but are instead one-click away from the front page. Whenever a post is consented upon to be hidden, such as those where consensus is implied, as in the case of duplicates, errors, or tests, a comment with a full explanation will be posted on the hidden article.

This is obviously just spam, but I hope that these thoughts are useful for people as they read SF-IMC......

I have been reading this site for a long time and have assumed that all posts, were indeed posted. ibm's response is not at all clear regarding how editors determine which posts should be shown and those that are hidden. I disagree dismissing this post out of hand as spam. It may have provided some news to me, depending on it validity.

I have not yet found the "hidden posts" but will continue to look. I will be extremely disappointed if I find that the articles hidden are those inconsistent with views typicailly found on this site. If so, it would be reflect despicable hypocrisy.

"ibm's response is not at all clear regarding how editors determine which posts should be shown and those that are hidden."

i apologize if it wasn't really clear. the reason is that the editorial working group has yet to consent on a final draft, and the exact language is still being discussed. it will be posted as soon as consensus is reached.

what editorial policy does exist right now can be found here: http://www.indybay.org/process/openpub.php ... which i forgot to link to in my previous comment.

here's an excerpt:

A spam attack is defined as a pattern of abuse of the newswire by a particular poster. If the editorial collective reaches consensus (at a meeting or on the listserv) that a specific individual is launching a spam attack on the SF-IMC newswire, the spammer's post(s) may be hidden from the newswire by a member of the editorial collective.

Each instance of recognized spam will be considered individually, and the reason why the editorial collective perceives the post(s) as spam will be stated on the editorial list, as well as in a comment on the hidden article itself. When a member of the editorial collective hides a post, (s)he shall immediately notify the editorial listserv.

The hidden posts will be accessible on an unabridged newswire which will be located one click away from the front page.....http://www.indybay.org/search-process.php?fetch=15&hidden=hidden ...this is located at the bottom of the right hand column newswire.