I did promise I wouldn't use this blog to whitter on about my personal life. (On the basis that total strangers reading it wouldn't be interested and I didn't want them knowing anyway). But since this particular episode concerns web use, I though it might be worth relating.
I'm a member of the epilepsy section of HealingWell, the health site with a link opposite. Recently a 12 year old girl did the standard introductory post to the forum - 'Hi, I'm new here, got epilepsy, don't like it, can anyone give advice' etc. Rather than helping, the forum moderator instantly put up a message telling her that she was too young to post anything. Then the site founder weighed in with the announcement that US federal law required all contributors to be 13 or older. I don't know what happened to the poor girl, but assume she instantly had her membership revoked.
Rather irked, I put a post of my own. I told the girl that there seemed to be an age limit to receiving help and support and suggest she come back in a year when her right to exist might be acknowledged. Slightly sarcastic, I know, but not especially offensive. I'm informed that some of the site regulars put up similiar posts, albeit phrased more moderately. I never actually saw them, however. Less than a day after I kicked off the debate, the moderator struck again. She deleted all the criticism and replaced them with a huffy message of her own which said that negative or unpleasant posts wouldn't be tolerated. Looking on the site today, I see that the whole thread has been wiped off.
An amusing episode on one level, less so in other ways. I don't know if the moderator emailed the girl to guide her to a children's site where she could post. (Unlikely, according to one person). I also don't know who thought to pass a law shutting children out of sites not about sex or violance but helping people through a pretty unpleasant medical condition. It's also hard to get past the censorship issue. We weren't mocking or insulting anyone. We were challenging the rules of the site. Print magazines and newspapers frequently carry letters criticising their own content. But it seems that in the free, untramelled internet, that's just something you're not allowed to do.
1 comment:
I was surprised to see a number of posts this weekend, one of which was removed by a Host who'd indicated parts of it were removed because there were children on the board, when it clearly states that children are not permitted on the board.
The board may very well be comprosed solely of Hosts that will only allow someone if they are promoting medications or medical treatment, and not changes in lifestyles. It appears to me to be livingwell.com scam.
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